Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

30" ACD not recommended for Macbook Pro?

S

suburbia

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 21, 2008
349
29
Hey all,

I remember there was a discussion concerning whether the MBP would overheat if hooked up to a 30" ACD: I did a search but can't seem to find it the original thread...

Anyway, I am interested in the 30" ACD for my 17" 2.4GHz MBP. Inquired whether this would be an ideal setup, and the answer from a Genius as well as Applecare technician was that the notebook would not overheat, however, the display resolution on the display would not be be as sharp and crisp. Does anyone with this setup (17" MBP & 30" ACD) confirm?

Much appreciated!
 
It shouldn't overheat and it should drive the 30" ACD just find since the book has a dual link DVI and supports the 30" ACD's native resolution.

I have hooked my 17" penryn up to the 30" at the job and I see no difference between that setup and the Mac Pro with a 30" and 20".

Then again, hearing that the book would overheat or the picture not be as sharp would have been found out about 4 years ago when the display made it's first appearance along with the dual link DVIs on PowerBooks that also drove the display just fine.
 
Um, I know it is officially supported, and I did it several times myself with my Dell 30" display and my older SR MBP. However I can say that whether it was in Windows or OS X it got egg-fryer hot. Never caused any adverse affects on my usage, but it was HOT HOT.
 
From the apple Website ...

A Desktop for Your Laptop

Bring your 17-inch MacBook Pro home to a big, bright Apple Cinema Display for the perfect combination of portability and presence. The white MacBook and the 17-inch MacBook Pro connect to the 23-inch Apple Cinema HD Display or 20-inch Apple Cinema Display. And with dual-link DVI support and up to 256MB of graphics memory, the 17-inch MacBook Pro also supports the massive 30-inch Apple Cinema HD Display, giving your portable computer a dramatic desktop canvas.

So i assume that means only the 17" MBP support the 30" ACD you should be okay since you have the 17" MacBook Pro

im using my 15" MBP with a 20" dell lcd right night and might upgrade to a ACD after christmas :):D
 
go for it with confidence :) I've used a 30" ACD for my macbook pro extensively before, and never, never had any problems.

It didn't overheat and whilst I never paid detailed attention to the temps, they were always normal as if I wasn't running the ACD.

The picture quality is excellent and you should run it at its native resolution of 2560x1600. Pictures, and text look sharp to me. The main thing is adjusting to a screen that big, but after a few weeks you'll be thinking the 30" is too small.
 
^ think you mean 17" in the last bit. I run a MacBook w/ a 24" Samsung (see sig) and it doesn't overheat. It's not related to a MBP and 30" ACD but from my experience, you should be fine.
 
Thank you everyone for their input-- so very much appreciated! However, after returning to the Genius Bar to pick up my iMac, I couldn't help but ask the Genius whether he would recommend the 30" ACD for my MBP: His answer was no-- he would not recommend it...
 
I hooked up a 30" to my 2.5 Penryn and it got very hot after just a few minutes, the video card about 81-82 deg. cel. before the fans kick in taking it to about 79 average. I imagine the video card won't last long but I don't care as long as its under warranty :D
 
suburbia said:
Thank you everyone for their input-- so very much appreciated! However, after returning to the Genius Bar to pick up my iMac, I couldn't help but ask the Genius whether he would recommend the 30" ACD for my MBP: His answer was no-- he would not recommend it...
Click to expand...

Good to know that the Genii in your local Apple Store are idiots. Or just that one at least.
 
That would make 2 "Geniuses", and 2 Applecare technicians who told me the same thin ;)

These "Geniuses": Brought in my iMac G5 to have the power supply replaced. Got it back today, and my built-in Airport Extreme Card is no longer available, as well as a HDD that's coming up with errors and corrupt files. I had run Disk Utility and TechTool Pro before bringing it in, and my iMac passed all tests-- except for 1 minor error.

Unfortunately, I have to bring it back in tomorrow to the "geniuses".
 
suburbia said:
Thank you everyone for their input-- so very much appreciated! However, after returning to the Genius Bar to pick up my iMac, I couldn't help but ask the Genius whether he would recommend the 30" ACD for my MBP: His answer was no-- he would not recommend it...
Click to expand...

Yeah, he's an idiot. My boss ran a 30" off a first-gen MacBook Pro (from early 2006) for two years without a single problem. It works fine. End of story.
 
Digital Skunk said:
Good to know that the Genii in your local Apple Store are idiots. Or just that one at least.
Click to expand...

Anyway; OP, you won't have any problem whatsoever with a 30inch. The machine will get hot, but not especially so, and certainly not hot enough to be of any worry :) And as digital skunk rightly said; the 15inch, including my own from way back in mid 2006, will drive a 30in just fine!

Happy computing!
 
As others have said, the genius was not much of a genius there...sorry you were misinformed.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back