Can I use an Apple LCD Widescreen Display on a PC?

[SNYder]

My Dad is looking to buy a new LCD monitor (preferably widescreen) and I suggested the Apple Cinema 20inch Widescreen LCD monitor. But can he use it on a PC?

My dad has the Radeon 9500 Pro, which has a DVI monitor output, and I would like to use it to connect to the Apple Monitor, but the Apple Monitor uses Apples own ADC input format (which is basically just DVI + power for the monitor).

I found this page on Apples site which is for a DVI to ADC adapter. My question is, if I buy the monitor and that adapter, will I be able to use the screen on my Dad's computer?

Here's the adapter...
http://www.apple.com/displays/adapter.html

[liquidmotion]

you are the richest person i know

[SNYder]

heh. Not me, my Dad. And besides, he's not rich. He just got a big lump sum of money when his family sold a house they have had in the family for many years.

[Atmo]

Possibly. This page states that it can be used as a second display on a g4 if you use the adapter.

But 1680 x 1050 seems like a strange resolution, not really sure if your card will support it.

[liquidmotion]

in that case, can i get a new monitor too? this 14" just isn't any good for video editing.

[anubis2003]

Are you asking permission or asking if you have the ability to? Neither can I answer.

[SNYder]

ability

Originally posted by liquidmotion
in that case, can i get a new monitor too? this 14" just isn't any good for video editing.

heh. err no

Originally posted by Atmo
Possibly. This page states that it can be used as a second display on a g4 if you use the adapter.

But 1680 x 1050 seems like a strange resolution, not really sure if your card will support it.

hmmmm. well, many macs use these new radeon line of cards, so if they can support them, shouldn't mine?

[Atmo]

Just curious, since the card has dual outputs, why not use a pair of 17" lcd's?

You can get a good quality 17" for less than US$500, so 2 would be around $300 cheaper than the single apple monitor, give a desktop with of 2560 (compared to 1680) and a height of 1024 (26 pixels less, so what), plus it's guarenteed to work with a pc....seems like a much better deal to me.

[SNYder]

not to me or him.

1) we have limited left to right desk space.
2) we want a monitor that uses fully digital connection (most pc lcd's don't)
3) the apple displays are exceptional. hands down.
4) we want to watch dvd's in widescreen. two standard monitors wont help that.

[anubis2003]

Yeah, but working with two monitors can be gay sometimes. It does have its advantages though. Of course, you could also get two NEC LCD3000-BK 29.5" monitors, but you will have a max resolution of 2560x768.

[henry3k56]

Get a Mac G4 while you're at it.

[anubis2003]

Why get a Mac? I would never do such a thing. You have to stick with PC's.

[Atmo]

Originally posted by SNYder
not to me or him.

1) we have limited left to right desk space.
2) we want a monitor that uses fully digital connection (most pc lcd's don't)
3) the apple displays are exceptional. hands down.
4) we want to watch dvd's in widescreen. two standard monitors wont help that.

Fair enuff, but there are plenty of pc lcd's with a dvi connection.

The only problem i forsee is the resolution. If you cant get it to run at that weird res there isnt much point getting a quality display, since the picture quality will be awful if you cant run it at its optimum res.

[henry3k56]

Originally posted by anubis2003
Why get a Mac? I would never do such a thing. You have to stick with PC's.

On a Mac you can run any operating system using VMware, or a virtual desktop program to run Windows, and quite frankly those things are built to last. Theres an Apple IIe that still runs, diskdrive and monitor all together.
Several Macintosh PowerPCs are still in commission and run fairly well. iBooks and the whole shebang.

[anubis2003]

I don't care about OS. I want the Pentium 4 processor with all of the other benifits of PC's. I don't want to have to buy an adapter whenever I want to get some sweet monitor. The mac's are just harder to use because of the lack of products for them.

[SNYder]

Lets not get into a whole Mac vs. PC discussion. Let's stay on topic, please.

[liquidmotion]

i think the real question is, "can i dual boot OSX and Win2k?"

