How To Set Up Apple Cinema Display With Macbook Pro

From 1999 until 2022, Apple released and connected to sell a series of external digitally connected displays optimized for Mac users. The displays started with DVI connectors, shifted to the Apple-made ADC connectedness, then back to DVI, expanded to dual-link DVI, pivoted to industry-standard Mini DisplayPort, and finally concluded with Thunderbolt 2 connectors. Later on not making a display for a while, Apple tree returned to the market with its own Thunderbolt 3 display, the Pro Display XDR, and began shipping information technology in Dec 2022 for a minimum of $five,000.

And, gosh, practice a lot of those older Apple monitors remain out in the field and in use. Apple never releases much in the way of unit sales, but it's a off-white estimate that several million displays were sold. While monitors dim and components fail over time, re-using an external Apple display with a new USB-C or Thunderbolt 3 Mac remains one of the top questions Macworld gets from its readers

That question has cropped up more ever since vast numbers of people who worked in office have suddenly had to shift to working from home. Many of usa take or prefer a two-monitor display; some readers have sent us pictures of several monitors driven by the same Mac.

You may have upgraded your Mac since 2022 or 2022 and abandoned an older Apple display for compatibility reasons, but now it looks clumsily appealing for your work-at-domicile situation. Let'due south look through the options across generations of Apple equipment.

(Also, don't forget that if yous have an iPad that can run iOS 13 and a Mac model released since about 2022 running macOS Catalina, you can employ the Sidecar feature to extend your Mac with an iPad. If you don't run into the parameters or want other options, check out the more broadly compatible Luma Brandish, every bit well as Duet Display, which works with Apple tree and other mobile and desktop platforms. We also take instructions on connecting more modem displays (and fifty-fifty an old iMac) as a 2nd display. )

In this article, I discuss compatibility with Thunderbolt three, which relies on the USB-C connector. All of Apple's current Macs include Thunderbolt three, a loftier-speed data-transfer standard. Apple tree's version besides allows for backwards compatibility with Thunderbolt ii and via adapters can directly connect to HDMI, DisplayPart, and USB 2 and three, among other standards. Docks extend compatibility further, with Mini DisplayPort, VGA, DVI, and other formats. (While nosotros've written about this earlier beyond several manufactures, we decided to consolidate everything nosotros knew, alongside newer and better-reviewed adapters, into a single place.)

Just a unmarried Mac model ever included a USB-C connector that didn't include Thunderbolt three: the 12-inch MacBook that Apple introduced in 2022, updated in subsequent years, and discontinued in 2022. I'll notation below exceptions for clarity.

Because it'south more likely you lot have admission to a newer Apple Display than an older one, I'll address the 4 digital standards Apple used in opposite order: Thunderbolt two, Mini DisplayPort, ADC, and DVI (including dual-link DVI for larger displays).

If you're non sure what display you lot have, look at the dorsum to observe its model number (not its proper name, which oftentimes remains the aforementioned across many revisions), and so enter that particular into Google to observe the full technical specifications and connector blazon.

Finally, a MagSafe alert. Apple tree offered MagSafe and MagSafe two connectors with some of its afterward-generation monitors to let you apply the brandish equally a hub: plug in one or two cables and MagSafe, and your laptop was set to go. Apple tree has never licensed MagSafe to tertiary parties, fifty-fifty though you can discover MagSafe "adapters" for USB-C, these products probable violate Apple patents and oasis't been certified by Apple.

As a upshot, if you lot use one and it damages your Mac, you could lose your computer and unbacked-up data for the pocket-sized convenience of reusing the display's charging port, and it'southward plausible that Apple would endeavour to deny warranty repair (if it remained nether warranty). Just read the one-star reviews on these products for more details. I've too noticed that retailers are cracking down on their auction, as there are almost none currently available at Amazon every bit I write this.

Thunderbolt 2

The dorsum of the Apple tree Thunderbolt Display.

From 2022 to 2022, Apple sold its Apple Thunderbolt Display, a 27-inch 2560×1440-pixel monitor that relied on a Thunderbolt two connector to carry data to and from a Mac along with a MagSafe or MagSafe 2 connector (depending on model) for charging. The monitor featured a 720p iSight (forepart-facing) camera, mic and speakers, and several connections: one gigabit ethernet port, one FireWire 800 port, and 3 USB ports.

DisplayPort connector symbol (left); Thunderbolt two (right)

You can look at the squat Thunderbolt 2 jack to observe a lightning-commodities symbol to ensure it'due south not an earlier monitor that uses an identical-appearing connector shape, merely only handles Mini DisplayPort. (That symbol is a rectangle with a vertical line on either side.)

Apple tree sells a Thunderbolt 2 to Thunderbolt iii adapter ($49) that lets you merely plug the Apple Thunderbolt Display into the adapter and the adapter into a Thunderbolt 3 port. (Note: This does not piece of work with a 12-inch MacBook, which has disappointed many purchasers.)

While the Thunderbolt 2 cable doesn't power to a Mac laptop, it should let use of all the other ports on the display. If you take problem getting the camera to work, seeing just a black feed, endeavour this trick to fix a software agent at Stephen Foskett's blog.

