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Is it possible to connect 2 x Apple 27” LED Cinema Displays (non Thunderbolt) to the iMac Pro?


Yes. You will need to use the appropriate mini-display port to USB-C adapter, however. Finding one that works has been a bit of a struggle, but this is the one I used for my old 30" Cinema Display, and it will work with the 27" Apple Cinema Display too:

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B0...f-7208-4015-aef8-4c8147b8435b&pf_rd_i=desktop

Here's my thread on getting my iMac Pro working with a Dell 5K and Apple 30" monitor:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/working-30-apple-cinema-display-with-2017-macs.2100249/
 
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Yes. You will need to use the appropriate mini-display port to USB-C adapter, however. Finding one that works has been a bit of a struggle, but this is the one I used for my old 30" Cinema Display, and it will work with the 27" Apple Cinema Display too:
Yes. You will need to use the appropriate mini-display port to USB-C adapter, however. Finding one that works has been a bit of a struggle, but this is the one I used for my old 30" Cinema Display, and it will work with the 27" Apple Cinema Display too:

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B0...f-7208-4015-aef8-4c8147b8435b&pf_rd_i=desktop

Here's my thread on getting my iMac Pro working with a Dell 5K and Apple 30" monitor:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/working-30-apple-cinema-display-with-2017-macs.2100249/

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B0...f-7208-4015-aef8-4c8147b8435b&pf_rd_i=desktop

Here's my thread on getting my iMac Pro working with a Dell 5K and Apple 30" monitor:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/working-30-apple-cinema-display-with-2017-macs.2100249/

Thank you so much for the reply sir! Love the set up, and your photos of Europe on the screens are epic!

I really appreciate your experience, and hope you don't mind me asking, but do you know if audio etch is supported on this?

I am running a 5.1 Mac Pro connected to 3 x 27" displays but can't upgrade to High Sierra as my SSD is Raid 0, so.

Now the new MP 7.1 is not really going to land till 2020 I am considering either a 6.1 6 Core nMac Pro plus external drive and using my 3 screens, or now you have confirmed this can be done an iMac Pro 8 core with a good internal drive.

I think the iMac Pro might be the cleaner and smarter way to go, mind me asking your experience of it compared to you nMP?
 
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Thank you so much for the reply sir! Love the set up, and your photos of Europe on the screens are epic!

I really appreciate your experience, and hope you don't mind me asking, but do you know if audio etch is supported on this?

I am running a 5.1 Mac Pro connected to 3 x 27" displays but can't upgrade to High Sierra as my SSD is Raid 0, so.

Now the new MP 7.1 is not really going to land till 2020 I am considering either a 6.1 6 Core nMac Pro plus external drive and using my 3 screens, or now you have confirmed this can be done an iMac Pro 8 core with a good internal drive.

I think the iMac Pro might be the cleaner and smarter way to go, mind me asking your experience of it compared to you nMP?


Thank you. I took those photos last summer traveling through Europe. I'm heading back to Europe in the fall of this year, so hopefully I'll get some more decent shots! Anyways, I really appreciate the nice comment. :)

I don't have any experience whatsoever with Audio Etch. Sorry I can't be of more help there.

Prior to my iMac Pro I was using both a Mac Pro 6,1 6-core with D700s and a 5,1 6-core Mac Pro side-by-side. The reason I bought the 6,1 was because I was doing a lot of international travel and wanted to take a powerful machine with me. The 6,1 was perfect for that.

Comparatively speaking, in terms of processing power, going from a 5,1 3.33 Ghz to a 3.5 ghz 6,1 Mac Pro won't be a massive leap; there's still definitely a leap, it's just more subtle. What you would notice is faster disk speeds because of the PCIe SSD, and a much quieter work environment; the 6,1 is practically silent in terms of fan noise. You'll lose out on GPU upgradability, and internal storage options going the 6,1 route. Unfortunately, it looks like Apple's taken away the eGPU functionality from the 6,1 Mac Pro too.


Going from a 5,1 Mac Pro 6-core to an 8-core iMac Pro will be a pretty noticeable jump in performance, in my opinion. You'll have much much faster memory, an incredibly fast SSD (over twice as fast as the one in the 6,1 Mac Pro), and newer Xeon chip architecture to power through everything. Plus, you get a 5K screen.