[henry3k56]

Originally posted by liquidmotion
i think the real question is, "can i dual boot OSX and Win2k?"

hmm. Like in its own? Possibly, not. They are dependent on their own manufacturer's parts. Either Apple makes them for their system to work right, or Windows2000 on compliant hardware in order for it to work until you get the drivers installed.
But one has to be running inside the other, like Windows on top of Mac OS X, or Unix on top of Mac OS X. There is now Linux on top of Windows. Vice a versa. If the software isn't out there, there is a great demand of it later in the future.

[SNYder]

http://www.macnightowl.com/bullish/2001/12/12-21.htm

http://www.gefen.com/kvm/product.jsp?prod_id=1203

YAY!

But now I wonder, can I just use the offical Apple adapter? Is it basically the same thing as the 3rd party adapters talked about in this article?

[insomniac]

Screw that Mac thing, get this. It's on the top of my wish list.

[SNYder]

Look at the price. That's why it's not a concideration, otherwise we would get it.

[anubis2003]

Get the NEC 30" instead
Look down at the bottom of this page

[insomniac]

Ah fook, money ain't a thang.

[SNYder]

Originally posted by anubis2003
Get the NEC 30" instead
Look down at the bottom of this page

we dont have even close to enough room for that.

[sean2002]

Try Samsung's line of widescreen LCDs.

http://direct.mwave.com/mwave/doc2/513526.html
http://direct.mwave.com/mwave/doc2/448264.html
http://direct.mwave.com/mwave/doc2/369482.html
http://direct.mwave.com/mwave/doc/069848.html
http://direct.mwave.com/mwave/doc2/667574.html


Or, you can use Dr.Bott's DVIator to use an Apple LCD on a PC.

www.digiworx.org

[SNYder]

Only the last two of those links were widescreen. but thanks anyways. i'll read up on them.

[sean2002]

Oops, I just cut and pasted without really looking hard enough. Look into the last one, its probably the best.

[nature spirit]

between Korean (samsung) and Japanese (NEC Mitsubishi Sony) there is no way to compare. buy something that lasts. even if pricier at first.

[anubis2003]

I would go with NEC personally. They have been good monitors for me in the past. They also have some of the best monitors.

[eleet-2k2]

As for the Apple adapter, I dont know. If it's an actual driver than most likely not since it's made specifically for MacOS and its hardware.

[henry3k56]

Buy a big screen TV instead of spending money on a display.

[anubis2003]

They lack some of the advantages of monitors though. Especially since they are interlaced.

[m0e]

I don't know if this is in your price range or not but no one has mentioned it yet. I couldn't find an advertised resolution for it though. Radion makes an adapter to convert the output from their cards to component video jacks so that you can use them with any HDTV capable moniter.

Check it out:http://www.gateway.com/home/prod/hm_els_plsmtv.shtml

If I had the cash I would definitly take one of these babys for a test drive.

[anubis2003]

That is sweet, but once again it would be kinda hard to read text because it gets blurry because of the low resolution(even with HDTV) compared to size.

[SNYder]

well, actually since the Monitor would be further away from you it would not be so bad. Especially at 1080i resolution.

Random rant (cause have nothing better to do): HighDef TV's come in many resolutions. The High Def signals themselves come in a bunch too. The most popular are 480p 720p and 1080i. Many Plasma and LCD HDTV's are not considered TRUE HDTV's since the majority of them do not have 1080i resolution. Most have a little more than enough for 720p resolution. On the other hand, most projection screen HDTV's have true 1080i resolution. And remember, just cause a TV supports a certain signal doesn't mean it actually has that resolution size.

The 1080i and 720p stand for the vertical number of pixels on the screen. 1080i is MORE then enough for a PC display as the resolution is 1920 by 1080. And that's the signal Digital HDTV is sent at! Imagine that quality! DVD's are only 480p (720x480)! lol

So yes, If you got a Plasma display that had ACTUAL 1080i resolution, then it would be fine resolution wise for PC's. But the problem with Plasma for PC's? Burn ins. Yes, Burn ins. Just like the old green text Mac machines and pc monitors, if an image was on the screen for too long it would start to actually burn into the screen. This is not a problem for Plasma if TV is what it is displaying since the images on TV are USUALLY always changing (except on QVC ), thus Plasma is fine for TV. But for PC users, hell no. Thus the rising acceptance of LCD HDTV's. But even those have problems since most LCD HDTV's used as PC Monitors suffered from extremely obvious refresh rate problems. But the latest generation of LCD HDTV monitors is starting to fix that problem. They generally advertise the better refresh rate technology for LCD HDTV's that now have it, so make sure they have the new technology before you buy one to use as a PC monitor.

