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2011 13" MBA with Dell U2711
- Thread starter udflyer
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FWIW, you can get a refurb 27" TBD for $849. I am amazed at how gorgeous the TBD is with my 2011 13" maxed out Air and the ports are great.
Whenever TB peripherals become widely available it'll be even better. The TBD also is wonderful with Creative Suite 5.5 and Lightroom 4 in my Bootcamp windows partition. FWIW: My previous display was a 24" Dell 2408 with a matte screen.
I agree on the display, but I paid $849 for the Dell which works with both my Macs AND PC's.
If I was Mac only I would have done TBD.
Needed the flexibility of the Dell
A regular single-link DVI cable will not support the full resolution of the monitor. You need to use a dual-link DVI converter (like the $99 one from Apple) and a dual-link DVI cable.
This is correct. I drive my Dell U2711 with a MBA using a dual link DVI adapter/cable. It is $99 from Apple.
/Jim
It does, and this indeed works. The only problem is the OP is already using the DisplayPort socket with his PC.
Like this: http://estore.circuitassembly.com/products/Mini-Displayport-to-Displayport-Adapter-Cable.html
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Thanks. I just bought the cable tonite.
Works.
First time I switched to the resolution it held for 5 seconds then went very "snowy".
I rebooted the MBA and I have been fine since.
Has the "snow" ever happened to you ?
So much for my deal on the Dell...
$849 monitor
$49 Soundbar
$99 Apple Cable
At least it works on both Mac & PC.
Matt, it does not, the TBD only works with TB-equipped Macs/PCs. A friend just sold me his TBD for that reason-- he needed flexibility to run PC-DisplayPort machines with it. Seems like Apple would have made it backward compatible with DP.
I generally do not have a snowy problem... but I have seen it before. I cannot remember what I did to get rid of it... but I do not think a reboot was necessary. I may have switched from mirrored to clamshell mode. Of the MANY times that I have connected my MBA to my U2711... I have only seen it once or twice.
I use the U2711 to connect my MBA and my Lenovo X201 at work. At home, I connect my MBA to an ATD and previously to a 2560X1600 30" HP display. I like the ATD better.
/Jim
Do you find that the 2011 MBA and the U2711 provide adequate performance? I am looking for a 27" monitor but don't want to loose any performance in the process. Does the MBA have enough graphic horsepower to do the job, or is a smaller monitor a better bet?
Thanks,
Bruce
I guess that depends upon your application. I was just using my MBA driving my ATD to manipulate a fairly large Aperture 3 library (240GB database with 51,000 images). The storage was on a Promise Pegasus R4 Thunderbolt array, and it was operating great. The data would not have fit on my MBA SSD even if I wanted it to.
I use the U2711 at work, and for that I am just using standard office applications. My main reason for having it at work is to have a "larger desktop"... it has nearly twice the pixels as the ubiquitous displays that have 1080P resolution (1920X1080). So for me... my application is to have 2560 horizontal pixels so I can have lots of data displayed concurrently... so therefore, I would not consider a smaller monitor for my usage.
/Jim
The display port does, but the adapter that goes from display port to DVI or VGA may not...
DisplayPort to Mini DisplayPort from Macbook Pro 15" (2010) to Dell 27" Ultrsharp
$2.91 plus $2.98 shipping at Amazon.
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I use a DP to DP cable to connect my Lenovo X201 docking station to the U2711. It works fine. Mini display port is just a connector change... it is still fundamentally display port... so it should work just fine.
SInce my single DP input on the U2711 is consumed by my laptop... I use a mini-DP to Dual-Link DVI to connect my MBA to the 2711. If the U2711 had a 2nd DP input, then I would use a mini-DP to DP cable.
/Jim
i use a mini displayport to displayport cable which you can get for around $20 on my 2011 mac mini and 2010 macbook pro and I get native res on the dell 2711. I bought mine from here in australia: http://www.macfixit.com.au/shop/index.php?_a=viewProd&productId=1181
Interesting. Using a Dell U2711 (mDP>DP), I find the 2D graphics performance of a mac mini server (i7) with the same integrated HD3000 graphics as the MBAir (assuming it is a 2011-2012 machine) to be poor. The updates of windows are sluggish. Expose, Mission Control, Full Screen Spaces are all juddery. Like it is running at only 10-20 frames per second. Even scrolling large Safari windows is jerky.
Performance gets better when I use the screen windowed at 1920x1080. I saw the same on a Mac Mini powering a TB in the AppleStore so it seems "normal". I think the HD3000 are not powerful enough for smooth 2D in the OSX (or the graphics drivers are poor). For now I have installed 10.6.8 and Expose/Dock from 10.5 and it is better but still not perfectly smooth.
How is your experience with more common office functions such as word processing, spreadsheets, mail, web, movies?
I am looking for big viewing area, but don't want to sacrifice performance. Not a gamer. We will do very little graphic editing. I am wondering if a strong 24" would be better and not overtax the MBA.
Thanks,
Bruce
I don't do any gaming, hence didn't realise I needed a powerful graphics card. The computer is really fast. The problem is literally the speed of screen/window updates. It makes most of the animations slighty jerky (fullscreen animation is the worst). Things do not actually move any slower, but the animations themselves have fewer frames. It makes me feel nauseus watching it as everything is juddery, especially on the big screen.
So, I really think, in my opinion, the HD3000 is NOT fast enough for a large screen. I think even 1920x1200 may be too much for the HD3000.
One way to smooth out the animation (in SL at least) is to turn off beam sync using "Quartz debug" from the developer tools, but then you get "tearing" of windows as they move.
If possible, I'd take you MBA to an apple store and try it out for yourself.
So, I really think, in my opinion, the HD3000 is NOT fast enough for a large screen. I think even 1920x1200 may be too much for the HD3000.
One way to smooth out the animation (in SL at least) is to turn off beam sync using "Quartz debug" from the developer tools, but then you get "tearing" of windows as they move.
If possible, I'd take you MBA to an apple store and try it out for yourself.