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Is it possible to connect a ibook to a 20" cinema display?

domokun

domokun

macrumors newbie
Original poster
I know that the ibooks come with a cable that will allow you to connect to a vga display but is it possible to connect to an apple cinema display w/ a dvi connector?
 
No its not possible. The iBook has a mini vga connector on it, not a mini DVI connector on it. And I don't know of any way to go from VGA to DVI. You can go from DVI to VGA, but not the other way around. If it is somehow possible, you're gonna see poor quality.

For about $200 more than the 14" iBook you can get a 12" PowerBook with has mini DVI out on it and that WILL work with Apple's new displays (excluding the 30" which requires an NVIDIA GeForce 6800 DDL).
 
i think it's possible, but it's expensive to up-convert vga signal to dvi/adc. i know for sure there's a vga to adc converter but that costs a few hundred dollars... can't remember the company that makes it - griffen or something...
 
This should work, or anything like it (this was just the first result from a quick google). You convert at the screen end rather than the laptop output end. Plug this in to the DVI port on the monitor, and then just plug your VGA cable in to it and you laptop port.
 
not sure if it's so easy/cheap to convert vga to dvi... i know for a fact it's cheap and easy to convert dvi into vga...

but at such cheap price, it might be worth a try.
 
edesignuk said:
This should work, or anything like it (this was just the first result from a quick google). You convert at the screen end rather than the laptop output end. Plug this in to the DVI port on the monitor, and then just plug your VGA cable in to it and you laptop port.
Click to expand...

That adapter is for hooking a VGA monitor to a DVI port on a computer. You would need a VGA male to DVI Female to hook a DVI monitor to a VGA port.

I did find this
http://www.lindy.com/us/productfolder/04/41223/index.php

but is the Apple LCD a digital only monitor? If so, then you would need one of those previously mentioned boxes.
 
kingjr3 said:
That adapter is for hooking a VGA monitor to a DVI port on a computer. You would need a VGA male to DVI Female to hook a DVI monitor to a VGA port.
Click to expand...
ooooops! 😱
 
kingjr3 said:
That adapter is for hooking a VGA monitor to a DVI port on a computer. You would need a VGA male to DVI Female to hook a DVI monitor to a VGA port.

I did find this
http://www.lindy.com/us/productfolder/04/41223/index.php

but is the Apple LCD a digital only monitor? If so, then you would need one of those previously mentioned boxes.
Click to expand...

You hinted at it but didn't specifically state the real reason the original idea won't work. How those adaptors work is they take a DVI-A (analog) signal and just change the wiring to a VGA plug- there is no conversion. Obviously this only works with signals that are analog and outputs which are DVI-I (Digital/Analog) or DVI-A (analog). However, all LCD's I've ever seen only use the digital signal on the DVI cord (DVI-D, for those of you keeping track), and so this wouldn't work, as has been stated. You need an analog -> digital converter, which will not look very pretty...
 
you'll also need the ibook spanning hack if you want the 20" to do anything other than mirror at 1024x768. Just something else to think about.
 
Or...

You could just buy a nice non-apple LCD that already has a VGA port. Problem solved, and for a lot less money than the overpriced Apple display. I recommend the Samsung 213T. I also recommend powerbooks over ibooks, for a number of reasons, but that's another issue.

-vga4life
 
Or.....


You can just buy a 12" PowerBook with a mini DVI connector for $200 more than an iBook.

Problem solved! And no expensive poor quality adapters. You'll have a 100% digital connection unlike converting from vga to dvi which will NOT make it true digital.
 
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