Reviews for Apple Mini DVI to VGA Adaptor

If you order one of these treat it very gently, be careful how you pack it when traveling, etc. My first one broke in 4 months (the wires internal to the rubber cable enclosure shorted - so the screen would drop out certain colors). And then, when I ordered and paid for a replacement, the wrong adapter was shipped to me. The sales web page does not bother to mention that there are different versions of the PowerBook G4, which use different types of video ports (mini-DVI and mini-VGA). Make sure you know which one you need before ordering. An improved sales web page would at least show all the VGA adapters in one place, so one could see all the choices.

First I ordered 'VGA Display Adapter' by mistake...
Make sure the cable you order is the Correct one for your machine/peripheral.
A lot of these cables look the same in the small picture and sound the same in the description. Check your requirements thoroughly before purchase. (ie - connections for both ends)
I needed to connect a VGA TFT to my iMac, and placed my order for 'VGA Display Adapter'. Which shows on order form as 'APPLE VGA DISPLAY ADAPTER-GEN'. I later found that I needed compatibility for an 'iMac (Intel Core Duo)', returned 'VGA Display Adapter' and ordered 'Apple Mini DVI to VGA Adapter'. Which shows on order form as 'VID ADPT MINI-DVI TO VGA ADAPTER-GEN'.

My new cable works like MAGIC, as I'm sure 'VGA Display Adapter' will for those who need it.
Customer - Check every detail
Apple - Make the difference MORE OBVIOUS

I was just looking over the reviews, and I've seen a lot of people complaining that the cable is not long enough, the VGA side is female, etc. Well, THIS PRODUCT IS AN ADAPTER, NOT A CABLE. The reason why the VGA side is female is because it is supposed to connect to a male-to-male VGA cable (typically a blue cable received with any purchase of an external monitor). So, you plug this cable into your apple computer or laptop, and the male-to-male VGA cable connects to the monitor on one side, and the mini DVI to VGA adapter on the other side. That's what this product is made for.
Other than that, I have been using my adapter for about 5 months, and it has worked excellently. As any computer accessory, it has to be taken good care of and not thrown around. Thanks Apple!

Bought this to use in my classroom along side my 13 inch MacBook. Works great hooked up to my projector or my monitor. I knew exactly what it could and couldn't do before I bought it. If you're looking to transfer picture, this is what you need but don't complain when it doesn't transfer sound, that's NOT what it's made for. MADE FOR VISUAL TRANSFER ONLY!
Hope this helps. :)

I got this adapter shortly after my MacBook, so that I could do presentations and other such things, as well as using the same external monitor I used with my old laptop, and at first I was a little depressed, because the adapter cost $20, half the price of the cable from my monitor to the computer. It worked well enough, however, so I was happy, at least until I had the product for a few months, and the quality of the picture started deteriorating unless the adapter was placed just so.

My advice to likely purchasers is to treat this adapter better than you'd treat the laptop it's hooked up to -- it works, so long as you don't let it get too poorly handled. Quite frankly, this is not what I expected from a company that has made much of its fortunes from the educational sector, where computers and their peripherals take a lot more abuse than I can dish out.

I bought three of these for school iMacs. We have intel core duo machines. They're too big!

Not enough information in the specifics for the correct part to be ordered. Being a school returns are not easy so getting it right the first time is essential. At $17 each you better believe we're returning them.

My old computer is a PowerBook G4 12" and my new one is a MacBook with Intel Core 2 Duo. The overview for this adapter says it's compatible with both. However, both of these have very different mini DVI ports. I have an adapter that was bought a long time ago that fits the PowerBook G4 DVI port but does not fit the MacBook port. So, the overview is clearly misleading and somebody's still bound to be screwed over. Despite the review about different PowerBooks having different DVI ports, they still haven't thoroughly clarified the issue.

I suggest that no one buy this product and keep leaving one-star reviews until they fix this and put up some more pictures of the DV-side of the adapter so you can at see for yourself if it looks compatible with your port.

My mini-DVI to VGA adapter is terrible. It worked fine for a few months, but then started having problems. The color channels don't all stay connected.. sometimes the screen turns green or magenta or blue. It's truly a poor piece of equipment. I haven't even moved it from its original location.. it stays connected to my laptop 99% of the time. And, of course, since this is apparently a proprietary specification (mini-DVI), I'm forced to buy another one of these terrible cables. Thanks Apple for pulling a Microsoft on us!

I spent lots of time trying to figure out how to connect my IMac 24" (Early 2008 - 3.06 dual) to my HDTV.

I found out that I needed a mini-dvi to HDMI adapter.Apple never made this item because they discontinued the connection in the back of this IMac model in 10 months! I finally bought 2 from Hong Kong, and 1 worked for a milli-second!

I spend endless amounts of time in the Apple forums to see if anyone could figure out the problem.I also went to my local Apple store. The technician didn't have the Mini-DVI to HDMI adapter (since Apple never made them!), so he tried a mini-DVI to VGA adapter attached via an extension to a second Apple laptop. That worked!

Bottom line - I now need to buy a retrograde adapter (mini-DVI to VVA adapter to attach to my IMac, and then a extension wire to connect to my HDTV. By the way, there is no sound in this connection!

So if you also have an Early 2008 Imac 24" (Probably the same for the smaller sized models) , be forewarned.