Dual Cinema Displays - Worth it?

Greetings to all!
I just wanted to ask about the general opinion of the Apple Cinema Displays versus some other various Widescreen LCD's out there at the moment.
I'd like to run a pair of 20 Inch units off a Quad G5, however, I'm looking at the specs for the Cinema Display, and they don't appear to be too impressive (14ms Response time?) for a $999 Monitor.
For reference, I'm also considering the Viewsonic VX2505WM and the Acer AL2016W.
I'm not sure what I'm missing- but specs wise, ether of these units appear to be better then the Cinema Display, for less-then-half of the price ($350/Unit, versus $999/Unit). Better Contrast Ratio, lower Response Times, higher brightness, etc.
Am I missing something (other then the Aluminum enclosure- and the fact that it's an Apple product), or are there truely better monitors out there then the Apple Cinema 20" unit?
Thanks!
SC

I needed more real estate for a project recently, so I pulled the 20" acd from each of my minis and combined them on a G5 instead of the 23" - wow can't believe I didn’t do this sooner- the display’s DPI has always been crisper to my eye on the 20's and together they make a great space for design and digital imaging. I was going to buy another 23" but given the dual 20" scratched that for a few bucks more I’ll get 2 20” acd’s. To those that use "cheaper" monitors you must not do any critical color work or use them in an environment without an apple display- I just sold my Dell 2405 24" because (in my subjective opinion) I couldn't stand looking at it anymore compared to the rest of my apple display based systems -and yes it was calibrated and used on the same dual 2.7 G5 configurations with the same getrag eye I use on the rest of my monitors. Dells and such are fine for basic computing, but cheap is cheap. If you buy anything except a high-end lacie eizo or sony don't run it next to an apple display, you’ll be disappointed and of course always have a 21” apple studio display crt to put them all to shame….
4 G5's, 2 intel minis 1.25ghz pb Mac OS X (10.4.6)

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Dual Cinema displays, connectors too close

Oh so I have a dual display card and 2 20in cinema displays. The connectors on the video card are too close together to accommodate the fat plugs on the 2 cinema displays. I had to other branded displays and the connectors fit nicely. Is there an extension to fit on these to bring them away from the computer without having to swap out the card?

Your Mac Pro should have come with a short DVI(M) to DVI(F) extension cable with small connectors. Use it for one of the displays.

Macbook Pro - Dual Cinema Displays?

I know you can only have one dual-link 30" cinema display, but is it possible to dual-screen with two 20" or 23" cinema displays on a Macbook Pro with the built-in display disabled?

You can use a Matrox DualHead2Go Digital Edition
<http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/gxm/products/dh2go/digital/home.php>
The other option is a Magma ExpressBox
<http://www.magma.com/products/pciexpress/expressbox1/index.html>
with a NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT
<http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?mco=C2 69DC41&nplm=MA567Z/A>

Dual Cinema display on Mac Pro

Ok so i have 2 cinema displays, one is the 22' inch DVI and the other is 23' inch ADC. Well i finally got my ADC to DVI converter so i can use the 23' inch CD on my Mac Pro. Well finds out, when i connect the 22' inch DVI and the 23'inch with the ADC to DVI converter to the mac pro side by side, it doesnt fit. I need about about 1cm of clearance so i can connect both displays to the back of the computer. Both connectors are hitting each other. The ADC to DVI connector is a little bulky.. What is the easiest way around this fix ?
2 x 2 GHZ Dual Core Intel Xeon Mac OS X (10.4.8) 2 cinema displays

Your computer should have come with a short DVI extension cable with a narrow plug, which will fit beside the other DVI plug. If not, you could file down the DVI plugs.

