Newest hardware rumors include LED Cinema Display

Last week, 9to5Mac floated a rumor that Lion-equipped MacBook Air and Mac Pro part numbers had surfaced. Then, the site corrected the original story, swapping in the white MacBook in place of the Mac Pros.

Well, that revision seems to be wrong, too.

According to Mac Rumors, images of Apple’s LED Cinema Display with Lion artwork were published to the company’s website accidentally this weekend. The “MC914” part number appeared in the image’s URL, indicating that the part number previously leaked by 9to5Mac is for this part, not a revised MacBook.

Additionally, an image of two LED Cinema Displays being powered from one MacBook Pro briefly appeared, indicating that a future update would include at least two Thunderbolt ports:

Apple bringing Thunderbolt to LED Cinema Displays just makes sense at this point. However, to do so, Apple would need to adjust the cables that come attached to the screen. Currently, the cable includes a MagSafe adaptor, a USB plug and a MiniDisplay plug. Apple uses the USB to pass USB to the back of the display, to send audio to the screen’s built-in speakers and to run the iSight camera.

The image above shows the new display to only include power and Thunderbolt on the cable — no USB. ThunderBolt and USB are not currently known to work with each other, so Apple may be killing the USB ports on the back of its display. These ports have been in place since the Cinema Display was first introduced in 1999.

Article and Images Via: Mac Rumors

Stephen Hackett, formerly a Lead Mac Genius at Apple, now spends his days running the IT department of a large non-profit in Memphis, TN. He writes about Apple, design and journalism at forkbombr.net. Like all twenty-somethings, you can find him… Full Bio