I admit it, I’m late to this party. Only recently have I attempted to connect my Apple Cinema 30″ Display to my MacBook Air (late 2008 version). Unfortunately, required adapter cable costs $100 and is only available from Apple. But recently Kim got me the adapter as a gift (I have a great fiancée).
In principle this should be pretty straightforward device, plug it in, have it work. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case.
First, the adapter requires the use of a USB port. Generally this isn’t a problem except that the MacBook Air has just one USB port. Apple has anticipated this problem and provided a USB pass-through on the adapter cable itself. Still it’s annoying to have to plug the USB cable as well as the mini display port cable into my MacBook Air. A more practical problem is that this also precludes the use of the MacBook Air SuperDrive along with the adapter. There goes my ability to watch DVDs on my “Cinema” display.
While using the adapter I uncovered a second problem, dark areas of the display would sometimes show significant amounts of (mostly green) noise. Also at random intervals the screen would flash black momentarily. Other users have seen this problem in the past, but I hope by now issues would have been resolved. Several people had indicated that newer versions of MacOS X and later revisions of firmware inside the adapter (version 1.02) resolved the issues for them, but despite using the latest versions of both my issues persisted. At the recommendation of Apple support I visited the Apple genius bar at the local Apple store, but they were unable to replicate the problem using my MacBook air and my adapter. Nonetheless they decided to order me a replacement adapter cable.
Up until earlier this evening I thought the second adapter cable was working flawlessly, but then my display freaked out. For a period of almost 5 minutes my display flashed black every 5 to 10 seconds. Before I could find a video camera to record the incident problem seemed to resolve itself. Now I’m on the lookout for further issues with the second adapter; hopefully I’ll have a chance to document any issues I have with it.
All in all, this is where the most disappointing Apple products I have ever used. Hopefully Apple will be able to resolve my issues under warranty; or maybe someone else will come up with an affordable version of this cable. Overall, this is the disappointing showing by Apple.
Update: I captured video of the adapter causing problems with my Cinema Display. I unplugged and reset the adapter at the end, to prevent damage to the monitor, but here’s a short two minute video of the event:
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