Connecting Dual Cinema Displays to a 2011 MBP

I have a late 2011 Macbook Pro that I currently have connected to a 24" Dell monitor via the Mini-DVI/Thunderbolt port, and two other Dell 24's via Diamond USB adapters. I work in software development and always have a lot of windows open. I would like to switch to two 30" monitors instead and am looking at Apple 30" Cinema displays but I am not sure how to connect two of them to my Macbook. Can I?
My MBP has a Thunderbolt port, Firewire and two USB ports...
The USB adapters I have work great but only go up to 2048 x 1152 resolution so those won't work, unless there's a newer version with support for 2560 x 1600.
Is there any way to run two of these off of a MBP?

anyone?

Getting dual cinema displays to work on single processor G5

Hi,
I installed the nVidia Geforce 6800 Ultra. I hooked up the twin Cinema displays using the Apple DVI to ADC adapters. I booted up and both screens are black. The video card is getting power. Everything seems fine but monitors aren't working. Any ideas for troubleshooting?

Hi! Does that card support two monitors? I don't remember. Try a PRAM reset. (command option p r ) 4keys down at startup and see if that helps. If it doesn't try one monitor at a time and set the resolution low to something like 800x600 and 60hz. Tom
Message was edited by: Thomas Bryant

Using Dual Cinema Displays

Hi Gang
Just trying to get the most out of the working area.
From these screen shots, does anyone know of an optional configuration to consolidate/divide the data shown in the left display?
http://www.locationstudio.net/Dual-1a.jpg
http://www.locationstudio.net/Dual-1b.jpg
http://www.locationstudio.net/Dual-1c.jpg
Thank you
Mike

Hello Nick - Hello Ratvega
Nick, take a looksee at this screen shot:
http://www.locationstudio.net/ButtonList.jpg < Is yours a 'buttonlist'?
I would be interested in this option to show the bins in a column, (like yours). Right now, I have too many of them which become hidden at the bottom of the display window.
*Remember this is FC6
Thanx
Mike

Brightness keys in Lion (Dual Cinema Displays)

I figured they were going to fix this with Lion. The brightness keys only work for one display leaving the other unaffected. Is there a solution yet?

I needed more real estate for a project recently, so I pulled the 20" acd from each of my minis and combined them on a G5 instead of the 23" - wow can't believe I didn’t do this sooner- the display’s DPI has always been crisper to my eye on the 20's and together they make a great space for design and digital imaging. I was going to buy another 23" but given the dual 20" scratched that for a few bucks more I’ll get 2 20” acd’s. To those that use "cheaper" monitors you must not do any critical color work or use them in an environment without an apple display- I just sold my Dell 2405 24" because (in my subjective opinion) I couldn't stand looking at it anymore compared to the rest of my apple display based systems -and yes it was calibrated and used on the same dual 2.7 G5 configurations with the same getrag eye I use on the rest of my monitors. Dells and such are fine for basic computing, but cheap is cheap. If you buy anything except a high-end lacie eizo or sony don't run it next to an apple display, you’ll be disappointed and of course always have a 21” apple studio display crt to put them all to shame….
4 G5's, 2 intel minis 1.25ghz pb Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Are the all silver cinema display still worth getting?

I'm getting a mac mini anf will need to get a new monitor for it. I was on ebay and saw the all silver cinema displays on theren for arounf 200 dollars. Are those still worth the money and are they good monitors?

This new display is designed for use with the new MacBooks. If you want a dual display solution that works with the current iMacs then you need to buy one of the current Apple Cinema Displays.
Future Apple Cinema Displays will be using the new DisplayPort interface which will require a mini DVI to DisplayPort cable to be used with current iMacs.

