Apple made its widespread Apple Thunderbolt Display from 2011 to 2016–we nonetheless get questions on utilizing the show eight years after it was discontinued. Regardless that the Thunderbolt Show used an older Thunderbolt commonplace, it remained appropriate with Thunderbolt 3 when that newer commonplace was launched, in addition to with the even more energizing Thunderbolt 4.
The Apple Thunderbolt Show supplied a Thunderbolt 2 information connection by way of a jack that’s an identical in look to Mini DisplayPort. Thunderbolt 3 requires USB-C, an ordinary that may join units and computer systems utilizing Thunderbolt 3/4, USB 3.1 and later, and USB4. USB-C is a specification for ports, jacks, and cables; Thunderbolt and USB’s numbered requirements outline what flows over these connections. (There have been some tweaky parts of utilizing Mini DisplayPort and Thunderbolt 2 when Apple transitioned from the previous to the latter, however none of that’s related with USB-C or Thunderbolt 3/4.)
If you wish to use a Thunderbolt Show, most individuals depend on Apple’s Thunderbolt 2 to three adapter, for which Apple nonetheless costs a whopping $49. This adapter has a USB-C jack on one finish, and you’ll solely get the show to work if it’s plugged right into a Thunderbolt 3 or 4 port in your Mac or an exterior Thunderbolt dock.
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Plug it right into a USB 3.x/USB4 port on an exterior dock or a USB 3.x/USB4-only port on sure Macs (just like the lower-end Mac Studio fashions’ entrance two ports) and the show doesn’t perform.
The reason being convoluted. The show depends on DisplayPort information coming from the pc to point out the display. Nonetheless, though USB 3.x/USB4 assist passing via DisplayPort information, the {hardware} on the Apple Thunderbolt Show can’t interpret that—it solely has a chip that may settle for Thunderbolt-encoded data, together with the strategy by which DisplayPort is wrapped up for Thunderbolt.
It’s one of many remaining instances the place USB-C frustrates a median consumer with a mixture of older and newer gear. The telltale is the lightning bolt image on Apple’s adapter: there’s a Thunderbolt lightning bolt on each the enter facet (for Thunderbolt 2) and output (for Thunderbolt 3/4). The USB brand is totally totally different and absent.
Learn more about connecting older Apple displays to a Mac.
This Mac 911 article is in response to a query submitted by Macworld reader Mike.
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