Reviews for Apple Thunderbolt Display (27-inch)

Bought for my 2011 11" MacBook Air as a replacement for an old 21" Cinema Display. It's perfect for the job: with just the Thunderbolt and MagSafe connectors plugged in, I have my whole desktop set up. A *lot* less wiring than my old display, and a relief to not have an external PSU again.

I'd planned to get rid of my (bottom-end) Bose speakers since the display has built-in sound but I'm now having second thoughts: it sounds *terrible*. Tinny and hollow; well below Apple quality. The in-store unit I tried was much the same too, so I don't think I have a bad unit. Not sure what to do now: the Thunderbolt display takes up so much desk space that I don't have room for speakers, and even if I did, there's no audio out on the display itself so it'd be a third cable to have to worry about each time I dock and undock.

Great monitor. I use in tandem with my laptop to get two screens. Pretty cool. Connects via USB and has 3 more addition USB plug-ins.

Its freaking massive.
I mean its bigger than my 1st apartment.
Love it. Love it. Love it.
I can't go back to another monitor.
I can't.
I won't.

Was hesitant at first since the puppy is not cheap. Definitely the best monitor I have ever owned. Have more power now with my MacBook PRO, Parallels and WIN7 (when I need it) in less space!

I made the jump from PC to Mac less than a year ago. After relocating across the country we decided to commit to Mac. Our home office has two 27 inch Thunderbolts, 1 Mac min, 1 Mac book, and a few odds and ends such as routers, mice, keyboards, and such.

The monitors are exquisite. Sure they work great, they are bright, the sound is wonderful but the quality of them is outstanding. They are beautifully to look at and into all day long. Before I spent the money on them I looked over comparable sizes from other manufactures and the decision was made to go with Apple. The other monitors are flimsy and cheaply made. They may cost 2/3 less but you get what you play for.

These are sturdy solid pieces of equipment that are well thought out by the Engineers. Yet the pieces come together as a seamless work of art. The design clearly illustrates a unity between the Engineering, Marketing, and Support teams.

I would highly recommend them. Its clear that Apple innovates while the competitors copy and mass produces. My wife's brandnew laptop from work is just as large and bulky as they had been 10 years ago just as an example. Come on.

Pros: all but glossy screen.
Cons: glossy screen. I want a display; not a mirror!

SOLUTION: just offer a matte option; even if more expensive.

In short, these displays are best on the market by far (that I have seen), in this price range. The price is actually very close to other high end monitors that do not have all the functionality these do. I own a Apple 27" Mini Display Port (aka MDP - the older model), and TWO of these 27" Thunderbolt (I do Maya and Video editing).

The Good
Everything. Sharpness, runs cool, design, color reproduction, I don't get people that could complain about this display. Also, I have a 17" 2.33ghz (quad core) laptop and daisy chain these TB monitors. It works perfectly with the laptop display AND the two displays running different desktops. The older MDP model won't daisy chain until you put it at the end of any other TB device. (Which I don't currently own). This is not a fault of Apple, it is a limitation of MDP. I have firewire plugged into display 1 and I also have a scanner (firewire) plugged into display 2. It all works flawless. I don't need to have the firewire drives in display 1 on for the scanner to work. Very elegant and seamless. I also do use the ethernet and USBs on display 1, and firewire and USB on display 2, which are all flawless. Interestingly, the ethernet on display 2 could also be used, but I don't.

The Bad
The 27" MDP (old) display I bought a year ago was flawless. The first 27" TB I purchased had the well known flaw where the fan stays on (when you unplug or sleep your computer). This IS a bug. I returned it to Best Buy, got another one, opened it and tested it (no noise), and it has worked flawlessly ever since. The second one I purchased a few weeks later was also perfect. Just beware, and return it if you encounter this issue. Also, every time I put it to sleep (and disconnect the computer), the displays get swapped, and I can't change them. I have to reboot to put display 1 back in the center, and display 2 to the right.

This display is incredible! I purchased it to add to my MacBook Pro and it has incredibly rich color, awesome resolution, and powerful sound. The thunderbolt ethernet and USB capabilities are also a major plus and keep my desk clean and organized. The only drawback is the lack of a headphone port on the display but otherwise this is a premium Apple product and definitely worth the money!

I purchased this to extend the desktop of my 13" MBP (a great little laptop incidentally). The monitor detects automatically and I get the brilliant display, which matches up with my MBP's display wonderfully in terms of color and temp. But, the audio which is supposed to automatically pipe into the monitors speakers almost never actually does. I have to reboot with the monitor attached for it to recognize. I've also noticed that the external hard drives that I have attached to the firewire 800 port don't mount either.

I'll agree with the issue of integration with Lion's full screen mode. You throw iPhoto or any other app into full screen and depending on the program, sometimes it goes into full screen in my laptop, sometimes in the monitor. You'd think that it would automatically go into full screen into the display that the app window is in but it doesn't. Then to top it off the other monitor goes gray with the pattern of the sign in screen. So rather than being able to work full screen on one screen and being able to have say your mail and browser apps open in the 2nd, you basically end up with just one screen. A big screen but just one screen. This is very much a software and not a hardware issue as the screen itself is beautiful and does what it should do, which is display my information.

I don't have an iMac but I did notice the issue with the height of the monitor. Why would they make the 27" display a couple of inches shorter than the current 27" iMac? That makes no sense at all. Unless it's a harbinger of the 27" refresh it's a pretty glaring oversight. If the refresh is the same size as the current display then I guess that'll explain it. As it stands there is a company that sells a pretty nifty shelf that gets the 2 within mm of one another and provides a shelf to store your keyboard and an integrated usb hub. An option for those considering the purchase to match up with their iMacs.

I like the quality picture of this display. No tinting errors noted as in other reviews. However I did have to exchange the orignially purchased display.
The display I originally received immediately would power up its cooling fans when plugged into the power supply. The fan noise was absent while the computer was on. Within 5 seconds of powering off the Mac or placing it in sleep mode, the fans would run continuously. Only unplugging it from the power supply would it stop.
I did the Apple Care support call. Went through the motions of "resetting the PRAM", double checking all software and firmware updates with no change. Luckily I live near an Apple Store and was able to exchange it. I had the store employee open and check it first before I left the store. No fan noise.
The replacement display has worked as it should. There is a growing link on the Apple support communities about this issue.
The 27 inch sreen is twice the size of my previous LCD. So it took awhile to get adjusted to it.