20" Cinema Display with G4 dual 450

I just purchased a 20" Cinema Display to use on my G4 dual 450. I'm going to buy the ATI Radeon 7500 graphics card that's recommended, but I'm confused. Is there more than one version of this card? In the specs I don't see the Mac operating system mentioned.
My graphics needs are very simple so I want the least expensive card I can get that will handle the 20" display, and this one seems to be it. Also, is there anything else (adapter?) that I'll need?
Thanks,
Carole
G4 dual 450 desktop Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Hi Carole,
The display you describe is a DVI display.
From where are you getting the graphics card?
If the ATI Radeon 7500 card you are looking at has no mention of Mac specifications, then it is probably not the Mac edition, more likely a PC edition.
Only Mac edition cards, or PC edition cards that have been "flashed" with a Mac ROM, will work in a Mac. As "flashing" is an after market modification, you are relying on the technical expertise of the "flasher" to give you a functional card.
The true Mac edition ATI Radeon 7500 is an OEM card (so is not generally available "off the shelf"):
http://www.ati.com/products/radeon7500/radeon7500me/specs.html
It has VGA and ADC output. You would have to get an ADC to DVI adaptor to be able to use the DVI display. Here's an example of an adaptor:
http://www.drbott.com/prod/db.lasso?code=0123-ADE2
Given all the things I have just pointed out, it would probably be more appropriate for you to get the ATI Radeon 8500 Mac Edition (if you can find one, they are a bit rare). Howwever, it has DVI output, so you can hook the display straight in.
If you can't find the 8500, the next most available card would be the ATI Radeon 9000 Pro Mac Edition, but it has VGA and ADC output, so you would have to use the adaptor that I mentioned before.
Cheers!
Karl

30'' Cinema Display with mini-display-port to dual link DVI adapter usb hub

Hi all, I don't know if any one of you experience this issue and can help me.
I am using an unibody macbook pro (late2008 model) to connect to a 30'' cinema display via the famous $100 mini diaplay port to dual link DVI adapter. I have connected the usb cable from the ACD to the adapter and the usb cable of the adapter to my macbook pro. This setting works fine under OSX 10.5.7.
When I am using Windows Vista under bootcamp the USB hub on the back of the ACD doesn't work. The device manager of Vista shows an excalmatory mark besides the device "Generic usb hub"; and it reports a problem of "the device cannot be started".
I doubted this problem is due to Windows cannot recognise the $100 adapter as a "generic usb hub"; and apple has not release a driver for this $100 adapter for windows.
Since my MBP only has 2 usb ports and the $100 adapter already occupied one, it would be very much helpful if the usb hub of the ACD can work just like in OSX. Can anyone think of any suggestion?
Much appreciated for reading this post and thank you.

i don't have an answer for you, but i feel your pain. very frustrating when this happens with Apple products and Vista/Bootcamp. wish they were more compatible, for it would make things so much easier for the consumer.

Mini Displayport to Dual-Link DVI Issues on 30" Cinema Display

I know this problem has been around for a while, and that there are several other discussion on it, but my goal here is to point out that even in mid-2011, this issue remains.
Here's my configuration:
30" Cinema Display
Dual-link MDP to DVI adapter with 1.03 firmware (purchased August 2011 from an Apple Store)
New-ish MacBook Pro (purchased December 2010) with Mini Displayport
Symptoms:
On dark areas of the screen, DVI noise appears (horizontal flickers of light coming and going at random)
Attempted Fixes:
Unplugging the display and plugging it back in to the computer (failed)
Restarting the computer (failed)
Tightening the connections on the Dual-Link DVI adapter (failed)
Sleeping the display and awaking it (failed)
Some suggest getting a new 27" Cinema Display with native Mini Displayport/Thunderbolt support. I actually have one, but I cannot tolerate the glare on the glossy displays, so I'm "downgrading" to a 30" Cinema Display.
Is there any remaining hope for this issue?

I still cannot understand why you would return everything... Ultimately you want this computer right? Once the bugs on the adapter are fixed are you gonna go back and re-buy it?
Seems like a lot of time spent out of spite and not for good reason. Me, this is the best Mac I've ever owned (and I've owned many. no, really.) and I'm happy to wait for this adapter w/ this machine in stead of going back to my other box.
I observed a similar client of mine w/ an iPhone... after the first week, he didn't like the keyboard and a few other things, so he took it back and went back to using his Blackberry -only to dump the Blackberry again for the iPhone, because he realized that the iPhone still did more things better than the Blackberry.
J.

