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Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter

Works great

Written by BT from West Hartford

Sep 11, 2009

Bought the unit in when the new mac mini came out. Was version 1.01 firmware,
Had the usual problems. Took it to the Apple store they exchanged it for
a dual link 1.02. Everything was great, works great on MM and MBP.
It had a rough start but Apple fixed it.
Great product, great company.

13 of 24 people found this useful

Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter

Intermittent horizontal lines, snow, noise on black...

Written by RV from San Francisco

Sep 10, 2009

... just like so many others are experiencing.

Other issue is that waking up the MacBook 17" from sleep will result in the 30 inch Cinema Display to wake up first, causing that monitor to be the default controller/finder monitor (#1).

7 of 8 people found this useful

Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter

Junk

Written by KB from Smögen

Sep 10, 2009

Got this today and hoped I could drive my 30 inch samsung but the monitor goes black every 15 seconds for a second. Impossible to work on. Really disappointed.

11 of 13 people found this useful

Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter

Firmware version 1.02 fixes the problem

Written by AS from Beaverton

Sep 4, 2009

I bought this adapter 4 months ago for my MacBook aluminum (bought Jan 2009) and Dell 3007WFPHC 30" LCD. The adapter had firmware version 1.01 and had the same issues many users reported: intermittent flickering, color speckle noise, blurry text, and analog-like color "snow". I could fix issue temporarily by putting the display to sleep and waking it back up.

Today I took the adapter back to an Apple retail store, where a manager gave me a new replacement that has firmware 1.02. The new unit has performed flawlessly over the past several hours. If you have problems and have firmware 1.01, see if a retail Apple Store will also give you a free replacement.

Fyi, find your adapter's firmware version:
Finder -> About This Mac... More Info... Hardware -> Graphics/Displays -> look for "Adapter Firmware Version: 1.xx"

Rating: Start with 5 stars because firmware 1.02 works, minus one star because the adapter costs too much, then minus two more stars because Apple released the product without adequate testing, wasting hours of my time trying to get it to work and eventually driving around town to get a replacement. 5 - 1 - 2 equals 2 stars.

29 of 33 people found this useful

Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter

Works great for me!!

Written by TP from Valencia

Sep 3, 2009

I read the reviews for this item, but recently purchased this adapter anyway (call it true faith in Apple) and it works great with my new 30" display and Macbook Pro. No problems, plugged it in and away we go.

I am getting the proper resolution, and I love the new real estate that I have on my desktop. I did check and I have the new Firmware version 1.02, so I don't know if this is better than previous ones people might have been buying but I'm happy.

12 of 20 people found this useful

Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter

Truly offensively bad

Written by FD from New York

Sep 2, 2009

I never, ever take the time to write reviews because I just don't have the time. I'll make my very first exception in the case of this adapter for two reasons:

1/ This is the absolute worst product I ever bought from Apple (I currently own 7 macs, no less). It DOES NOT WORK. Or it works when it feels like it and only when it feels like it.

2/ I have to restart my MacPro at least four times a day for it to see the second screen attached to this $99 non functioning device, so now I actually have time to come here via my laptop to help prevent other people from making the same mistake I did by buying it.

It was bad enough to be forced into buying extra hardware because Apple felt like pushing their new standard onto us (What was wrong with two DVI ports?), but at least, at the very very least, if Apple is going to pull this kinds of forced sales tactics, please try and force-sell something that works.

Preposterous.
Stay away.
It will complicate your life.

Ciao

Fab

PS: for the technically orientated people:
-the screen attached to the adapter comes up garbled and unreadable about 60% of the time at start-up, no matter what I do.
-100% of the time garbled if the screen is turned on after the computer is started.
-60% of the time garbled if the computer puts the screen to sleep after a long period of inaction.

So for example, if the screen goes to sleep, I most likely have to restart the machine for it to work, but then there is a strong chance that the screen will still come up garbled anyway, unless I get lucky that the adapter sees the screen fine that time.

$99? Really? Wow.

28 of 33 people found this useful

Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter

Finally works with Gateway w.firmware 1.02

Written by SM from Pickering

Sep 2, 2009

Finally got one after hearing on the US Apple site that someone tried it on their Gateway 3000 with success. I can confirm that it does in fact works though there is no way to tell what firmware version is on without going into System Profiler->Graphic/Displays and scrolling down to the XHD3000 settings. Unfortunately you cannot do this at the Apple Store so had take a leap of faith that the unit I purchased was new stock.

