Apple Monitor Compatibility

trebuchettrebuchet
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
I have a recent iBook. I have the VGA adapter and would like to get an Apple monitor to go with it. Problem is, a lot are ADC, which isn't compatible. I looked around a few sites, Apple's included, and have come up with what I believe is to be true. Please correct me if I'm wrong. I am looking to buy a monitor very soon and would like to get one with a VGA connection.



Apple Studio monitors, G3 type, have VGA. Will work.

Apple Studio monitors, G4 type, have ADC. Will not work.



I know there is an adapter to get the digi ones to work, but they are much too expensive to think about.

Any added info would be appreciated.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    dobbydobby Posts: 797member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by trebuchet





    Apple Studio monitors, G3 type, have VGA. Will work.

    Apple Studio monitors, G4 type, have ADC. Will not work.







    I thought you could only get 17",20"& 23" LCDs , all of which require ADC connector as the twats have not excluded a separate power supply.

    You can get a DVI VGA adapter for $20 but it does help much as you need the ADC adapter as well.

    We enquired about this for some of our older G4's ie vga to dvi to adc but our Apple Tech Rep said it was not supported.

    Surely the place you want to buy it from wouldn't mind trying a few adapaters.



    Dobby.



    P.S. There is also a Dr Bot converter (it requires a graphics card) for Mac LCD's to PCs. The graphics card is crap so its not really worth it.
  • Reply 2 of 8
    trebuchettrebuchet Posts: 176member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by dobby

    I thought you could only get 17",20"& 23" LCDs , all of which require ADC connector as the twats have not excluded a separate power supply.

    You can get a DVI VGA adapter for $20 but it does help much as you need the ADC adapter as well.

    We enquired about this for some of our older G4's ie vga to dvi to adc but our Apple Tech Rep said it was not supported.

    Surely the place you want to buy it from wouldn't mind trying a few adapaters.



    Dobby.



    P.S. There is also a Dr Bot converter (it requires a graphics card) for Mac LCD's to PCs. The graphics card is crap so its not really worth it.



    I'm not talking LCD's here, CRT's. Sorry, should have been more specific. Used Apple monitors, no the new LCD's that I could never afford that wouldn't work anyway.
  • Reply 3 of 8
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    I'd say don't bother making sure it's Apple branded. Why? Just get whatever is a good deal this week. Besides, a new CRT will be better than an old one for not much extra expense, and it'll last longer too.



    By the way, if you do want an Apple monitor, get a 17" blue CRT. Those are really good, they do 1280x1024 perfectly. The 17" graphite CRT looks the exact same as the blue one except for the case, but I've heard that they are very unreliable so I'd avoid it if I were you. Finally, there's the 17" clear ADC CRT which has a great flat screen, but it causes more strain at 1280x1024 than the blue ones and it uses ADC anyway so you can't use it.



    Getting a blue Apple monitor might be a good idea if you can find a problem-free one for cheap ($100-$140), but I think a new one would be a better bet. Also, if you have an iBook, all you can do is mirroring, not spanning, so you won't be able to run the display in addition to the internal monitor, you have to run it at 1024x768 displaying the same thing that's on the iBook's internal monitor. So basically, you get enough flexibility for presentations and little else. Unless, of course, you've hacked your iBook's firmware to allow monitor spanning.
  • Reply 4 of 8
    mcqmcq Posts: 1,543member
    Yeah, just get a regular CRT by any other brand unless you really want an Apple CRT.



    Link for deals:

    http://www.xpbargains.com/best_deal....itor_deals.htm
  • Reply 5 of 8
    trebuchettrebuchet Posts: 176member
    Thanks guys.

    And yes, I am running the spanning hack. I sold me extra monitor and I am already missing all of the desktop space I had with it.
  • Reply 6 of 8
    drboardrboar Posts: 477member
    Yes the blue 17" CRT that came with the B&W G3 and also the later CRTs are really nice. But I have had very good results with Samsung 17" CRTs for 150 dollars so you sure an get a very nice VGA monitor for a good price, I like to run them at 1280x1024 so they need both to look sharp at that resolution and have fast enough refrech rate to not flicker. Avoid the Apple 1705 that POS is so blurry it can not be used higher than 800x600!



    Shipping costs of second hand monitors really adds to the price so either buy a old Apple were you live or buy a new non Apple monitor. Samsung and Philips makes nice ones in my experience.
  • Reply 7 of 8
    powerdocpowerdoc Posts: 8,123member
    My Apple Blue CRT has died last month. So i will not invest money in an old CRT monitor. There is pretty good prices in new CRT monitor, and these monitors have a warranty . Take a new CRT monitor with a three years warranty, like ImageQuest or Ilyama. 17 inch monitor does not cost much.
  • Reply 8 of 8
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    Or you could buy my 15" monitor (made by the well-known and respected company of MAXTECH ). It does 1280x1024... and it sometimes whines at 800x600 or 1024x768, so I have to switch between the two to get it to shut up.



    Or not... it's a POS.
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