New Apple 24-inch Cinema Display PC Compatible?

[FriedPotatoes]

I've read and searched around, but still have not been able to find an answer to my ideal setup for my situation.

I have two computers. A unibody macbook and a desktop PC. I wish to completely switch to the mac world, but still need to run a few things on Windows every now and again. I wish to connect both computers to a single monitor. The monitor I am considering is the new cinema display from apple. However, I have been told that the new cinema display does NOT connect to the desktop PC because it is not compatible. Is this true?

Also, what's the ideal setup so that I can simply switch between desktop and macbook? I heard there are KVMs, but I'm not too keen on those.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Liystalander]

Apple LED Cinema Display

Glad to here we have a new Mac switcher on our hands! Anyways, to answer your first question, it's not so much that the new ACD is incompatible with PC's, its more about the new Mini DisplayPort connecter. Apple claims that this will be the new industry standard, but to date, we haven't seen much industry acceptance. If your PC has a Mini DisplayPort, then this ACD should work for you. If, that is, you could find the drivers for the iSight, microphone, and speakers.

Overall, I would recomend that you save your money and get either a 20" ACD, or a Dell monitor . If money is no object, then try a LaCie monitor. Those are REALLY nice.

Hope this helps,

Alex

 

[MooneyFlyer]

I've read and searched around, but still have not been able to find an answer to my ideal setup for my situation.

I have two computers. A unibody macbook and a desktop PC. I wish to completely switch to the mac world, but still need to run a few things on Windows every now and again. I wish to connect both computers to a single monitor. The monitor I am considering is the new cinema display from apple. However, I have been told that the new cinema display does NOT connect to the desktop PC because it is not compatible. Is this true?

Also, what's the ideal setup so that I can simply switch between desktop and macbook? I heard there are KVMs, but I'm not too keen on those.

Thanks for the help.

In October I switched as well, got the Alu MB 2.4 and eventually the 24" LED. I still need my PC around but didn't want to switch between the two.

I have a couple of options that I've put in place and seem to work.
1) I got a free account on LogMeIn.com. I can access my PC from my Mac either in my office or when I am traveling. The whole PC shows up in a window on my Mac -- works great. The free version doesn't support a few features like sound from the PC (which only matters if I'm not there anyway)
2) The above can be done by installing VNC on the PC as well, just takes a little more effort.
3) Bought VMWare Fusion 2. They seem to have a sale on it every few weeks. They have a migration tool that can take your entire PC and make it a virtual machine. So, you can run your old PC right on your Mac. I'm going to do this again with a fresh XP install and just install the apps I might need.

I'd be happy to help you with any of the above.

Good luck.

 

[alphaod]

In October I switched as well, got the Alu MB 2.4 and eventually the 24" LED. I still need my PC around but didn't want to switch between the two.

I have a couple of options that I've put in place and seem to work.
1) I got a free account on LogMeIn.com. I can access my PC from my Mac either in my office or when I am traveling. The whole PC shows up in a window on my Mac -- works great. The free version doesn't support a few features like sound from the PC (which only matters if I'm not there anyway)
2) The above can be done by installing VNC on the PC as well, just takes a little more effort.
3) Bought VMWare Fusion 2. They seem to have a sale on it every few weeks. They have a migration tool that can take your entire PC and make it a virtual machine. So, you can run your old PC right on your Mac. I'm going to do this again with a fresh XP install and just install the apps I might need.

I'd be happy to help you with any of the above.

Good luck.

You can also use Remote Desktop Connection assuming you have Vista or XP on your desktop.

Finally the other option is to get a different monitor.

 

[FriedPotatoes]

Thanks for the tips above

I think I'll just be using two monitors for now. Found another table to fit my desktop on it. Primary table will have my Mac, of course

I talk to Mac people and they said new ACD is a bit strange as the it isn't even compatible with the mac pro workstation. Rumor has it that they will release a dongle of some sort soon. But who really knows if this is true and when.