ANTenna Blog -- Apple

The flagship of the desktop display world is the 30" monitor. I have one, and love it -- it's huge, very high resolution (2560 x 1600 pixels), and can show a tremendous amount of information. While it's great for people doing graphics design, a bigger monitor makes everyone more productive. Sadly, despite Apple's promotion of these huge flat screens, not every Macintosh can drive one.

The Apple 30" Cinema HD Display, retailing for $1,799, is a thing of beauty. However, Apple's not the only game in town. You can run any 30" display off a Mac, assuming that your computer supports it. In fact, I use a Dell Ultrasharp 3007WFP, which retails for $1,399.

What does that support entail? Dual-Link Digital DVI.

The original DVI (Digital Visual Interface) connector used for digital monitors supports only up to 1915x1436 pixels (normal screen) or 2098x1311 (wide screen) resolution. To show 2560x1600 pixels, your computer will need a Dual-Link Digital DVI connector, and enough video memory to support the high resolutions. The wire that connects your computer to the monitor must also be a special Dual-Link Digital DVI cable.

Check the Wikipedia DVI page to help you see if your cable is Dual-Dink Digital DVI compatible. Maddeningly, the monitor cable included with my Dell 3007WPF was a Single-Link Digital DVI cable. It took me a while to figure out why things weren't working right - the display was all distorted. Fortunately, I had a Dual-Link Digital DVI cable handy.

Not every modern Mac supports this high resolution. Neither do some older models: my favorite portable Mac, the 12" PowerBook G4, only works with up to 1920x1200 displays.

Here, then, are the current Apple Macintosh models, starting with those few which support the 30" display at full 2,560x1600 resolution:

Mac Pro, with any of the available ATI or NVIDIA graphics cards
MacBook Pro (all models)

The list of current models which don't support 2560x1600 resolutions on external monitors is much longer. The largest practical output resolution on those machines is 1920x1200, which is commonly found on 24" monitors.

MacBook Air
MacBook
iMac
Mac Mini

So, if you're hankering after a 30" display, and you're shopping for a new Mac, your options are severely limited to either the Mac Pro or the MacBook Pro. Otherwise, stick with a 24" or 20" external display.

Bummer!