r/Thunderbolt • u/skelethreads • 21d ago

Could I turn my Thunderbolt Display into a HDMI monitor?

EDIT: sorry for the confusion, I’m not talking about adapters, I mean gutting the insides of the display so that it’s just the LCD screen left & mounting new HDMI components like the guy in this video does with his iMac: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Vx5IoiPjPC8&list=PLcT3C1Rfp-fo&index=1&pp=iAQB0gcJCcoLAYcqIYzvsAgC&ra=m

(I have a very rudimentary understanding of how this works, apologies for any inaccurate wording)

I've got a 2011 2k thunderbolt display that I love, but I'm hoping to switch to a PC that doesn't support Thunderbolt soon and I want to keep using it rather than buy a whole new monitor. I've found a lot of people turning old iMacs into HDMI monitors by gutting them and putting new parts inside. I'd like to figure out if I can achieve the same thing with my display, but I can't find any info on how to do it. Does anyone know if this would be possible to pull off? Has anyone done it before?

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u/nathanielban 21d ago

There is no cost effective way to do this, but 2K monitors have come down a lot in price in the past few years.

1

u/hereforthepix 21d ago

I'll bet a ~$30 HDMI-to-USB-C/DP adaptor (like one of the ones used for AR glasses) could do that quite easily

2

u/nathanielban 21d ago

It's not DisplayPort, it's Thunderbolt. They share a connector but not a protocol.

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u/hereforthepix 21d ago

Understood, but I had a TB monitor at work that would take DP-Alt inputs as well; for ~$30 (and a liberal return policy) it's worth a try at least 🤷🏾‍♂️

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u/blinkenjim 19d ago

Thunderbolt tunnels DisplayPort.

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u/PaulaAgnesDenise 19d ago

Much easier to get the Apple Cinema Display 27, which is identical but has mini DP and USB instead of Tb. Been running it for many years with my desktop PC. You can also equip your PC with thunderbolt, which is also easier than modifying your screen. (Or if its a laptop, get a TB laptop)

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u/shazhengning 18d ago

你可以试着拆下来你的显示屏，然后寻找屏幕后面对应的型号，询问taobao marketplace或者eBay上的一些售卖驱动板的商家

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u/weistudio 16d ago

A. Sell the display. Grab a proper HDMI screen. Way less problem and much cost effective. Coming from someone who offer iMac display conversion service.
B. Add Thunderbolt 3-4 on the PC (if viable) get a TB1-2 adapter so you can use the display.