SO yeah... 1080i is an amazing resolution for video and a great resolution for computers, but since it's interlaced you may not like it for PC's. But most HDTV's that say they can be used for PC's have vertical resolutions of 768 pixels. So it's like having a huge 1024x768 monitor with extra screen space added to the sides. Whatever.

I want that 1,999 dollar Apple 23inch 1920x1200 16:10 LCD monitor. Sexy. It's the exact number of pixels horizontally that 1080i HDTV signals use, but an extra 120pixles vertically since it's a 16:10 ratio monitor. I still can't figure out why widescreen computer monitors use the 16:10 format and HDTV uses 16:9. 16:9 is much better IMHO, but oh well.

Ummm... yeah... I think I'll shut up now. Sorry. When I start talking about something I am interested in it's hard to stop me.

[anubis2003]

Yes, but that resolution can still be hard to view if you get too large of a TV. Plus, I believe even HDTV's are interlaced, which strains the eyes when reading and can make it very difficult to use.

[Trigear]

Like its larger sibling, the 20-inch Apple Cinema Display is a work of art on your desktop, both inside and out. You won’t be able to take your eyes off it, so it’s a good thing the LCD technology gives you flicker-free images with twice the brightness, twice the sharpness, and twice the contrast ratio of the typical CRT display. And unlike other flat panel displays, it’s designed with a pure digital interface to deliver distortion-free images that never need adjusting.

That means you can lose the controls other monitors actually tout as if they are a benefit. And with an analog CRT monitor, you did need all that horizontal and fine tracking, and vertical and horizontal positioning controls to get just the right image. And the higher resolution you get, the more fiddling you'd have to do to ensure accurate color.

The 20-inch Apple Cinema Display, however, only has one setting: brightness. And that’s only since it’s a little hard for our engineers in Cupertino to determine how much is appropriate for the lighting conditions in your office, much less your personal taste in the matter. The rest of the controls can be eliminated because the video signal remains purely digital all the way from the memory on the graphics card through the Apple Display Connector (ADC) to the display.

And once they get to the screen video and digital images are stunning. The 16.7 million colors are vivid and true-to-life, and text is sharp and a joy to read. What’s more, a wide viewing angle ensures uniform color from edge to edge, and Apple’s ColorSync technology enables you to create custom profiles to maintain consistent color onscreen and in print.

i've got to give apple one thing:

no matter what i think of their actual product, they've got the best sales pitches i've ever seen. apple, and only apple, could convince a deaf man that he needs a special set of headphones to enhance the quality of his mp3 collection. "improvement you can hear. that is, if you COULD hear..."

read the above quote. basically, they're telling you they don't have any controls on the monitor. instead of saying "no controls on the monitor" they go off on a whole big spiel about how you never wanted them anyway. with apple, EVERYTHING is a bonus feature.

[Atmo]

Originally posted by nature spirit
between Korean (samsung) and Japanese (NEC Mitsubishi Sony) there is no way to compare. buy something that lasts. even if pricier at first.

Mitsubishi and nec monitors are made in china as far as i know. Sony probably are too. I cant be stuffed pulling it out of its spot on my desk to see where my samsung monitor is made, probably china as well.

AMD chips are made in malaysia, and that doesnt stop quite a lot of us using one...I think intel manufacture some of their chips in vietnam.

My point is that where something is made isnt an issue anymore, it all comes down to the quality of the components used, and samsung have a reputation to uphold. They're not gonna use cheap and nasty components.

[SemiTechGeek]

Originally posted by insomniac
Screw that Mac thing, get this. It's on the top of my wish list.

We carry that and it's cool, it sometimes has a bad shadowing effect though on some dvd's

[nature spirit]

I was not saying where the factory is located i would care about. It's if the comany is Japanese or not. because the developper is Japanese, control is japanese, quality assurance, and most importantly R&D and standards are. This is what I trust in the first place and I dont mind it really if their factory is located in zambia just to make prices cheaper for us consumers.