Apple 27" LED Cinema Display

I am almost ready to buy the 27" ACD, but before I do I want to be sure I understand how to make it work. I have a Dell Studio XPS 435MT, Intel Core i7-920 Processor with 16GB of ram and a XFX R6750 Core Edition video card (with displayport). If I hook the monitor up, using the Star Tech mdp to dp adaptor, plug in the USB and download the brightness controller mentioned above, will I have all of the monitors capabilities including audio and video? My other option is the Samsung S27b970d.
Thanks

Yes that is correct Dave. You will be able to use the built-in speakers, camera, microphone, USB ports, and adjust the brightness. :)
 
No driver that I recall having to install. . .just the brightness controller.
 
My 27" ACD arrived today. It is a great monitor, although I can see why some complain about the glare. I think I can adjust to that when I can position it where I want it. The cable for mdp and usb is too short. It is not 6'. I have had to order extensions and will not be able to properly place the monitor until they arrive. The sound is great through mdp.
 
Apple has two models on their website for the same price, the 27" cinema and the 27" thunderbolt. Are these the same except the port?
 
Just a quick update on Brightness Controller.
I have been on vacation for the last few weeks so i have not been near my pc. But there will be some news soon.

Also i changed the url of my blog today. It is now just located at
HolstSchumacher.dk NOT jens.HolstSchumacher.dk

Update
The old URL's should be correctly redirected now.
 
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Apple has two models on their website for the same price, the 27" cinema and the 27" thunderbolt. Are these the same except the port?

Thunderbolt is a little better I think when it comes to the front HD camera or whatever but it won't work with any Windows PC. You need the original Apple Cinema Display to hook up to your GTX 680 or whatever.
 
Thunderbolt is a little better I think when it comes to the front HD camera or whatever but it won't work with any Windows PC. You need the original Apple Cinema Display to hook up to your GTX 680 or whatever.

Why didn't Apple include an old fashioned DP port on the TB display? Only supporting TB input seems insane.
 
Why didn't Apple include an old fashioned DP port on the TB display? Only supporting TB input seems insane.

Besides the port and the expanded peripheral inputs, the two are exactly the same. So they already have a displayport version. And because Thunderbolt is (or should) the future.
 
Why didn't Apple include an old fashioned DP port on the TB display? Only supporting TB input seems insane.

I'm assuming since all future macs will have thunderbolt ports in them. The Thunderbolt port is not only works for the display but it is also used to transfer data (like USB) therefore, there is 1 less cord (USB) needed from the Thunderbolt display. Like the person above said, the screen itself is exactly the same.
 
Those still are some questionable design decisions. The display is pretty bare-bones, all things considered, and while Thunderbolt is good tech it might not pan out to be "the future".

The original ACD only has a mini-DP connection which a lot of people were calling "the future of display connectivity" but it was never really adopted to a large scale.Newer Macbooks don't even have a mini-DP port!

I'm having trouble grasping why the new display can't simply have Thunderbolt and mini-DP, or even some extra options like DVI or regular DP. On a 1000$ display, that doesn't seem like it would be asking for much. It almost feels like it's a way to ostracize PC users - and it certainly worked, if that was the plan.
 
Besides the port and the expanded peripheral inputs, the two are exactly the same. So they already have a displayport version. And because Thunderbolt is (or should) the future.

Suppose I've got both an old and a new MacBook. Not being able to connect them to the same monitor is just silly. Should I buy two monitors even though I'm not going to use them at the same time?
Lots of other monitors allow me to switch between inputs, I guess there's no good reason for that either in Apple world.
 
Besides the port and the expanded peripheral inputs, the two are exactly the same. So they already have a displayport version. And because Thunderbolt is (or should) the future.

The future of what? I'll bet that Thunderbolt goes the way of FireWire...technically superior and largely ignored in favor of more open an cheaper alternatives like DisplayPort and USB. There's already a wifi alliance to remove the need for display cables going, with a standard in mind.
 
As far as i remember one of the major problems with firewire where the licensing issues. The licensing pool for Firewire was not nearly as effective as USB. If Intel/Apple have done a better job with the Thunderbolt licensing pool it might very well become an industry standart... If not... Well say hello to yet another obscure and superior apple only technology.
 
