[Estelle19]

Hey guys,

this is Estelle. My uncle bought me an eMac. I am amazed about Mac. Had a Sony Vaio before, but Apple is much more flexible in every kind of aspect.

Well, the thing is, that I bought a cool Apple Studio Display 15" on eBay. Can anybody please tell me which adapter I need, to work with the two together?

Thanks in advance
Estelle

[Luca]

You should have done some more research before buying that stuff. The two are completely incompatible. The eMac has a VGA-out port that is only good for mirroring an external display (displaying the same contents as the built in display at the same resolution). The old 15" Studio Display uses an ADC connector, which requires an ADC port on the computer you're using it with. Now, if your computer at least had DVI, you'd be able to use a $100 DVI-ADC adapter, but you don't have DVI so there's really no way.

Sorry. If you need help knowing what to buy so this doesn't happen again, ask us first!!!! We need to know if we're going to help you. I don't mean to demean you at all, but this could have been avoided. There are tons of people here who are very knowledgeable about this stuff and willing to help.

[chucker]

You could get a VGA-to-DVI adapter plus a DVI-to-ADC adapter. In fact, I believe there's some rare VGA-to-ADC adapters.

But the bottom line is, as Luca already stated, that you don't want to buy them. You'd be wasting a lot of money. Sure, the ACDs are beautiful (depending on your taste), but they're also very expensive, and very much not worth it if your computer is on the low end.

Speaking of which, I'm not even sure your eMac supports spanning, even with some hacking. It may only support mirroring the image, so you wouldn't gain any additional space. And since the eMac has a higher resolution than the ACD you have, and is larger as well, I frankly don't see what you were trying to achieve.

I'm sorry you spent so much money, but really, as Luca aptly put it: you should have done some research first.

[Estelle19]

Geeh,

that sux big time, Luca. But many thanks for the advice. I thought I could work with Photoshop on two Displays. Well, I have another 2 questions.

What about if I am buying an iBook G3 or G4? What about that? Could I work with the iBook and the Apple Studio Display together?

Can the eMac work with another TFT (must not be an Apple TFT)? If so, which adapter do I need?

Big and warm hugs to you...

PS: Actually I am not that disapponited, cause I got the Studio Display for just 140 Bucks. Thats ok. But I am wondering for what they're sellin' it for.

[FFL]

Here's a question - why do you want to hook a TFT up to your eMac? What are you hoping to accomplish? Why do you need two displays at once that show the same thing?

Even with an iBook, you'd need a "hack" to enable spanning, and you'd still need two adaptor cables to use the ADC connector on the Apple Studio Display.

[Estelle19]

Hey FFL,

thanks for answering. well, I know that the eMac Display is big. But I do a lot of graphic works. So I hoped to have all the "tools" and "paletts" on the right side so I have a clear screen on my work on the left side.

Are you sure that the eMac doesn't work even with a hack? Well, if not, it doesn't make sense at all as you said.

Well, if the Apple Studio Display does not even work on the iBooks, I think I am gonna put it on eBay again. Taht sux, since the Design of the ASD looks nice...

Well, guys. thank you again.

Estelle

[FFL]

That's probably a good idea. I'm not aware of a spanning hack for the eMac.

Best to save your funds & make good use of what you've got for now, and when you are ready, you can upgrade to something newer and nicer and sell your eMac on eBay.

[Luca]

There are very few Macs that even support your display. The ADC connection it uses can only be driven by either a PowerMac built from July 2000 until about mid-2005, or you can get that $100 adapter to connect to any Mac with a DVI port (2002 and later PowerBooks, basically).

Apple displays may adhere to a higher standard of quality than average, but they are still overpriced for what you get. You spent $140, yet the display you got is very old. A brand new 15" LCD costs about the same, and a 17" LCD with far more screen area costs barely more ($160-$170 for a low end one). Furthermore, such displays often have both VGA and DVI connections, which means you can connect them to pretty much any Mac.

What configuration is your eMac? The spanning hack will work with any eMac with ATI graphics, which includes a single 800 MHz model as well as every model at 1 GHz or higher. If you have a 700 MHz eMac or an earlier 800 MHz eMac with GeForce 2MX graphics, you're out of luck as far as driving two monitors at once.

