Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter

Reviews for Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter

Customer Reviews and Ratings

2.5 out of 5 stars

Based on 452 reviews

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Flicker, flicker, flicker.

    • Written by from Chêne-Bougeries

    I have read all these reviews and decided to give it a try (I have Samsung Syncmaster 305T+ 30" display). People at Apple Store told me if I got any problems with the adapter, I can get my money back. At first, it worked more or less OK (the image was scrambled occasionally, but turning display off and back on via Hot Corners solved the issue). Then, Snow Leopard graphics update happened few days ago (or was it the EFI update?), and it started to FLICKER. Several times per day, for 20-30 minutes. That drives me completely mad; I having headaches, and if I had epilepsy, I would immediately got a seizure. This is insane, and if Geneva Apple Store doesn't solve the problem, I will do something awful, I swear. I need my 30" display, I can't work without it.

    9 of 10 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Flickers with 30" Cinema Display

    • Written by from San Francisco

    I just went to the Apple store to swap out this cable due to flickering (the service there was great). Unfortunately, the swap didn't help. Unfortunately for me, this means I need to buy a new monitor if I want the flickering to stop. (From a troubleshooting standpoint, the monitor works fine with a direct DVI connection, and I've plugged 3 different laptops in with the same results, so I'm confident the issue is with the cable.)

    9 of 9 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Works perfectly

    • Written by from Centralia

    Mine works perfect and have no problems with my Apple 30 inch display. Reading all the reviews almost kept me from purchasing this spectacular display as I am using it with a unibody Mac Book Pro 15 inch. Maybe the new firmware fixed the problems?

    11 of 13 people found this useful

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  • 2.0 out of 5 stars

    Weird behavior

    • Written by from Albuquerque

    So setup - Brand new Mac Mini, Brand new 30" LG W3000H, Brand new - Dual link mini display port adapter. Random flicker, pink noise on the screen, blurred blacks (blue flicker). Tried with different DVI cables, different power cables, different power sources (i.e., wall vs UPS), all with similar but different problems. Plug the screen into an old MBP with full size DVI, no problems at all.

    So, I tried to plug the display port adapter into another 30" screen, 2yr old Samsung 305T. Looks great.

    I have suspicions that some monitors will work, and that some won't after this. However, I am going to blame the adapter for being quirky. For a $99 piece of equipment, I would like to have seen better performance than this. Basically, my new monitor is useless with this display port adapter. I'm transitioning to a linux box with a dual link DVI graphics card in it. Sigh.

    15 of 16 people found this useful

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  • 2.0 out of 5 stars

    Lasted almost five months

    • Written by from Sandy

    Worked fine with an HP LP3065 monitor, for a while. I was banging away at a document earlier this week and the screen went black. Thought I heard a very quiet 'pop' so I assumed it was the monitor. Not so. HP's trouble shooting revealed that it hadn't dropped dead. I connected the Mac to another monitor via another adapter. No problems there. Then I envisioned that call with Apple about this $99 adapter, then obviously the culprit. Is there another one you can try? Nope - this is the only $99 accessory that I have ever needed for connecting a computer to a peripheral device.

    I bought another one from Amazon. If you have a dual-link DVI monitor, you really don't have much choice but to shell out for this thing. Plugged it in (after checking one more time to see if the old one had fixed itself) and sure enough the replacement solved the problem. I called Apple then, and at least they are willing to ship a replacement, to arrive in 2-5 days. I guess I'll have a spare.

    Given the hassle I wish I'd sought an aftermarket mini-DVI compatible monitor (not that there are many of those). Apple really needs to examine its perspective on video ports. If the designers are going to demand an adapter, and Apple is going to charge a whopping premium for it, it should at least be a quality product.

    15 of 16 people found this useful

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  • 3.0 out of 5 stars

    flicker and other issues

    • Written by from Raleigh

    I have a MBP w/NVIDIA GeForce 9400M/GT video cards connect with this adapter to an LG W3000H. The monitor flickers, and if I turn my monitor off, when I turn it back on, I see the image, but it's snowy (very hard to see). I have to unplug the mini displayport, wait a few seconds and plug it back in.

    From system profiler, it looks like I have version 1.01. I plan to go back to the apple store to try to get version 1.03 which folks in this forum suggest fixes many issues.

    Does anyone know if we order directly from apple, if it's possible to get fw v1.03?

    10 of 11 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    1.3 is garbage too!

