OLD Apple Cinema 22" DVI

[Quicksilver867]

Call me stark raving mad, but I want one of these. I absolutely love the lucite design/construction...for me, it's like being 40 and buying the sports car you always dreamed about when you were 16. I'm in college, and I couldn't (nearly) afford one when I was in grade school. Is it worth the ~$200 I would spend? (Does anyone have one of the DVI ones and can tell me about it?) Thanks

 

[CubeHacker]

The clear plastic "cinema displays" never came in DVI, they came in ADC versions. In order to run them, your computer must have an ADC port on the video card, or you need to buy an ADC -> DVI adapter, which used to cost $100 (if they still even make it!).

Overall, if you had to pay $200 for the monitor and then $100 for the adapter it would not be worth it at all. If the monitor were $50 or under and you could find a cheap used adapter it might be.

 

[mchalebk]

I've got a 20" version. When I upgraded my computer last year, I liked the monitor so much that I bought the ADC-DVI adapter (I think I paid about $90 for it).

They're great monitors, but it probably doesn't make much sense to pay that much for one when you have to also buy the adapter. (Unless you can find someone offloading a monitor with the adapter on eBay or Craigslist.)

By the way, the reason the adapter is so expensive is that the monitors don't have a power supply built in, so the adapter has to provide power.

 

[Quicksilver867]

The clear plastic "cinema displays" never came in DVI, they came in ADC versions. In order to run them, your computer must have an ADC port on the video card, or you need to buy an ADC -> DVI adapter, which used to cost $100 (if they still even make it!).

Overall, if you had to pay $200 for the monitor and then $100 for the adapter it would not be worth it at all. If the monitor were $50 or under and you could find a cheap used adapter it might be.

They actually did come in DVI, but only the very oldest (1999) ones. Yeah...as much as I want one, I've concluded that $200 toward a modern LCD would be money well spent.

 

[occamsrazor]

I'm still using my 22" ADC Cinema Display on a 2009 Mac Mini using the ADC>DVI converter, then with DVI>MiniDVI dongle. It works fine, and I agree the design of the monitor was way ahead of its time, but that said... the resolution and contrast do not stand up to more modern monitors.

 

[NIPRING]

Does the video card on your Quicksilver have ADC?

 

[occamsrazor]

Does the video card on your Quicksilver have ADC?

Yes, with Quicksilver G4/933Mhz I can hook up the display directly. With the Mac Mini I need the ADC>DVI converter.