Old Apple 20" Cinema Display for modern use?

[pupup]

Hi guys,

I'm tempted into buying an old A1038 2003 Apple Cinema Display 20".

It's stunningly beautiful, and I'm thinking about using it for decorative purposes. My question is, does anyone have any experience with this monitor?

I understand it can't compete with present day monitors, but I'm curious. How does it fare? is it still usable?

Thank you.

 

[bunnspecial]

These were superb monitors in their day, and are still quite good for an LCD.

Your biggest obstacle in using it is going to be the connector on it. These had the Apple Display Connector, which combines power, DVI, and USB all into one cable. They were designed to be used with a video card with a corresponding connector that supplied +28V DC and all the other connections. Video cards equipped with such a connector could be used in Powermacs G4(Gigabit Ethernet and later, as well as the Cube) and Powermac G5s(up to the late 2005 dual/quad core models).

If you want to use the monitor with anything other than the above computers, you need a special adapter which looks a lot like a Laptop charger. It has an ADC plug on one side, a power cable, and cable that splits out into DVI and USB to plug into the computer. These adapters routinely sell for $50-100 on Ebay.

 

[Alrescha]

My everyday display is an Apple 23" Cinema HD Display ca. 2002. It is 1920x1200. I have the Apple ADC adapter. It will be my main display for as long as it continues to function...

A.

 

[pupup]

If you want to use the monitor with anything other than the above computers, you need a special adapter which looks a lot like a Laptop charger. It has an ADC plug on one side, a power cable, and cable that splits out into DVI and USB to plug into the computer. These adapters routinely sell for $50-100 on Ebay.

Wow, I certainly didn't know that. I thought it was enough with a Firewire 400 to Thunderbolt adaptor.

Thanks for the input.