    • Written by from Parker

    I just went to the Apple Store, had them open the package and connect it to a computer to confirm the latest firmware 1.3 before I left the store. The Apple Store employee told me that they would sent any old units back to Apple, and they only sell the most up to date version.

    I take it home, and try connecting to both my 2009 Mini Mac AND my new 2010 i7 MacBook Pro. Same thing as everyone else. In the black parts of the screen there are white flashing lines. It looks like garbage, and I will be taking it back.

    I have a love/hate relationship with Apple! My 30 Cinema display looks great on my 2006 MacBook pro with Dual link DVI built in! Looks like garbage on all my newer macs. Thanks Apple!

    17 of 17 people found this useful

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  • 2.0 out of 5 stars

    Flicker

    • Written by from Chanhassen

    Connected to the Cinema HD 30", to the iMac LED 27".

    The adapter works, but the screen has scattered horizontal flicker (graphical artifacts that last for, oh, 1/60th of a second) that is very, very annoying. Especially visible with a darker background.

    Disappointed. Gave the produce 2 stars instead of 1 star, because it is makeshift usable.

    One of the other posters said that they switched to using a powered USB hub and his problem went away. Tried using a Belkin powered USB hub, but that did not change the flicker issue.

    Firmware version 1.03. Hopefully the problem will get fixed with firmware version 1.04.

    15 of 15 people found this useful

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  • 2.0 out of 5 stars

    Buy a powered USB Plug

    • Written by from Victoria

    I encountered the screen flickering issue mentioned by other users, but fixed it by getting a powered USB hub that I plugged the USB plug from the dual-link DVI adapter into.

    Because the dual-link adapter doesn't work properly without a separate powered USB connector, I give this product 2 stars. It's basically junk without the powered USB connector.

    14 of 15 people found this useful

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  • 4.0 out of 5 stars

    Works great..price too high

    • Written by from Manchester

    I was nervous about buying this adapter after reading all the bad reviews before hand. I went for it anyway, and it works great. Using a Dell 30" 3007WFPHC monitor, with no picture problems at all. It's as sharp as anything.

    Please ensure you have a DUAL LINK DVI cable...not a normal DVI cable as the adapter then causes problems. I didn't realise the first time round when I plugged in my normal DVI cable.... just make sure it is a DUAL LINK version.

    Too pricey... for what it is. Hence the 4 stars

    16 of 17 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Horrible

    • Written by from San Jose

    Many issues with this adaptor. My 30 inch display works fine with my MacBook Pro and a WIndows 7 PC but with my Mac Mini (mid 2010) no go - constant flickers, blackouts and the display flashes a "video not supported" error. Lot's of turning off/on, disconnecting, etc.

    15 of 15 people found this useful

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  • 4.0 out of 5 stars

    Works as advertised. No problems here.

    • Written by from Ottawa

    As I said in the title, it works exactly as I'd expect it to. I have a 27" iMac that I wanted to drive a secondary 30" Apple Cinema Display. I'm getting full resolution from both screens. 57" of work space and loving it. Absolutely no issues.

    A little less expensive for an adapter would have been nice. I also bought the regular MiniDisplay to DVI adapter first and Apple should call out the fact that those won't drive a 30" display a little more blatantly on the site.

    11 of 14 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    This product is junk -- is this a joke?

    • Written by from Austin

    I had to get this adapter when I went from my previous generation MacBook Pro 17" to a unibody 17" so that my Apple 30" display could display at native resolution (2560x1600).

    Sadly, whenever 1/3 or more of the display is dark to black, all kinds of horizontal interference lines randomly flash in those dark areas. If the screen is half or more black, this effect is unprofessional, highly distracting, and a constant reminder how much Apple really screwed this one up. It blows my mind how this product got out of QA and has been selling for well over a year now. Not only is this product unacceptably flawed, but so is the Apple department that oversees this product for letting it get though QA.

    I'm a hardware and software engineer (and an Apple developer to boot) so I think see what happened here. Apple built-in the display hardware (dual link DVI) in the previous MacBook Pro 17" (it did cost $3000, remember?), but they removed this support in the latest generation (likely to cut costs). The product is so flawed that I suspect there's something bigger going on behind the scenes for it to have made it past QA.

    26 of 26 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    GARBAGE

    • Written by from Dover

    The MDP is an expensive piece of garbage. It does not work. Apple and Steve Jobs should be embarassed selling this thing!

