Thunderbolt Display too tall... any way to lower it?

[flynz4]

There are lots of ways to hide wires.

You could cut a finished hole (with insert) directly behind the monitor through the plywood. Feed the wires through that hole and attach to the VESA bracket. The entire thing would be hidden by the monitor.

Your major issue is getting the 27" TBD to sit lower. Wires are easy.

/Jim

 

[NMF]

There are lots of ways to hide wires.

You could cut a finished hole (with insert) directly behind the monitor through the plywood. Feed the wires through that hole and attach to the VESA bracket. The entire thing would be hidden by the monitor.

Your major issue is getting the 27" TBD to sit lower. Wires are easy.

/Jim

I'm mainly worried about the "hole" that's already in the plywood that's currently being conceled by the TB display's aluminum base. I don't want to be able to see that ****. Heh.

 

[jsolares]

Wouldn't the TB display still be way too heavy for the plywood to support it? The only feasible way I see to wall mount would be to cut a hole in the plywood and mount to the actual wall behind the desk. I'd need a mount with a decent arm length but those don't seem to be hard to come by.

That's why you glue 2x4's to the back of the plywood and screw the vesa adapter through the plywood onto the 2x4's.

Although with the appropiate anchors the plywood could support it if it's thick, i think they're called toggle bolts

You might be able to use a toggler thru the plywood onto the drywall with a long enough screw in case it's thin plywood.

That one looks pretty good, though it wouldn't really solve the problem of the cables/cut-out showing. I guess I could get something to put in front of the hole though. Hmm.

Wait. WAIT!

What if I got something like this and used it with the original TB display aluminum base -- with the mounting arm going through the cable hole? The actual base holding the mounting arm would be behind the normal TB display aluminum base. This would give my set up the "appearence" of the display being attached to the normal base (just a bit lower) and would allow me to have a lower screen height while keeping the aluminum base around for cable hiding. It would be the best optical illusion ever.

Could that... work?

No, the original aluminium base is what limits the height, if you keep the base there's no way you can lower the display.

Wall mount it, make a hole for the cables on the plywood and route the cables behind the desk.

 

[NMF]

No, the original aluminium base is what limits the height, if you keep the base there's no way you can lower the display.

Wall mount it, make a hole for the cables on the plywood and route the cables behind the desk.

I get that, what I'm saying is that the screen wouldn't actually be attached to the original aluminum base. The base would just be sitting there on the desk, not attached to anything. The screen would actually be attached to a desk mount sitting behind the base, the arm of which would be poking through the original base's cable management hole, holding the screen at a lower height. It would LOOK like it was attached to the original base, but that's it.

If that could work, it would be the cheapest option. I must admit I'm in no rush to spend $100+ on a solution that should be built in. It's not like TB displays are cheap. Also, the plywood behind the hutch is extremely thin. There's no way it could support the weight of the TB display, even with reinforcements. The reinforcements would just rip an even bigger hole when the screen inevitably falls.

 

[NMF]

Here's a crude sketch of what I'm talking about. Side view. Sorry for the quality; I'm a terrible artist on my best day, and certainly when using my finger!

 

[JesterJJZ]

YOU would still know it's not really attached to the original base and your OCD will drive you insane.

Don't use the original base or alter your desk, those are your two options.

Oh and #3...do nothing cause it's fine just the way it is...

 

[flynz4]

Here's a crude sketch of what I'm talking about. Side view. Sorry for the quality; I'm a terrible artist on my best day, and certainly when using my finger!

Just get an adjustable height free-standing VESA stand. A good one will look as good as the Apple stand. Hiding wires is trivial... you will easily figure it out. Some stands have internal wire-management.

/Jim

 

[glenthompson]

Another possibility but very tricky is to cut a slot in the top platform so the base can slip into it and rest on the middle shelf. Will take some careful measurements to figure out the correct size slot and placement.

 

[Kevin Farrell]

And by lower, I mean without using a hideous desk mount? I can't wall mount it because my desk has a hutch with plywood behind the display, which is also what is making it too tall. The top of the TB display is maybe 2-3cm away from the shelves above it. It looks really stupid.

I'm pretty upset about this, to be honest. 90% of the reason I went with the TB display was its looks. I don't want a stupid-looking plastic monitor next to all my expensive Mac stuff. But with it so high, it the TB display also looks kind of stupid. It's not "framed" correctly in the hutch. Way too high.

Is there... anything I can do? This is one of the first times I've been really angry at Apple about locking stuff down. The damn stand should be adjustable.

A GOOD SOLUTION: I wanted the bottom to sit flush on my desktop and found this great solution. After changing the mount, you can put the display anywhere you want.

https://www.tethertools.com/product/imac-cinema-display-vesa-vu-adapter-base-removal-version/

If you look at the installation instructions, removing the mount is easy and clean. Quite interesting actually, how you can release it to remove it and reinstall whenever you want.