Also heard on the US Apple site/forums that the firmware cannot be updated remotely/on your Mac via software update.

9 of 12 people found this useful

Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter

Apple has upgraded the firmware and improved the adapter.

Written by SJ from Clinton

Aug 31, 2009

I purchased one of these adapters a few months ago and had nothing but problems with it. Recent reviews on this forum had improved, so I called Apple and asked it the adapter had been upgraded. After some discussion it became clear that the firmware had, in fact, been upgraded. The current version of the firmware is 1.02 and it works great!

Since the firmware couldn't be upgraded electronically by e-mail, Apple replaced my adapter at no cost. The new adapter has solved all of the previous problems.

13 of 18 people found this useful

Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter

Mini Dual to the 30" and Cintique 21" from a Unibody 17"

Written by KR from Las Vegas

Aug 25, 2009

Works beautifully on both Screens, only very sparsely I get a quick blink of Black on the 30" Aplle Cinema Display.

3 of 8 people found this useful

Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter

15" MBPro (Mid 2009) to 30" Cinema Display

Written by GW from Ponte Vedra

Aug 25, 2009

No problems here... works perfect.

6 of 10 people found this useful

Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter

Mini to HP-LP3065 works great!

Written by HH from Sunnyvale

Aug 19, 2009

I've had it for two months now and have yet to see a glitch. It Just Works for my configuration at least. Running at 2560x1600.

4 of 11 people found this useful

Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter

confirming flicker problem

Written by JG from Nicholls

Aug 12, 2009

Most people who buy this overpriced thing complain of similar problems - it flickers every now and again (completely randomly) for half a second to a second. I contacted mac support and they got me to delete two specific files (forget what they were now) but that did nothing anyway. I want to exchange it but from what I've read over the net I'm almost certain the replacement unit will ave the exact same problem! its completely ridiculous that this malfunctioning product is the only way to attach a high-res screen to the macs.

38 of 40 people found this useful

Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter

Works fine for me - beautiful display.

Written by MF from Edinburgh

Aug 11, 2009

I've been using this adapter to connect to my 30" Cinema Display with my Macbook Air (model 2,1) 1.86GHz ever since I got the MBA (December 2008). It works fine.

The only problem is that there are too few USB ports (only 2) and anyway the MBA Superdrive can't use them! The firewire ports on the Cinema Display are redundant as the MBA has no firewire.

7 of 23 people found this useful

Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter

Works exactly as advertised

Written by LM from Austin

Aug 10, 2009

The adapter works exactly as advertised with my Gateway XHD3000. Unplugged mini DVI, plugged in mini Displayport and USB cables, plugged in Dual Link cable, and voila, glorious 2560x1600.

I was worried that it wouldn't work because of the low-ish reviews, but I had no problems.

3 of 18 people found this useful

Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter

Poor product

Written by VH from Nieder-Olm

Aug 8, 2009

Screen flickers for a second every now and then, especially shortly after wakeup. What really annoyed me was that Apple support claims not to know what I was talking about. That cost me another trip to the dealer to exchange the "faulty" device, bot knowing that it's a general issue with these things. This is the worst Apple product I've owned so far!

13 of 16 people found this useful

Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter

Buggy

Written by KB from Lund

Aug 5, 2009

Screen flickers to black every now and then (every 30 min?). Pretty unacceptable for something as simple as an adapter.

26 of 28 people found this useful

Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter

Does what it says on the tin

Written by AP from London

Jul 31, 2009

I work for a large online social network company, and many of us (around 200 people) are using this adapter happily with Dell 30" monitors (two models). There are also people using it with NEC 24". We are using MacBooks and MacBook Pros from between 2007-2009.

In my experience (and my team's) the adapter works well in all in all scenarios. The main test is the hot-plug scenario, and this has never let me down. OSX seems to transition the windows reasonably well - they are often half off the screen when they are consolidated, but that is a minor gripe. The transition takes 5-10 seconds each way, understandably.

The inclusion of USB is nice, in that it makes for clean cabling on our desks.

Anyway, I see no reason to rate this unit lower than 5 stars. Good work to the under-praised guys who developed this product.

9 of 25 people found this useful

Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter

Bad Apple...

Written by TB from Lewes

Jul 29, 2009

MBP + 30 inch ACD. As a Mac user for over 20 years this is the worst Apple product I've used. The picture quality generally is okay but on black I get horizontal flickering, which is simply unacceptable. As someone else remarked, I wouldn't mind paying the $99 if it worked but this is way below Apple's usual standards. Shameful.

31 of 36 people found this useful