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Apple’s 5K Thunderbolt Display Could Include Its Own Graphics Card

Thunderbolt Display stock shortages (http://www.macrumors.com/2016/05/31/thunderbolt-display-limited-stock-ahead-wwdc/) at some Apple retail stores have begun sparking speculation that a refresh is coming in the near future, and with current machines unable to run a 5K display over a single-stream cable, discussion has turned towards other methods Apple could use to introduce a functional 5K display.





Stephen Foskett (https://twitter.com/SFoskett/status/737814098759426048) and Daring Fireball's John Gruber (http://daringfireball.net/linked/2016/05/31/thunderbolt) speculate that Apple could potentially introduce a refreshed Thunderbolt Display (http://www.macrumors.com/roundup/displays/) with a built-in graphics card, which would result in a display able to work with almost any Mac because it would be driven by an internal graphics card rather than the machine it's connected to.





(http://cdn.macrumors.com/article-new/2013/10/thunderbolt_display_elcap_roundup_header.jpg)


9to5Mac (http://9to5mac.com/2016/06/01/apple-readying-new-external-5k-display-as-current-model-goes-out-of-stock-may-feature-integrated-gpu/) is floating a similar theory, claiming it's heard rumors Apple is indeed working on a 5120 x 2880 display that has an integrated GPU. Such a display would likely require the purchase of a newer machine with USB-C or Thunderbolt 3, but it would work with Apple's notebook lineup going forward.





A noted analyst doesn't believe Apple will go to the trouble of introducing a display with a built-in GPU, instead releasing a 5K display that will connect with newer Macs over Thunderbolt 3 by taking advantage of both DisplayPort 1.2 streams.





It's been believed Apple would wait to introduce a 5K display until DisplayPort 1.3 support is built into Intel processors as the standard will allow for plug-and-play support for 5K external displays, but by using both of the DisplayPort 1.2 streams, forthcoming machines that include Thunderbolt 3 ports will be able to drive a 5K display using Multi-Stream Transport without the need for an external GPU.





Multi-Stream Transport (MST) would stitch two halves of a display together to make a single seamless display, with each DisplayPort 1.2 connection driving half of the display, a technique Apple previously used in the first 5K iMac (http://www.macrumors.com/roundup/imac/). The 5K iMac used the internal equivalent of a dual cable DisplayPort 1.2 MST setup.





Multi-Stream Transport is inferior to the Single-Stream Transport that would be possible with DisplayPort 1.3, but DisplayPort 1.3 support is not built into Skylake or its successor Kaby Lake, meaning it will be at least 18-24 months (the time until Intel's Cannonlake processors launch) before Apple can introduce machines powerful enough to drive a 5K display over a single-stream cable.





With the Thunderbolt Display having gone without an update since July of 2011, another two years is a long time to wait for a refreshed display.





There is no concrete word on when Apple will introduce a new Thunderbolt Display, but given the stock shortages and the rumblings that a successor is in the works, there is a possibility an announcement could be made at the Worldwide Developers Conference (http://www.macrumors.com/roundup/wwdc/).

<div class="linkback">Related Roundups: Thunderbolt Display (http://www.macrumors.com/roundup/displays/), WWDC 2016 (http://www.macrumors.com/roundup/wwdc/)
Buyer's Guide: Displays (Don't Buy) (http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/#Displays) </div>
Discuss this article (http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/5k-thunderbolt-display-integrated-gpu-possible.1975346/) in our forums

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Source: Apple’s 5K Thunderbolt Display Could Include Its Own Graphics Card (http://www.macrumors.com/2016/06/01/5k-thunderbolt-display-integrated-gpu-possible/)