I sold my 6,1 Mac Pro to fund the iMac Pro and don't regret it. I've still kept my 5,1, though, which sits behind the desk. The iMac Pro is definitely capable of driving multiple monitors, and so far the computer has been working extremely well for me. It's my favourite Mac computer.

The iMac Pro and the 6,1 Mac Pro are both similar, however, in that they rely on external storage for heavy volumes of data. There's no way around that, unfortunately. Either Thunderbolt or USB 3.1 are good options for fast drives. The iMac Pro has a four Thunderbolt 3 ports, compared to the six Thunderbolt 2 ports on the 6,1 Mac Pro. If you're worried about going the iMac Pro route and losing several ports due to having to plug screens in, you can look at something like the Sonnet adapter, which take two display connections into one port. That frees up three other ports for peripherals.

Hope that helps.
 
Thank you. I took those photos last summer traveling through Europe. I'm heading back to Europe in the fall of this year, so hopefully I'll get some more decent shots! Anyways, I really appreciate the nice comment. :)

I don't have any experience whatsoever with Audio Etch. Sorry I can't be of more help there.

Prior to my iMac Pro I was using both a Mac Pro 6,1 6-core with D700s and a 5,1 6-core Mac Pro side-by-side. The reason I bought the 6,1 was because I was doing a lot of international travel and wanted to take a powerful machine with me. The 6,1 was perfect for that.

Comparatively speaking, in terms of processing power, going from a 5,1 3.33 Ghz to a 3.5 ghz 6,1 Mac Pro won't be a massive leap; there's still definitely a leap, it's just more subtle. What you would notice is faster disk speeds because of the PCIe SSD, and a much quieter work environment; the 6,1 is practically silent in terms of fan noise. You'll lose out on GPU upgradability, and internal storage options going the 6,1 route. Unfortunately, it looks like Apple's taken away the eGPU functionality from the 6,1 Mac Pro too.


Going from a 5,1 Mac Pro 6-core to an 8-core iMac Pro will be a pretty noticeable jump in performance, in my opinion. You'll have much much faster memory, an incredibly fast SSD (over twice as fast as the one in the 6,1 Mac Pro), and newer Xeon chip architecture to power through everything. Plus, you get a 5K screen.

I sold my 6,1 Mac Pro to fund the iMac Pro and don't regret it. I've still kept my 5,1, though, which sits behind the desk. The iMac Pro is definitely capable of driving multiple monitors, and so far the computer has been working extremely well for me. It's my favourite Mac computer.

The iMac Pro and the 6,1 Mac Pro are both similar, however, in that they rely on external storage for heavy volumes of data. There's no way around that, unfortunately. Either Thunderbolt or USB 3.1 are good options for fast drives. The iMac Pro has a four Thunderbolt 3 ports, compared to the six Thunderbolt 2 ports on the 6,1 Mac Pro. If you're worried about going the iMac Pro route and losing several ports due to having to plug screens in, you can look at something like the Sonnet adapter, which take two display connections into one port. That frees up three other ports for peripherals.

Hope that helps.

Super information thanks. And apologies ha a typo in my question to you, I was asking does Audio (ie sound and facetime) and adjusting brightness, when you are using this mini display port to usb adapter?
 
Super information thanks. And apologies ha a typo in my question to you, I was asking does Audio (ie sound and facetime) and adjusting brightness, when you are using this mini display port to usb adapter?

Oh! I think it should work, but to be honest, I’m not 100% sure. I think it should so long as the USB cord from the monitor is also plugged in. I’ll doubt check on my 30 inch later today today.
 
Super information thanks. And apologies ha a typo in my question to you, I was asking does Audio (ie sound and facetime) and adjusting brightness, when you are using this mini display port to usb adapter?

I can confirm that the buttons on the keyboard work for screen brightness. I can't confirm whether audio works, as the old 30" Cinema Display does not have speakers. I would assume, however, that the audio will work fine, again assuming that both the mini-Displayport and USB cable are plugged into the iMac Pro. FaceTime via the 27" screen's camera should also work fine; there's no reason for it not to.
 
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