Mini DisplayPort

Moving dorsum in time, we look at the LED Cinema Display. A 24-inch model (1920×1200 pixels) was sold from 2008 to 2010, and a 27-inch version (2560×1440 pixels) from 2010 to 2022. This brandish serial sported a three-concluded cable with a USB ii.0 plug, MagSafe ability, and a MiniDisplayPort. It likewise had a 480p iSight, a mic, and speakers, and a USB two.0 hub with three ports built into the dorsum.

Apple tree LED Cinema Display

Even though Thunderbolt ii and Thunderbolt 3 carry DisplayPort video using the DisplayPort standard, the way in which that bespeak is put over the wire makes it incompatible with Thunderbolt. Confusing, I know, and an irritant for people since early Thunderbolt days.

To use an LED Cinema Display with a modernistic Mac over USB-C, you demand an adapter or a dock. Either adapter or dock can exist USB-C compatible (for a 12-inch MacBook) or Thunderbolt three compatible.

(Note! You cannot pass single DVI or dual-link DVI with a DVI-to-Mini DisplayPort adapter through a Mini DisplayPort adapter. The DVI-based signal can't be encapsulated in that sequence. Most adapters and docks warn buyers, some of whom buy anyway and go out 1-star reviews in the comments.)

You have three solid choices for adapters:

• Pass-through USB-C power: A great adapter with USB-C power passthrough is the UPTab USB-C to Mini DisplayPort Adapter ($34.95). That's useful with a laptop with ane or two ports, like the 12-inch MacBook and all Thunderbolt iii MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models.
• Video merely: : If y'all have extra ports, are working with a desktop computer, or are using a MacBook Air and don't heed occupy one port with ability and one with the display adapter, your best selection is the ITD Itanda USB-C to Mini DisplayPort Adapter, which is half as expensive ($18.99).
• Monoprice choice: Monoprice offers a uncomplicated adapter, its Monoprice Select Series USB-C to Mini DisplayPort Adapter ($24).

With docks, there are options abound, but the price is far college. If you are looking to rescue an LED Picture palace Display and don't need the array of other ports in a dock, consider purchasing a far less expensive DisplayPort or HDMI display and use a USB-C adapter for either of those formats to connect to your Mac.

However, if you lot want the ports and to connect an LED Movie house Brandish, consider these docks.

For the 24-inch USB Picture palace Display:

• OWC USB-C Dock ($119), in improver to Mini DisplayPort, this powered dock includes gigabit ethernet, 1 USB-C USB 3.one port, 4 USB Type A 3.i ports, a combination audio input/output port, and an SD Card slot. If you afterwards switch to some other monitor, OWC includes a Mini DisplayPort to HDMI adapter. OWC notes explicitly its dock cannot support the 27-inch model LED Cinema Brandish.

For either the 24-inch or 27-inch USB Cinema Display:

• OWC Thunderbolt iii Dock ($294.75) brings ii Thunderbolt 3 ports to the mix, as well as gigabit ethernet, a philharmonic sound in/out jack, optical (S/PDIF) output, SD and Micro SD Carte slots, and four USB iii.1 Blazon A ports. It supports simultaneous displays via Mini DisplayPort and Thunderbolt 3.

ADC and DVI

Finally, we're all the mode back to the earliest range of digitally connected Apple LCD displays of a usable size. From 1999 to 2004, Apple tree released the 22-inch Apple Cinema Display (DVI in 1999, ADC in 2000), the 23-inch Cinema Hd Display (ADC, 2002), the 20-inch Apple tree Movie house Display (ADC, 2003; DVI, 2004), and the 23-inch (DVI, 2004) and 30-inch (dual-link DVI, 2004) Cinema Hard disk drive Display models. These ranged from 1600×1024 pixels for the earliest to 2560×1600 for the terminal largest monitor.

Apple 30-inch Cinema Hard disk Brandish

For all the DVI-based displays except the xxx-inch HD model, you can plow to a simple, inexpensive adapter. For displays with ADC, you volition have to find on eBay or elsewhere an ADC to DVI adapter, which were once plentiful. You might even have one in your junk box of old adapters. (Don't endeavour to fool me; I know you have 1.)

A few well-reviewed adapters include one from Benfei ($16.99), Cable Matters ($19.99), and Weton ($25). Weton's adapter besides supports output to VGA and HDMI.

The dual-link DVI port on the 30-inch Apple Cinema Hard disk Brandish requires a unlike arroyo to pair together the separate DVI signals that collection the larger display. At least one reader had success with the Club 3D dual-link DVI to USB-C adapter ($44).

You can besides opt to find a Apple Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter, which is no longer manufactured, but shows up on eBay and elsewhere from time to time. Monoprice too offered such an item, merely it'due south out of stock, besides, of course. This adapter paired with a Mini DisplayPort adapter or dock with the port noted for Mini DisplayPort-era monitors has worked for some.

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Source: https://www.macworld.com/article/233993/connect-old-apple-display-to-a-new-mac-to-give-it-new-life.html

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