What are you planning to use Thunderbolt for? I've read it has huge bandwith and can run multiple devices, but what acts as the hub for all those devices to plug into? I see a single cable, but am unclear where the trasnport of multiple (non thunderbolt/affordable) devices info makes its way onto thunderbolt.
For your original question, it is the current Apple lineup of computers that provide thunderbolt capability, not the display you just bought. The display can simply run off existing thunderbolt system, and to answer my question act as a hub for other devices. You need a thunderbolt capable system to then run to the display and as a perk, that display can be mini DP. It appears to me that a system with Mini DP, yours, is not suitable to run to the thunderbolt display, rather a thunderbolt system can run to a Mini DP screen. Given the genius recommendation I may be wrong here, this is something he should certainly know better if he's reccomending thunderbolt displays for use with Mini DP capable video cards. Though it appears clear enough to me that you need a thunderbolt enabled Mac computer to run the 1000 dollar display you just bought.
High performance on display.
Thunderbolt I/O technology provides native support for the
Apple Thunderbolt Display and Mini DisplayPort displays. It also supports DisplayPort, DVI, HDMI, and VGA displays through the use of existing adapters. So you can connect your Apple LED Cinema Display or other display, along with multiple high-speed devices, all from a single port.
Edit: I'm unclear on the single port,... it seems obvious that the display/displays and other devices still need to all connect to the screen. I'm uncertain how having to connect everything to a screen saves a connection count compared to simply having those devices hooked into the system itself. Thunderbolt looks like a glorified dockingstation with a large price tag.
This highlights a major difference between Apple and everyone else. To get thunderbolt you need a new $1500 system and a new $1000 display. For anyone on a 4 year old PC who wants to add USB 3.0, they buy a $20 USB 3.0 PCI-Express card.