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Thunderbolt display daisy-chaining spec cleared up

by Chris Rawson Sep 18th 2011 at 9:00PM

Apple has posted a support article to clear up potential confusion about the capabilities of its new Thunderbolt-enabled Cinema Display. First of all, it should go without saying that only Macs with a Thunderbolt port will be able to utilize the display to its fullest capability. Fortunately, virtually all new Mac models released in 2011 feature the new I/O port.

Not all Macs' Thunderbolt ports are created equal, however. While most Macs will be able to drive two Thunderbolt displays from a single port, the MacBook Air is only capable of driving a single display. Additionally, the 13-inch MacBook Pro's display will automatically go black if it's driving two Thunderbolt displays; Apple notes this is "expected behavior." The 15 and 17-inch MacBook Pros and iMacs should be capable of driving two displays in addition to their own internal LCDs. The Mac mini can drive two Thunderbolt displays plus a display connected via its HDMI port, but only if the mini has an AMD graphics card.

Apple's notes one other caveat about the Thunderbolt display: older Mini DisplayPort displays won't light up if they're hooked directly into the Thunderbolt port on the newer LCD. Macworld's testing found that Mini DisplayPort LCDs can be added to a Thunderbolt chain and work as normal by hooking them into another Thunderbolt peripheral. It's unclear why simply hooking the older monitors directly into the newer ones doesn't work. For best performance Apple recommends hooking the Thunderbolt display directly into the Mac's port, then hooking Thunderbolt storage devices into the display's relevant port.

Macworld's first look at the new Thunderbolt Display makes it sound like an impressive piece of work; not only is it a huge and vibrant screen, it's also a very powerful hub thanks to the inclusion of three USB ports, Firewire 800, Thunderbolt, and Gigabit Ethernet. That's so many connectivity options that many users may find they're able to funnel everything into their Macs via the Thunderbolt connection to the display.



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Apple has posted a support article to clear up potential confusion about the capabilities of its new Thunderbolt-enabled Cinema...
 

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streetgawker

And what if you DON'T want to daisy chain? I just want to use my mid-2011 iMAC (27") as a color-calibration monitor at the same time as I'm using it to work in Premiere Pro/After Affects----via Matrox MXO2 mini and thunderbolt adapter....this is possible correct? I don't have to have a 2nd computer or display?

December 06 2011 at 12:09 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
James Chenkov Chen

Will it be possible to daisy chain 3 TB displays with macbook pro 15-17 inch, with the internal display switched off?

October 12 2011 at 4:56 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jackson Kavendish

"You can daisy chain things, except when one of the things you want to daisy chain doesn't support it... Also, not all Thunderbolt ports are created equal for some reason..." Uhh... Ok."

Almost every Thunderbolt device is designed to be the caboose when they should automatically come with one TB in and one TB out.

September 19 2011 at 1:42 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
DAP56

My point is the the second slide, they swapped out the MBA and put in a MBP and had no qualifier at the bottom, misleading me to beleive that I could daisy chain with Thunderbolt with an MBA. That's 100% the reason I purchased an MBA.

September 19 2011 at 10:04 AM Report abuse -1 rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to DAP56's comment
Vlad Tataranu

You can daisy-chain Thunderbolt devices with the MBA, but not 2 displays because the graphics chip isn't powerful enough

September 19 2011 at 3:23 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Vlad Tataranu's comment
DAP56

Thank you for clearing that up. I had no idea

September 19 2011 at 5:40 PM Report abuse rate up rate down
DAP56

I'm with you, HobeSound.. THIS IS GARBAGE. I too purchased the MBA after seeing the "unqualified" Daisy Chain Slide. The reason they had to clear it up was becuase they used EXTREMELY confusing advertising. Let's go the the Thunderbolt display photo slides on apple.com, shall we? First photo is a MBA hooked to Thunderbolt, MBA right out in front. Second photo is a MBP, daisy chained with 2 Thunderbolt displays, all 3 screens displaying different content. THIS SECOND PHOTO IS MISLEADING AND WHERE MY COMPLAINT COMES IN. The first photo shows MBA, the second photo shows daisy chain and MBP. Until recently, there was no wording added to the second slide saying that it was a MBP. The laptop moves further away, and, the whole thing makes me mad. The only reason I purchased the MBA over the Pro was because I thought I would be able to run 2 Lightning Displays.

September 19 2011 at 10:00 AM Report abuse -2 rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to DAP56's comment
Jonathan

I don't see how it is misleading since there was never a MacBook Air in the photo with multiple Thunderbolt displays connected to it. Secondly, on the same page, if you scroll down, it provides more details and never mentions being able to use two displays with a MacBook Air. "Connect two Thunderbolt Displays to a 15- or 17-inch MacBook Pro or to an iMac and put an extra 7 million pixels to work."

September 19 2011 at 3:12 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Jonathan's comment
DAP56

They never had the "Connect two Thunderbolt Displays to a 15- or 17-inch MacBook Pro or to an iMac and put an extra 7 million pixels to work" on those slides before.... They added them recently.

September 19 2011 at 5:37 PM Report abuse rate up rate down
HobeSound

Bummer - I bought a new MacBook Air after reading about the ***unqualified*** ability to daisy-chain several Thunderbolt-enabled devices. Two displays and storage plus the easy portability would have made an awesome rig. Sigh.

September 19 2011 at 7:22 AM Report abuse -2 rate up rate down Reply
ipc

Can you connect two thunderbolt-equipped macs to the same thunderbolt display? I'm thinking of a setup where you have a mac mini connected to the display 24/7 but you'd like to use the display with a macbook pro from time to time.

September 19 2011 at 5:59 AM Report abuse -1 rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to ipc's comment
Vlad Tataranu

Thunderbolt switches will come out eventually. Until then, you can just swap a cable, not that hard :P

September 19 2011 at 3:26 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
ipc

can you connect two thunderbolt-equipped macs to the same thunderbolt display and switch between them? I'm thinking about a setup where a mac mini is connected to the display 24/7 but you can sit down with your macbook pro and override the display when you want to.

September 19 2011 at 5:56 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Cy Starkman

My question is...

If you hook up Apple's Thunderbolt display does its Gigabit ethernet port kill the computer's internal one or does it add a second network port.

While not cost effective if it was your only intention having dual ethernet does have a range of benefits.

September 19 2011 at 1:27 AM Report abuse +1 rate up rate down Reply
Mabhatter

ok kids, before you ask anymore stupid questions, go look at the comments in the Macworld testing...
There were some good comments by the testers why daisy chaining a Mini DisplayPort off the Thunderbolt display might not work technically...

September 18 2011 at 9:58 PM Report abuse +1 rate up rate down Reply
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