Remember that if you intend to use the display with an eMac, iMac, or iBook, you'll have to get one that supports VGA. If you connect it to a PowerBook or PowerMac, you can use one with DVI.

[Estelle19]

Ciao Luca,

here the specs:

Processor: 1,25Ghz G4
RAM: 768MB DDR (333MHz)
Harddrive: 120GB (Parallel ATA-100 3,5")
Drive: CD/DVD-Combo (reads DVD and writes/reads CD)
Graphic: ATI Radeon 9200 (32MB) dual Monitor able
Screen: 17" (to 1280x960)
connections: Dial up, LAN (10/100Mbit), Audio-in, Audio-out, 3x USB2.0, 2x Firewire, Mini-VGA

Really, I like just the Design of the Apple studios. I know that you can get BIG TIME TFT's for a better price and a bigger scrren. But I have the impression that the mass TFT's you can get on the Big Box Stores doesn't fit to an apple.

But you are right. Maybe I am gonna buy an iBook and look for nice widescreen TFT.

[Luca]

Well just so you know, there isn't a single Apple display made recently (I'm not counting their old CRTs or the old version of their 15" LCD) that can be used with an eMac, iMac, or iBook. Many people choose to pay hundreds more for an Apple display, and I can respect their decision even though I disagree with it (the design alone is not worth $300-$500, which is how much extra Apple displays cost vs. other companies). But when you can't even buy one that's compatible with your computer, you simply have to look elsewhere because there is no other option.

Technically, I guess I should mention that it's possible to connect Apple's digital displays to the analog-only iBook, iMac, and eMac through the use of a VGA-DVI adapter. Chucker mentioned this above. Such devices are very costly, and even if you convert the VGA to DVI, you still have to then convert the DVI to ADC (which is an extra $100). You could be looking at $300-$400 worth of adapters and conversion boxes just to get your five year old 15" LCD monitor working with your eMac.

Finally, you mention the possibility of moving to a different computer, but getting an iBook wouldn't really be an improvement even if you get a brand new one. I would strongly, strongly recommend against getting a G3 iBook. The eMac is a pretty fast machine. I'd keep it, personally, unless you really need the portability.

[Estelle19]

Luca,

thanks for those kind words and the research.

I see. It isn't worth all the bucks hooking up an eMac with the Display. i let the eMac alone. The display is really huge enough. And yes. For an all-in-one Computer, it is a fine and fast Mac.

Ok, so lets say I wanna buy an iBook G4. Which TFT would you recommend me? I want a 12" (for Uni) and work later at my apartment with a TFT. I don't wanna wait for the so called "MacBooks" since nobody here knows when they're coming. It will be a G4. Does the iBook have VGA or DVI? What about the 12" PowerBooks?

Big hugs
Estelle

[Luca]

See if you can get a good deal on a refurbished iBook or 12" PowerBook from the Apple store. I sympathize with not wanting to wait since you're right, we don't have any idea when these new machines will be out, but I don't think the current iBook is worth $999 anymore, nor is the current 12" PowerBook really worth $1499!

FYI, all iBook G4s have VGA output and do not support monitor spanning, but they can be made to work with a simple application called Screen Spanning Doctor. The PowerBook G4 12" has DVI.

I can't make many LCD recommendations other than really general ones. In general, it's good to find one with dual inputs (VGA and DVI both). Then you can use it with anything. Also I would strongly recommend a 17" LCD as a minimum. They're safely under $200 including shipping, and only about $20 more expensive than 15" LCDs. A 17" LCD provides you with 67% more screen area and they really aren't that bulky or big. The next step up in resolution would be a 20" widescreen LCD. They're several hundred dollars (around $400, I think, for an inexpensive model).

I don't really know much about what brands are good. Mine is an Acer and it has worked absolutely flawlessly the entire time I've had it (about a year). I don't know if this is the case for all Acers, and I don't know what other brands are really great, but from what I can tell, most LCDs are pretty similar in quality, even the cheap ones. Apple might have higher standards for what they will sell and what they'll send back to the factory, but overall LCD quality is very consistent and very high.