Dual Display - help with Cinema Display for MacBook Pro where MB won't detect displays.

I just got a Cinema Display (a1081 20") ("CD") off eBay to use as a dual screen with my Macbook Pro OS X 10.6.8 ("MB"). However, I can't get MB to recognize CD! I've tried power cycling both the MB and the CD with and without USB cord connected. MB won't recognize CD display in any situation. However, it is recognized in some capacity although I can't use dual display because the CD power button triggers MB to ask me if I want to restart, shutdown, or cancel.
Any help is appreciated!!

Have you tried smc and pram resets?
Try Detect Displays in the Displays preference pane.
Does the Displays preference pane Arrangement show two screens? If so do click gather windows and check the resolution setting of the new screen.

G5 dual 2.0Ghz bought in 2003+ 30" cinema display?

Hi all.
I bought the first generation G5 dual 2.0Ghz in 2003 and am sure that I have Radeon 9600 pro video card installed in the computer. Currently, I am thinking of buying 30" cinema display and did some research on it's specification.
I found that Radeon 9600 pro: pc/mac edition is compatible with the monitor, but I am wondering if the 9600 pro version can support the monitor.
If it can't, would anyone like to recommend a good graphic card except 9600 pro:pc/mac edition? Ugrading from original 9600 to 9600-pc/mac edition just sounds like a waste of money because of their similarity of specifications.
Any responce would be greatly appreciated,
Thanks..
KYE

To find out if your Mac already supports a 30" 2560x1600 resolution, go to the monitor resolution icon at the top of your Finder/menu bar on your desktop. Click on the icon and explore the various resolution possibilities. If they go all the way to 2560x1600 your good to go. No need to buy another card.
Unfortunately, I purchased a similar model in '04 and it does NOT include a sufficiently good enough graphics card to power the 30" [I was told by the apple dealer in '04 that it did. It doesn't.]
My research in to graphics card options for 'our' situation is as follows:
Low End: Radeon 9600 Pro Mac & PC Edition [$199]
Mid Range: Radeon 9800 Pro Mac Edition* [$250]
High End: Redeon x800 [$399]
I don't think the Rad9800 can drive more than 2048x1536. This might be satisfactory for you, it's not quite the maximum of 2560x1600, but your menus will be a little bigger at 2048x1536
Good luck.
My question to no one in particular is: did all early PowerMac G5 towers ship with AGP 8x slots? or 4x slots? or what?

Original 22" Cinema Display and G5 Dual-Core Machine

Good Morning, All!
Is there a special adapter or converter I need to run my old 22" Cinema Display on my G5? I had to go back to the Dr. Bot I had when I had the monitor on a G4 450. With the arrival of the G4 933, I was happily able to do away with the Dr. Bot "octopus" and take full advantage of all the display on-board stuff (power switch, USB ports, etc.) However, the new dual-core has forced me back to that friggin' Dr. Bot, even though the G5 books says it's ready for ALL Cinema displays. Well, obviously not mine.
A part number and a place to purchase would be most appreciated!!! I got spoiled to the power switch on the monitor. It was really rather dumb for Apple to put a metal start-up button on the front panel of the G5. With the air as dry as it is right now, the static is horrible and I don't like giving the machine a jolt when I started up in the morning. I find myself having to ground to something before I ever touch the machine these days.

Hi,
Well I have just bought a Quad G5 that I was gonna
use with my old DVI equipped 22in Cinema Display and
now discover that the connector on the display has
more pins than the connector on the video card. How
am I supposed to get around that?!
Are you sure the display is DVI (screw knobs), and not ADC (clips)?
If it is DVI and has six round pins (2 X 3) in the middle that are not on the video card connector, the extra pins are for dual link, which is only used on the 30" display. Depending on which video card you have, one or both connectors may be dual link, but you don't need the extra pins for the 22" display.

Dual Cinema Displays - Worth it?

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