Apple 30-pin to VGA Adapter

Reviews for Apple 30-pin to VGA Adapter

Customer Reviews and Ratings

2.5 out of 5 stars

Based on 674 reviews

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Limited...other review sum it up

    • Written by from Pinckney

    Wouldn't have bought if the reviews that are up were there when I bought mine. Can't play protected content that I paid for.....

    134 of 148 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Apple!!! Get you head out of (wherever it is)

    • Written by from New Haven

    Who thought this piece of junk up? We want to see the ENTIRE screen. Can you UNDERSTAND that?

    129 of 138 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Disappointing

    • Written by from Iowa City

    Was hoping to replace an aging laptop that was connected to my projector but there are severe limitations to what this is capable of.

    Can't view single images (only slideshows from the photo app), can't mirror safari (would have been great for displaying website designs to clients), no Netflix app, no ABC app, etc....this is basically a Keynote adapter....and not a very good one at that since it doesn't show much on the iPad while the presentation plays.

    121 of 127 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Mistake

    • Written by from Moreland Hills

    I wanted to do a demonstration for a group of media execs on the power of the iPad using the VGA connector - unfortunately it does not display anything of value. Only their presentation software. Apple has made an exceptional error in handicapping this device. Do not buy unless they fix this glaring omission. I would love to talk to the person at Apple who made this myopic decision.

    116 of 120 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Does not work in most iPad applications

    • Written by from Atlanta

    It doesn't work in a majority of applications. It doesn't display what's on the screen (like the Apple Keynote that Steve Jobs gave).

    This is not a very useful device at all. Don't buy.

    116 of 124 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    No no no!

    • Written by from walnut creek

    This is not the cable connector you think you purchased! It does not perform as you need, it does not allow for displaying your documents, presentations, videos, drawings on a screen. I do not recommend this product.

    124 of 143 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Excellent Product!!!

    • Written by from Glenside

    I was impressed with the quality of this product. I needed the cable to hook my iPad 2 up the smart board in my classroom. I tested it on an old monitor from 1995 and it mirrored the iPads screen exactly. The reason some people gave it bad reviews was because they used it on an iPhone ,iPod touch, or iPad 1. It only plays videos and slideshows with those. The iPad 2 has full mirroring and it plays part of a pod sat that I wanted to show. Works great with keynote( love the laser pointer by the way)and all of the other apps. Very satisfied, I give it 5 stars.

    116 of 133 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Worth Purchasing if you like showing your presentations using iPad2

    • Written by from Apple Valley

    Just to give you all a heads up. This device works perfectly. If you have an iPad first generation or an iPhone 4, all it will do is show your Keynote Presentations. Those devices do NOT support Desktop Mirroring and will not be able to display any other types of apps, except those that are made to work with your standard video out port. But with the iPad2, this works flawlessly. I use this in class and it will display any app I use: Keynote, Safari, Books, etc... even games! However, there is a program that will not run with this VGA cable. What kind of hack program does not display in VGA? I'll give you a hint... nah I will just spill the beans. It's ITUNES!!! Yes, that's right, ITUNES will not support Desktop Mirroring on iPad2 nor will it support Video Out with iPhone4 or iPad first generation. You will have to buy the HDMI adapter for that. :)

    102 of 107 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Useless for teachers!

    • Written by from Botwood

    Like the other educators who expressed disappointment with the product, I too failed to read the fine print and discovered the serious limitations of the adapter. To the reviewer who posted previous to this one, I thought Safari was a native Apple application!

    107 of 118 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Rubbish

    • Written by from Narangba

    How many people have assumed (like me) that a VGA connector shows what is on the iPad on the big screen? How wrong I was.

    How many people JUST use powerpoint (or keynote) to present now a days? To make the presentation engaging & interesting many users will want to flick from the presentation to a live 'demonstration' be that on an App or via the Web or even to demonstrate an iPhone app. Do NOT be fooled into thinking you can do this with the iPad & a large screen. You CANT!

    This was my 100% reason for buying the iPad and I am scuppered at the 1st hurdle. I am seriously considering taking it back.

    Replicating the screen on a VGA & iPad I can do without but only viewing a (very) few applications & videos on a VGA is no good to me.

    98 of 103 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    What happened?

    • Written by from Brooklyn

    This gadget does one thing very well, it disappoints. Spent four grueling days researching and preparing a keynote presentation on my Mac Pro. It was my intention to use my iPad2 connected to a projector's VGA input for my class presentation. It worked for a few minutes then the image disappeared. After several embarrassing minutes standing in front of my class,trying to make this thing work I stopped trying. Please fix this lousy gadget, or stop claiming that it was designed by Apple.

    103 of 114 people found this useful

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  • 2.0 out of 5 stars

    Buyer Beware!

    • Written by from RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK

    Make SURE you read the list of apps that work with this adapter as it is quite small. It is NOT just a way to mirror your iPad or for example, watch a Netflix movie on your TV as you will get NO output from anything but the few listed apps. Lets hope this is fixed in a future software update.

    95 of 99 people found this useful

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  • 4.0 out of 5 stars

    Caveat Emptor

    • Written by from Huntsville

    Read all the fine print before you purchase. It is great at what it does. Many reviewers expected more than what it is designed to do.

