New Mac Mini and 30 inch cinema display 2560x1600

Any news about his yet?

Does anybody have an answer to this? Reading all the negative reviews on the apple site, worried me. I am refraining from buying this dual link cable, until I know for certain that the problems are solved with the Mac Mini 2009.

One of the complaints was that the screen times out every now and then. This is unacceptable in my book. I have the feeling buying the 30 incher ACD was the worst mistake of my life!

Here you go:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=104&cp_id=10428&cs_id=1042802&p_id=5106&seq=1&format=2

$12, It's worth a shot i guess, and Mono price has really good cables so if this doesn't work, chances are the Apple branded one isn't going to either.

EDIT: Ooops looks like it only supports up to 1920 X 1200. I should have read the description before posting.

I think the only way you're going to get an answer to this question is to buy one and try it out. Remember that most people only give feedback and report online if stuff doesn't work, which could explain all the negative reviews on the Apple site. I remember hearing someone say on here that it worked great for them.

Looking at the feedback on the page, its got 6 reviews, 3 of which give it 5 stars and say its perfect, 3 give 1 star. Two of the three are using Dell screens but then one of the positive feedback is also a Dell screen. Interestingly, one of the 1 star feedbacks say that they get "noise on black parts of the screen" - which is *exactly* the same problem I've had with my 30" ACD when using anything longer than a 0.5m dvi extension cable and my Mac Pro (no adapter).

Anyway, if it were only about £20 then I'd happily get one to test it out. I've got a 2009 Mac Mini and a 2008 Unibody 15" MBP that I could test it out with. Alas, £68 is a bit much for me to spend on a "just in case my Mac Pro fails" situation.

aw well

At least it got the discussion rolling again. I'm afraid the only way is actually buying that damn cable.

I'm gonna check if I can purchase this thing in the US, cause European prices are borderline ridiculous. €99 ?! That's like (*grabs currency widget $138.50 for a cable that doesn't even work properly. It's like they don't want us to buy it or something.

Even at the UK Higher Education price of £60.95 (€70), its still too much. If it had been half that then I maybe would have bitten.

I have a 30 inch Apple Cinema Display that will be three years old this October and I'm satisfied with its performance. It's connected to my Mac Pro and, unlike my seven year old 23 inch Apple CD, it has absolutely no stuck pixels.

I'll make a guess and say that a revision to the 30 inch ACD is in the works and will be announced soon. The revision will include a speaker pair, possibly a camera, and most certainly a Display Port interface.

Thermonuclear said:

I'll make a guess and say that a revision to the 30 inch ACD is in the works and will be announced soon. The revision will include a speaker pair, possibly a camera, and most certainly a Display Port interface.

Click to expand...

Most likely a MINI-DisplayPort interface. Which sucks for those of us who have 30" screens with regular DisplayPort because Apple refuses to release an adapter for that.

I'll be sticking to my Hackintosh until Apple gets their **** together.

kasakka said:

Which sucks for those of us who have 30" screens with regular DisplayPort because Apple refuses to release an adapter for that.

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Soon, there will be a third party option:

http://estore.circuitassembly.com/products/Mini-Displayport-to-Displayport-Adapter-Cable.html

djc6 said:

Soon, there will be a third party option:

http://estore.circuitassembly.com/products/Mini-Displayport-to-Displayport-Adapter-Cable.html

Click to expand...

That's great news. I'll still wait for the next iteration of Macbooks though.

I am using a 2009 Mini with the adapter hooked up to a 30 inch Samsung monitor. I have been using it for about a week now and it seems to be working pretty well although I did experience the dreaded every 30 seconds screen flash. I rebooted and the problem has yet to surface again. All in all though I would say you should go for it. Its really nice to be done with my Hackintosh which I was using just to be able to hook it up to a 30 inch monitor.

It would have been better to have built in display port instead of mini-display port. The adaptor to dual link DVI could have been cheaper, but to put it in perspective before mini-display port, to push out 2560x1600 on a mac you had to have at least a macbook pro or mac pro, or a machine that costs at least 3 times the price of the Mac Mini.

I would say at a minimal, that it is a step in the right direction.

I have the 2009 Mini and have it connected to my Gateway 22" using the included Mini Display to DVI adapter, and not one bit of problems. There is one thing though but I know it is related to the Light and Ceiling Fan in the room is a flicker on the monitor like small lines, but I had that when the monitor was connected to my Windows "Gulp" PC that is now put to rest forever

Good Luck

Are the problems still there with the Oct20th 2009 mac mini?

I'm on the verge of buying, specifically to use it with a 30" screen.

If it doesn't work then I might get a windows7 machine instead

If I were going to buy a mini to use with the 30 ACD i would go to the Apple store and have them show me that it did work. That's the easiest way. I've found them incredibly helpful. give it a try

TechViking said:

So I have been waiting for the new mac mini with the nvidia graphics so I can use it with my 30 inch cinema display.

Now since it does not come with standard dvi anymore, but with minidvi and minidisplay port, it needs the minidisplay port to dual link dvi adapter to be used with the 30 inch cinema display. That's another $99 on top of the already overpriced mini.

My question: does the adapter actually work ok now? I have read so many posts about problems with the adapter on this and other boards.

Should I get the new mac mini plus the adapter?

The mac pro is looking more and more attractive allthough I dont need the extra power, all I really want is a mac that works with a 30 inch display.

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The old Mac Mini never had Dual Link DVI so it could never drive 2560 x 1600 anyway. The March 09 Mini was the first Mini to be able to drive a 30" display (with a $99 adapter).

Sell the 30", don't buy the mini, buy the quad 27" iMac. Resolution is about the same (2560x1440 to 2560x1600), it can be used as a external monitor, comes with Bluetooth keyboard and magic mouse, and it is a powerful quad core.

I'm running my 2.26 mini with the regular mini dvi to dvi connector... loss of resolution but happy. Am buying the 99 dollar adapter this weekend.

California said:

I'm running my 2.26 mini with the regular mini dvi to dvi connector... loss of resolution but happy. Am buying the 99 dollar adapter this weekend.

Click to expand...

Did you end up buying the adapter? How's it look? Can you get it up to 2560x1600 now? Sorry for all the questions

jb1280 said:

It would have been better to have built in display port instead of mini-display port.

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Why? Aren't they electrically the same? If you need full size DP, why not buy the miniDP to DP adpater?

Mac Mini and Cinema display 30" screen

Yes it does work ! I use the new MAC mini 2.53 GHZ, $ 99. 00 adapter and $ 14.00 Moshi 800 to 400 firewire pass through.. and Voila ... resolution 2560X1600 .. works fine .. or nearly as fine. do not enable screen saver .. there seems to be an issue with refresh as you get out of the "sleep" mode.. or a frequency proble, at any other time it works impecably. I use FCP studio 2 , aperture 3 and it is better than my G5 2.GHZ MAC PRO. ... so there you have it . The high end Mac mini is well worth it IF .. You have a screen, a key board and a mouse. otherwise, by the time you spend the display connector and moshi, a 21 " MAC is cheaper