Review: Apple Thunderbolt Display

If you’ve recently invested in one of the new Thunderbolt-enabled Macs, you may already be looking for the best way to upgrade, espcially if you went for the MacBook Air. The tiny laptop is somewhat lacking when it comes to the ports included on its diminutive frame. With a Gigabit Ethernet, a FireWire 800 and a Thunderbolt port all being included on the back of this 27-inch display, it seems the Thunderbolt makes up for the Air’s shortcomings.

Of course, these are additions to an already impressive product. The large screen manages the same 2,560 x 1,440 resolution. It also includes the same IPS technology that Apple now includes in its iMacs and iPads, which gives you fantastic colour reproduction no matter what angle you’re viewing from. This works brilliantly, giving you a perfect picture – it’s truly stunning.

It’s worth mentioning one thing at this point; if you don’t have a Thunderbolt- enabled Mac, then this display is not for you. The ports on the display only work thanks to the Thunderbolt cable’s two-way signal, and with no USB adapter included on the connection cable for this display, a Thunderbolt port is the only way to send and receive the signals you need for the display to work properly. Thankfully, Apple is continuing to ship its LED Cinema display at the same price as the Thunderbolt display, so if you still want to upgrade but don’t want to buy a new Mac to do so, you still have options open to you.

Apart from the ports on the back, the only real improvement here over Apple’s LED Cinema display is the FaceTime HD camera that allows you to record in 720p and have high-quality video FaceTime calls with your friends and family. Again, this is technology we’ve seen before, and it works as well as we’ve come to expect. Otherwise, there’s nothing new to shout about.

The real issue for this display is not any of its features, but the price. Everything it does, it does absolutely brilliantly, and we would argue this is much better value than the LED Cinema display. However, at £899/$999, it’s difficult to justify such expenditure when you can get fantastic 27-inch displays for less than half the price. If you can afford the luxury, it’s the perfect expansion for your workspace. If you can’t, look elsewhere.

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