    It is only listed as compatible with iPad, iPad 2, and iPhone 4. Mirroring is only supported by iPad 2. VGA is video only, so have a 3.5mm plug or external speakers handy for audio. Protected content, like a movie purchased from the iTunes Store, is not supported because DRM cannot be maintained on the other side of the VGA signal.

    I've had situations where the video signal blinks when a video gets started. Pause the playback and allow the VGA display to synchronize with the iPhone. Then resume the playback. I keep it in my laptop bag as a backup for conference rooms with a VGA connection to the projector intended for laptops. Many KVM cables used in conference rooms include 3.5mm plugs for audio. Keep an Apple AV Composite cable handy as well. The two together provide a pretty universal capability for projecting or displaying video content from the iPod App.

    92 of 94 people found this useful

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  • 5.0 out of 5 stars

    Works Like A Charm

    • Written by from Paradise

    I have an iPhone 3G, 3GS, and 4S.

    It should first be noted that only the iPhone 4S and iPad 2 will display "live mirroring" of the display.

    Secondly, the iPhone 4, iPad 1, and iPhone 3GS; it will only display video from certain apps such as: YouTube, Photos (slideshow feature only), Videos, Netflix, and any other third party app that has added video out support (there's not very many out there).

    For the iPhone 3G, I receive an "Accessory not supported feature" and was not able to get any video to output.

    In regards to the iPhone 4S performance, it's crisp and sharp on any monitor I've hooked it up to. One downside that I've found is when I hook it up to my "vertical orientation" monitor. There are not any kind of settings on the iPhone to force a 90, 180, -90, -180 degree rotation. Newer monitors might have manual rotation in the settings; unfortunately, my Samsung 23" SyncMaster (from 2008) does not.

    Alternatives for non iPhone 4S and iPad 2 would be the "Component AV" cable that essentially allows you to connect to any TV that accepts video (yellow) and audio (red or white or both) which obviously covers most televisions over the last 15 years. I have personal experience with the iPad 1 using the component cable and it works great for playing YouTube videos (such as Sesame Street for my daughter) or photo slideshows (showcasing my photography).

    Overall it's a solid cable. I usually buy knock off eBay cables; but after my last experience buying the junky knock off component cable that was half the price of the Apple cable; I have regretted it (primarily due to the fact that it gets stuck in my iDevices and makes me feel like I have to rip it out dangerously to get it out).

    93 of 98 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Apple are you going to improve it?

    • Written by from Pompano

    I am surpriced, that apple has this acccessory for such a great device ( IPad). It is very limited ,
    I am a teacher and I want to share many great applications with my students and I am frustrated because I can not project what I want to show them. If they can not see it projected on our classrroom board the I pad become useless in my classroom. Apple please improve it so I can project whatever I am doing with my I pad.

    96 of 104 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Does not work as advertised.

    • Written by from Austin

    You can not connect your iPad to your television to watch movies purchased at the iTunes store - despite the misleading Apple claim "Use the iPad Dock Connector to VGA Adapter to connect an iPad to your television, projector, or VGA display. Then see your videos and slideshows on the big screen."

    The screen pops up with something like "the connected device (my flat-screen TV) is not authorized to play protected content (that I just bought on iTunes)." Then why does the sales page tell me I can?

    I'm returning it to the Apple store today.

    94 of 100 people found this useful

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  • 2.0 out of 5 stars

    Let this crippled boy walk again!

    • Written by from SPRING

    This adapter is but a software update away from being a useful add-on. I was amazed at how limited this VGA adapter was... I mean, I am in the middle of a presentation, someone asks to see a web page. "Oh, sorry. I can't show any Web sites through this VGA adapter." What? And that isn't all. This adapter has more handicaps than Timmy. Why is this the only VGA adapter in the history of VGA adapters that comes with rules? Please update and fix this barely usable iPad tail.

    93 of 101 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    waste of money, does not play everything

    • Written by from Bogotá D.C.

    Why you use this item but for playing every app that you have buy? It is a waste of money because just outputs video and keynote, does not support the other apps, that is a shame, because you can`t show a presentation or a content for a third party app (like prezi)....you make the people Jailbreak the ipad cause in Cynthia there is an app that allows you to output everything. Why Apple doesn´t allow that? I wasted my money

    98 of 112 people found this useful

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  • 2.0 out of 5 stars

    Marketing Information (limited!)

    • Written by from Lethbridge

    I purchased an iPad AND this adapter because I teach post secondary and thought it would be useful and convenient and interesting to incorporate into my classes! Downloaded, ALL necessary apps like pages, keynote, etc. etc. to be able to use Mobileme to share works and created a really slick plan for myself- only to find that iPad only has keynote, movies/youtube for a 2nd display??? really??? wow....

    92 of 100 people found this useful

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  • 1.0 out of 5 stars

    Rubbish VGA cable

    • Written by from Co. Limerick

    As a teacher and lecturer who loves my iPad i am so so disappointed with this rubbish cable which is good for nothing. Can not use it to display anything of use except photos and videos and a few junk apps. If it could mirror my writing and drawing apps my iPad could revolutionise my lessons! Such a shame. Also bad business as a lot of educators, teachers, etc would use otherwise.

    109 of 135 people found this useful

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