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devmage · Jul 20, 2003, 01:04 AM

Greetings,

I plan to buy a G5 by the first of next year. I have an old PC right now I'm setting up as a second machine in the mean time.

Basically I'm looking to buy an LCD display for the PC that will eventually be the G5's display. Now I'm in my local Frys and it says Apple displays only work on Apples, is that true? Is there no addapter?

There are so many displays to choose from, does anyone have any recomendations on a good high quality LCD displays 17-19" that work well with both PC's and Macs?

Thanks!

Thinkdiff · Jul 20, 2003, 01:17 AM

The Apple displays will work, but require expensive adapters to go from ADC to DVI (and then another one to go to VGA). These adapters get up into the hundreds. I believe the Formac displays will work with PCs and Macs and are very nice. If you want 100 dollars off any Formac display, PM me. I have a few codes from MacWorld New York.

todrain · Jul 20, 2003, 05:18 PM

If your PC has a DVI Connection, you can buy Apple's ADC-DVI Adaptor and it would most likey work with your PC.

(my 20" Cinema is running now on my PC with a GeForce 3 card)

AssassyN · Jul 20, 2003, 05:47 PM

If your PC has a VGA connector, you'll need a $299 adapter from www.gefen.com to connect an Apple Display. If your PC has a DVI out, a $100 adapter from www.apple.com (DVI-to-ADC adapter) will do the trick.

However, be weary that a PC's VGA/DVI out cannot push digital signals reaching the 23" HD Display's native resolution of 1920x1200, and so with the 23" display it'll look scaled down. Trust me, I had this setup for awhile and didn't like it at all. However, w/ the 20" and 17" Apple Displays, you'd be fine. BTW, all Apple Displays *will* work on PC's w/ those adapters, no drivers required.

P.S. - WELCOME to MacNN!

all2ofme · Jul 21, 2003, 04:55 PM

Really!? There *must* be a PC video card which'll drive that. Is there some reason why a PC can't drive that on a DVI connector? I've run things that high on my PC at work (VGA connector) and while it looked bloody awful, it worked.

Originally posted by AssassyN:
However, be weary that a PC's VGA/DVI out cannot push digital signals reaching the 23" HD Display's native resolution of 1920x1200, and so with the 23" display it'll look scaled down.

MaxPower2k3 · Jul 21, 2003, 05:37 PM

Originally posted by AssassyN:
However, be weary that a PC's VGA/DVI out cannot push digital signals reaching the 23" HD Display's native resolution of 1920x1200, and so with the 23" display it'll look scaled down.

that's completely wrong. There's no resolution limit in the format itself, just in the graphics card, and nearly any graphics card built within the last 2 years, VGA or DVI, can push 2048x1536. Now, as far as i know the Cinema HD's native resolution, 1920x1200, is not built into windows, which may be where AssassyN gets the impression that it wont work. There is an app called PowerStrip that will supply you with this resolution, however. Search in this forum for it, there was a post a while back with very good instructions on how to get it working with a Cinema display.

oh, and as far as i know the power button on the monitor doesn't work, and the brightness can't be adjusted through the computer since there's no windows driver to change it.