Suppose I've got both an old and a new MacBook. Not being able to connect them to the same monitor is just silly. Should I buy two monitors even though I'm not going to use them at the same time?
Lots of other monitors allow me to switch between inputs, I guess there's no good reason for that either in Apple world.

You should toss all your old MacBook in the trash and buy another new MacBook... Then you will be a happy apple user with two brand new macbooks and a Thunderbolt display. Such is the way of the Apple... (and don't whine about the costs... If the costs matterd you should not buy Apple at all)



EDIT
And yes... this is my attempt at a joke...
 
Is there any way to set this monitor up so I can see the motherboard BIOS when I turn on my computer?

My setup:

Monitor: Apple 27" LED Cinema Display
Converter: ATLONA AT-DP400 Dual Link DVI to Mini DisplayPort Converter
Graphics Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 670 SuperClocked 4096MB
Motherboard: ASUS P8Z68-V PRO
OS: Windows 8 x64 RTM

I am trying to overclock my CPU but I can't do it because the screen stays black thru the BIOS and then goes straight to my desktop. :/

Any help will be greatly appreciated.
 
Is there any way to set this monitor up so I can see the motherboard BIOS when I turn on my computer?

My setup:

Monitor: Apple 27" LED Cinema Display
Converter: ATLONA AT-DP400 Dual Link DVI to Mini DisplayPort Converter
Graphics Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 670 SuperClocked 4096MB
Motherboard: ASUS P8Z68-V PRO
OS: Windows 8 x64 RTM

I am trying to overclock my CPU but I can't do it because the screen stays black thru the BIOS and then goes straight to my desktop. :/

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

I am assuming your adaptor is causing the issue. My screen is connected directly thru the mini dp on my card and my bios screen shows up fine.
 
That is GFX or converter dependant. Probably caused by the converter you use.
I see the BIOS perfectly on my Radeon HD 6950 with native mini display port.

I only have one suggestion. As far as i can tell the "ATLONA AT-DP400 Dual Link DVI to Mini DisplayPort Converter" is powered by USB. So it might not have power early during the boot process. Have you attempted to power it externally (cell phone charger or usb port on another PC).
It may not help at all but it could be worth a try.
 
That is GFX or converter dependant. Probably caused by the converter you use.
I see the BIOS perfectly on my Radeon HD 6950 with native mini display port.

I only have one suggestion. As far as i can tell the "ATLONA AT-DP400 Dual Link DVI to Mini DisplayPort Converter" is powered by USB. So it might not have power early during the boot process. Have you attempted to power it externally (cell phone charger or usb port on another PC).
It may not help at all but it could be worth a try.

I tried the a cell phone charger plugged into the wall trick but it still doesn't show the motherboard BIOS during startup. I actually still have it plugged in so I know it works. Maybe it's the graphics card? My old GTX 580 never had any issue. :'(
 
Hi guys.
I finally got Brightness controller 1.1 ready.

Changelog
1.1.0 - 13/08-2012
- The step size of the increase/decrease Hotkeys can now be adjusted.
- Added profiles that allow the user to set the brightness to a specified values.
- Improved error handling.

Full blog post here
 
I tried the a cell phone charger plugged into the wall trick but it still doesn't show the motherboard BIOS during startup. I actually still have it plugged in so I know it works. Maybe it's the graphics card? My old GTX 580 never had any issue. :'(
If the Motherboard has onboard graphics there may be some settings in the BIOS that specify what GFX should be used during boot. Also might have settings for selecting if PCI or PCI-E should be prioritized when looking for the graphics card.

Have you contacted Atlona support? The adapter is powerd via USB. So if you are very lucky it might be firmware upgradeable. But i would not get my hopes up in any case.

Other than that i really don't have any idea :(
 
If any of the guys who had problems with silent crash on startup could check if it still occurs it would be nice... (i did not fix any crash but an error message should be shown now.)
 
Is there any way to set this monitor up so I can see the motherboard BIOS when I turn on my computer?

My setup:

Monitor: Apple 27" LED Cinema Display
Converter: ATLONA AT-DP400 Dual Link DVI to Mini DisplayPort Converter
Graphics Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 670 SuperClocked 4096MB
Motherboard: ASUS P8Z68-V PRO
OS: Windows 8 x64 RTM

I am trying to overclock my CPU but I can't do it because the screen stays black thru the BIOS and then goes straight to my desktop. :/

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

I have the same problem, I use it on a GTX 580, with the same converter, and never could get it to work.

