Wednesday, May 3rd 2023
Apple Ending Support for Thunderbolt Display and 1st Gen iPad Air
Apple hardware hoarders do exist - a friend told me that he'd only just replaced a 2013 vintage 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro this month - these folks continue to enjoy repairs or miscellaneous services at Apple Stores and authorized service providers on some products. Unfortunately there is potential bad news for preservationist owners of the original Thunderbolt Display and the first generation iPad Air tablet - a leaked internal memo suggests that Apple has decided to add these two antiques to their end-of-life (EOL) device list, according to MacRumors. Apple's Thunderbolt Display was released back in the summer of 2011, the company boasted that its fancy 27-inch 1440p monitor was the world's first display with Thunderbolt I/O technology (at the time), the asking price was $999. Alongside its requisite Thunderbolt I/O port (designed to connect to compatible Mac Notebooks), the monitor had a number of other spiffy features including an in-built 720p webcam, three USB 2.0 ports, a FireWire 800 port and a Gigabit Ethernet port.
Apple stopped making the Thunderbolt Display in 2016, and customers had to wait another six years for a successor to turn up - the Studio Display launched alongside the Mac Studio in March 2022. The original (1st gen) iPad Air was released on November 1 in 2013. It was the first entry in the iPad tablet family to feature a thinner design - its standard (non-Air) predecessors were a bit chunkier in comparison. It was discontinued in March of 2016, and Apple has so far released five generations of iPad Air products - last year's model debuted with the ARM-based M1 chipset.
Source:
Mac Rumors
Apple stopped making the Thunderbolt Display in 2016, and customers had to wait another six years for a successor to turn up - the Studio Display launched alongside the Mac Studio in March 2022. The original (1st gen) iPad Air was released on November 1 in 2013. It was the first entry in the iPad tablet family to feature a thinner design - its standard (non-Air) predecessors were a bit chunkier in comparison. It was discontinued in March of 2016, and Apple has so far released five generations of iPad Air products - last year's model debuted with the ARM-based M1 chipset.
11 Comments on Apple Ending Support for Thunderbolt Display and 1st Gen iPad Air
OSXMacOS no longer supporting TB-connected displays; or are we just talking about repair support?They more often than not either replace the whole thing if it's still under warranty or if you have apple care and if not they wont do anything.
10+ years of support on non-industrial components is pretty fantastic. TBQH, I'm doubtful there's a single 1st Gen iPad Air on all-original parts, and there can't be many Thunderbolt displays that aren't "on their way out".
(I've owned a couple LCDs for 6-8 years, they yellow and seemingly lose fidelity.)
I’m actually using an ancient DVI-D Apple Cinema Display as a quaternary display that was bound for the landfill otherwise. It’s a bit wonky but still provides utility for that purpose.
My LG SPVA lasted me 15 years before I had to finally get rid of it. Image quality was still excellent, but back outs eventually became incessant.
A BenQ 24" 'pro' display, a 21.5" Viewsonic, and a 17" Sceptre.
The viewsonic is the only of the three that still 'functions' today. However, the Viewsonic has extreme yellowing, dimness, and lack of clarity.
I've also been given 2 old LCDs, and they look a lot like the Viewsonic.
Not all LCDs age the same, clearly:
my budget Westinghouse HDTV has held up without notable degregation for 8+ years (other than replacing the power brick).