    17 of 18 people found this useful

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  • 2.0 out of 5 stars

    Buyer Beware

    • Written by from Ashburn

    The firmware on my adapter was version 1.03. I bought it to use with my mac mini (mid 2010) and 30" LG W3000H LCD monitor. Like many others, I had a lot of noise and flickering on my display. Took the adapter and mac mini to the Apple store and used it on one of their 30" Apple Cinema Display and it worked perfectly. Took it to a friends home and used his 30" ACD, again, it worked perfectly. My monitor works with any PC with a DVI connection, so I know it's not the the monitor. I guess it will only work with Apple Displays and not the other brands. I ended up returning the adapter. It's a shame Apple can't make it work with other LCD monitors.

    21 of 23 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Lines in dark areas of screen on Apple 30" Cinema!

    • Written by from Kaneohe

    I too have the adapter (V1.02) hooked between to my NEW Mac Mini and my 3 year old 30" Apple Cinema display and I am experiencing the same problems with the horizontal video static lines. Unacceptable when watching a video! I have reset everything per all the tech suggestions to no avail. I have searched for the new firmware V1.03 but have not found it anywhere on Apples site. Please post the firmware revision 1.03 Apple Tech Guys! If someone knows where to download the firmware update please post!

    14 of 15 people found this useful

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  • 3.0 out of 5 stars

    Hybrid rating: Replacing adapter fixed problem

    • Written by from Louisburg

    Rating is 5 stars for eventual performance, 1 star for putting many defective adapters on the market and making me (and many others posting comments here) deal with this. Average rating then = 3 stars.

    I have one of the original Apple 30" Cinema Displays which has worked flawlessly for over 5 years with multiple Macs. It has the original full size DVI connector on the end of the cable. When I recently upgraded from a 2006 MBPro to a 2010 MBPro I had to buy the dual link DVI mini displayport adapter to drive the 30" to full 2560x1600 resolution. The first adapter created the horizontal video lines on the 30". They would appear only in areas displaying dark colors. Apple Support (phone call) had me unplug EVERYTHING except for the monitor. They had me reset the PRAM (power-command-option-P-R for 2 sec) and then reset the SMC (shift-control-option-power) to no avail. So we made a Genius Bar appt and I took the adapter and my new MBPro back to the local Apple Store. We plugged my MBP and this adapter into one of their new 30" Cinema Display HD monitors in the store. Of course, everything worked perfectly.

    After some head scratching and no satisfactory explanation, they swapped out the adapter for a new one and sent me home to try out. If it still didn't work I was prepared to go back with adapter, MBPro, and my 30" monitor. Luckily, It worked fine when I hooked up everything at home. So take your adapter back if you see these horizontal video lines appear. It solved my video noise problem, it may solve yours.

    21 of 22 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    I had them all

    • Written by from Moscow

    First one had firmware 1.01. It was horrible. Red-green-blue stripes flashed on black background sporadically, sometimes the image was broken. Replaced it with the new one with fw 1.02 installed.
    The second one was slightly better. Image did not broke anymore, but flickering and color stripes were there, not to mention "waves" on solid background. Switched it to the one with 1.03 firmware.
    Third one is good. No image distortion, no "waves", everything's perfect.

    After almost two years of production it finally became a quality product. Five stars from now on. Just make sure it's 1.03.

    Tested on 2008 MacBook Pro Unibody and Cinema HD 30".

    24 of 25 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Horrible, clunky LARGE piece of expensive hardware

    • Written by from Howrah

    This is perhaps the worst computer product I have ever purchased. It is extremely large, takes two USB ports to run and although it provides an additional USB port it is too underpowered to even recognize, let alone mount an external drive. I now have a situation where I have to solve the USB port deficit because of this USB hungry device.
    The performance issues cited in other reviews are true with my experience also. I am running a 20" external Samsung display and have had repeated trouble getting it to mount the display, wake from sleep, etc.
    This product is a DOG. Do yourself a favor and look for a cheaper, more elegant solution. This product is a rip-off.

    17 of 25 people found this useful

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  • 4.0 out of 5 stars

    Works with Cintiq 21UX and iMac 27"

    • Written by from Los Angeles

    Don't make the mistake of buying the Single Link DVI-D to Mini display port version for $30 like I did you need this $100 Dual-Link version to connect a Cintiq a to a mini display port it's even recommended in the wacom hardware manual the cheaper cable will give lots of random pixels flickering while painting.

    Four stars nothing wrong with it, apart from being over priced.

    16 of 16 people found this useful

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