Macbook with Thunderbolt setup

Question

i am very interested in the Thunderbolt display, i currently have a mbp and would love to use the thunderbolt as a dock to charge and do work on, what i dont understand is, why or how does the thunderbolt cable come into play? if the thunderbolt display, is simply "displaying" or "mirroring" then why do you need the thunderbolt cable? you are not transfering data and the thunderbolt display does not have a drive to store anything on? i am trying to really figure out what makes a difference between a 300$ LG display or a Thundrbolt display? dont get me wrong i have two macbooks and imac got the iph5 on septemeber 21, every accesory apple sells i pretty much own so this is not criticizing apple in any way i just want to know 1. what is the benefit of this display over similar 27 inch displays? 2. can you attach an external hardrive to this display without having to disconnect it everytime you disconnect your mbp(read that on the forum)? 3. can you mirror it using airplay since your not transferring any data, unless you were keeping an external harddrive attached to it? 4. and what is the difference between the cinema display and thunderbolt display?

Answer 1

Depending on what you are doing on the computer, how hard you are working the computer, it should not overheat. And if it does it should shut down or get very slow because when it starts to overheat the CPU will be throttled back to a lower Ghz speed and or just shut down so it doesn't cause damage to the CPU. The Kernel Panics are a sign that something else is going on. This could be software or hardware.
If after wiping the drives and reinstall Lion on the SSD if the system is running OK then the drives are fine, IE they are not bad. There is something else corrupting them. Again this could be hardware or software, but I doubt it is heat. And using the MBP ion clamshell mode should not cause overheating or excessive heating of either of the drives.
Have you installed iStat Pro or Menu and kept and eye on the temps? If not install iStat Pro and keep and eye on the temps. I bet they do not get above the 150°- 180°F mark which although hot is not overheating.
Be very careful when calling Apple. Removing the DVD drive and installing a hard drive in that bay could void your warranty. The DVD is not a User Removable part and Apple frowns on doing that. So if you call them do not mention that you have replaced the DVD drive with another HDD.
Honestly I suspect you have a hardware problem. But the only way to know that is to install just Lion and your basic programs and run the system. Leave out any AV type software, if you are running some. If you don't get any kernel panics thenn install some of your other software, one programm at a time. If with just the OS and basic software you get a kernel panic then it is hardware related and needs to be checked out by Apple. If you do that re-install the DVD and the original HDD with just the OS on it before you take it in.