I currently have two 27" displays… a Studio display which I use as a main monitor and a 13 year old Thunderbolt display which has been used for notes / reference / web analytics.
Over the past few weeks, the Thunderbolt display has been flickering black for a few seconds and then coming back to life. This week, the periods of darkness have been increasing and today it has turned off and doesn’t want to come back on
It has been an incredibly reliable device, working with many different Macs over the years, and I will be sad to lose it. Is this something that I can get repaired (here in the UK)?
I can work with one monitor, but I would love to get another if this is beyond repair. A second Studio Display would be perfect, but I’m extremely reluctant to spend another £1500, especially as it would only be used as a second monitor.
Does anyone have any 27" monitor recommendations? Ideally, under £500? I’ve been looking at this BenQ model but don’t have any experience with the brand. The Amazon reviews are generally good but they can’t always be trusted!
I’ve been happy with BenQ monitors. I used dual 27" BenQ monitors in my office for several years. Only reason I’m not still using them is that it was time to upgrade to something with a higher resolution than 1920x1080, and LG was at the right price.
I also have a 27" Thunderbolt Display at home that’s still going strong 12 years later.
I am very happy with my LG 27UL850. It cost me £230 second hand on eBay a year ago. You’ll want to check the model number as some of the older 27-inch ones don’t have USB-C power delivery. This one does, which means one cable charges my MacBook Air as well as provides video out.
I had the exact same issue with my Thunderbolt Display. I tried everything I could think of to no avail. I was about to toss it out and replace it when someone who had also had the same issue said they solved it by unplugging the thunderbolt cable (the octopus one attached to the TB display) and instead, connecting the Display to the Mac with a regular TB cable (to the TB port on the back of the display). So I tried it and it worked! Seems the octopus cable on the Thunderbolt Display can fail - but it’s an easy, and relatively inexpensive fix! (at least it was for me).
Oh no! My Thunderbolt display has now gone to the recycling centre, sadly. It did seem like it could have been a loose connection somewhere, so maybe a cable switch would have fixed mine, too.
I got myself a Dell 4K monitor, which wasn’t very expensive, and I’m really enjoying the improved resolution so I’m glad I upgraded anyway.
