I have a LED cinema Display. let's say I want to upgrade to a Thunderbolt Mac in the future, can I connect my LED cinema Display to it?
and what if I decide to buy a Thunderbolt Display aswell. can I connect my 27'' LED cinema Display to that?
Macbook Pro 17'' core i5, Mac OS X (10.6.4)
You can plug a mini-displayport device into a TB connection. But I don't know if you can chain displays, i.e., plug a mini-displayport 27" display into the TB connection of another 27" TB display which is in turn plugged into a new TB mac (see some links below).
On the other there should be no problem plugging in your 27" mini-displayport display directly into the TB connection of new macs.
Related article:
Confusing Mini DisplayPort with Thunderbolt
With respect to chaining here's an article on the subject:
Other info can be found by googling "chaining thunderbold display to a mini-displayport display".
(d@mn edit timeout in these forums)
Here's an apple article on the subject of TB chaining:
Apple Thunderbolt Display (27-inch): Connection options for Thunderbolt Macs
Key portion of that article:
Mini DisplayPort displays will not light up if connected to the Thunderbolt port of an Apple Thunderbolt Display (27-inch). Displays connected via Mini DisplayPort video adapter to the Thunderbolt port of an Apple Thunderbolt Display (27-inch) will not work. Connect Mini DisplayPort displays directly to a Thunderbolt port on a Thunderbolt-capable Mac or to a compatible Thunderbolt peripheral. If the Mini DisplayPort display is connected to a Thunderbolt peripheral, the display should be connected at the end of the Thunderbolt chain.
alright thanks. so basicly I can forget about running a dual display setup unless I buy another thunderbolt screen. as if it all costs nothing...
You can chain them but you need another thunderbold device like I have Lacia ext Thunderbold HDD. Then you plug the LED Cinema to the Drive and then you plug the drive to the thunderbold display. Finaly connect TB display to your mac using the all in one cord!
Done.
Have it, tested it so it works.
Can a Thunderbolt hub be used instead of a hard drive?
I am not quite sure about this and how the hub will label the inputs. The whole problem is that the Thunderbolt Display have to be the last one in the chain.
To answer your question we need to know if there is a difference between the Hub and any other thunderbolt device with 2 ports. I guess the only way to find out is to try one and if it does not work return it.
In the situation you just described, do you connect the Cinema Display to the LaCie ext thunderbolt HDD with a mini display port and then the HDD to the Mac thunderbolt port with a thunderbolt cable? I've spent the whole day trying to figure this out and if I go buy all the wrong stuff tomorrow I'm gonna be kinda ******! Thanks.
A Mini DisplayPort display or adapter won't work directly with a Thunderbolt display but will work if the Thunderbolt drive is between the Thunderbolt display and the Mini DisplayPort device.
I have not mentioned any adapters so be careful!
I have macbook pro 2011 early with one Thunderbolt port. Like I said before, what I do is connect the LED Cinema Display to the EXT Lacie Thunderbolt Drive then with another thunderbolt cable connect the ext drive (have to have 2 thunderbolt ports on it) to the Thunderbolt Display. Then use the build in cord from the thunderbolt display to connect it to your laptop. In this way the Thunderbolt display is the last device in the chain and all works well.
Hope this helps
I believe I followed your directions exactly, but my screen pulses blue when I do this. Any thoughts?
What is your exact configuration... all the hardware on the chain?
I have my 20" LED Cinema attached to LaCia Little Big Disk with a Mini Display port to DVI. I then have a thunderbolt cable running directly into the back of my iMac. When I have it all connected the screen pulses blue and my iMac doesn't recognize that I have a second monitor plugged in so I can't select "arrangement" to extend my desktop.
the thunderbolt cable runs from the LaCia external to the imac
Your configuration is different. The adapter is making some issues I guess.
How about connecting the 20" directly to your iMac?
I tried that as well. It doesn't pulse, but it also doesn't recognize that there is a second display.
can I connect a 27'' LED Cinema Display to a Thunderbolt Display?