I am assuming your adaptor is causing the issue. My screen is connected directly thru the mini dp on my card and my bios screen shows up fine.

I see you're using a AMD card which has the native Mini Display, I was thinking of selling my 580 and buying a 7970, or wait for the 7990. I want to add another ACD but worry it won't work on my 580 even with the converter.
 
If the Motherboard has onboard graphics there may be some settings in the BIOS that specify what GFX should be used during boot. Also might have settings for selecting if PCI or PCI-E should be prioritized when looking for the graphics card.

Have you contacted Atlona support? The adapter is powerd via USB. So if you are very lucky it might be firmware upgradeable. But i would not get my hopes up in any case.

Other than that i really don't have any idea :(

You know what! I think you are right! Right before I installed my new graphics card and OS, I updated my BIOS to my motherboard to the newest version from ASUS. I bet it reset all my configurations. Now I have to dig up my old PC LCD monitor and get into the BIOS to change the settings back to how you described. Thanks for the lead bro! :)
 
I have the same problem, I use it on a GTX 580, with the same converter, and never could get it to work.



I see you're using a AMD card which has the native Mini Display, I was thinking of selling my 580 and buying a 7970, or wait for the 7990. I want to add another ACD but worry it won't work on my 580 even with the converter.

What would you use the second screen for? Also I got the 7970 just because i didnt want to deal with adaptor issues. I would recomend the new 7970 windforce 3x just because it is $60 cheaper than the lightning and stock clocked about the same.
 
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Does anyone know if the iMac 27" from mid 2011 (with thunderbolt) would also work as a monitor for my PC with a GTX680 card, with the adapter naturaly?
 
You will need a motherboard with Thunderbolt output. But then it should work just fine.
But no. i don't think anyone really knows if it will work. Thunderbolt displays have been tested on PC's but i have not heard of anyone using an iMac.
 
You will need a motherboard with Thunderbolt output. But then it should work just fine.
But no. i don't think anyone really knows if it will work. Thunderbolt displays have been tested on PC's but i have not heard of anyone using an iMac.

I heard of some people using a display port to mini display port for the display. But I'm still not sure about the iMac. The mac was a wedding gift and apart from being a nice surf computer for my wife and eventually a nice media computer I was hoping to be able to use it as a second monitor from time to time, maybe even get a nvidia surround setup going for fun. But seems doubtful I suppose.
 
What would you use the second screen for? Also I got the 7970 just because i didnt want to deal with adaptor issues. I would recomend the new 7970 windforce 3x just because it is $60 cheaper than the lightning and stock clocked about the same.

Games mostly.
 
Hi guys.
I finally got Brightness controller 1.1 ready.

Changelog
1.1.0 - 13/08-2012
- The step size of the increase/decrease Hotkeys can now be adjusted.
- Added profiles that allow the user to set the brightness to a specified values.
- Improved error handling.

Full blog post here

Thanks for this! About to receive an ACD any hour now infact :)
 
I heard of some people using a display port to mini display port for the display. But I'm still not sure about the iMac. The mac was a wedding gift and apart from being a nice surf computer for my wife and eventually a nice media computer I was hoping to be able to use it as a second monitor from time to time, maybe even get a nvidia surround setup going for fun. But seems doubtful I suppose.
If your iMac has a mini display port it won't be a problem. But if it is like the new thunderbolt displays (They only have thunderbolt. No mini display port) then you will need a new motherboard that has a thunderbolt connector.
 
Yea, that's the thing, I need another two.
Well... If you get another ACD then give me a shout.
Brightness controller is prepared for multiple screens but since i have not had anyone to test it i have currently locked it to only support 1 screen.
 
Hi There,

Any chance of getting support for the old 23" cinema display with the acrylic case?

Thanks,
Jamie
 
Hi There,

Any chance of getting support for the old 23" cinema display with the acrylic case?

Thanks,
Jamie

Hmmm. Don't the older models have physical brightness buttons?
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/712ht7+VHNS._AA1500_.jpg

The reason i made brightness controller is that the new models dont have any physical buttons at all and must be adjusted using software. :)

However.
If your model can be adjusted from software i can add support for it.
Install brightness controller. Open "Help => Gather HID Information" and copy the information you find there. I need it to add support for your display.
 
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