Using a 27" Dell Monitor with 27" iMac as dual monitors
All right so the question is pretty simple. I am going to get both the 27" iMac and the 27" Dell UltraSharp 2709W Widescreen Flat Panel Monitor. I want to use the Dell as a second monitor for the iMac. So, what adapters or cables would I need to acomplish that? Info about the monitor:
CONNECTIVITY
High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI)
Digital Visual Interface (DVI) with High Definition Content Protection (HDCP)
DisplayPort
Video Graphics Array (VGA), Composite Video, Component Video
Thank you
24" iMac (LATE2008), 15" Macbook Pro (JULY2009),
Mac OS X (10.6.1)
Just wondering why you are going for the Dell 27" as the external monitor, instead of a 24" Cinema Display. Is it just the price difference? In Spain the Apple monitor is slightly cheaper than the Dell, which although larger offers the same 1920x1200 resolution.
Or is it to use the Dell with a PC or other input?
Just seems to me that the two Apples together would look better!
I collected my very first Apple computer, a 27" iMac yesterday. So far am thrilled with the difference from a PC, although amazed at how difficult Apple makes moving iTunes from a PC to an Apple. Should be an automatized procedure, at least in the PC to Mac direction!
Actually I need the 27" Dell because the iMac is 27" and I don't really like the difference between the 27" and 24" Apple Cinema Display. So yeah that's why.
Get yourself another 27" iMac and use it as the second monitor, for a not massive difference in price, you have a far better resolution, two equal screens, use it as a Time Machine of your main 27" iMac, and you are also fully redundant. Any problem and you just switch computers.
Know it is a silly idea, just couldn't resist the suggestion.
The HPLP2475w costs less than all the other solutions here, will give you easily the best image display (IPS rather than TFT) has a much wider gamut than the Mac cinema display, a brilliant height adjustable display and, with a flick of the wrist, will swivel round to portrait mode and astonish you with how many sites and applications need that shape.
A DisplayPort connection would provide the highest quality according to what I've read. Are you aware that the images won't be equivalent in size since the iMac is 2560 x 1440 and the Dell (or the HP mentioned in another post} is 1920 x 1440.
The iMac has ONE Mini DisplayPort for connecting ONE display. So you cannot connect two additional displays. You can, however, connect that one Dell 30-inch you have using the special Mini DisplayPort to Dual Link DVI adapter that Apple sells. The iMac's 2560x1440 plus the Dell at 2560x1600 should give you as much screen real estate as before, with two smaller displays.
If you want to add a third display that is smaller, you can add it through USB using this product
Buy a MacPro with two built in video cards which can support up to 4 monitors. If you are doing the type of work that requires 3 screens... get a MacPro... I think you will end up paying less than buying three iMacs and have much more room to grow!
I like the mac pros.
They are very expensive compared to what you can get on a windows machine.
Apple really knows how to over charge for hard drives and ram.
And the ram offerred is not 1666mh and the hard disks are not 10k rpm.
Still with the bloated prices, and the hardware choice limits i like the mac pro.
What i do not like is the outdated apple 30 inch cinema display.
I do a lot of programming and web development, so screen area is a high priority.
I was impressed by the screen on the imac.
You can install whatever SATA hard drives you care to buy to put into the three other slots. You don't have to get anything, other than the minimal config, pre-installed.
You can also use whatever dual-link DVI display you want to use with a Mac Pro. There are other 30-inch 2560x1600 displays on the market.
Its a little late but you should be able to use a Matrox "DualHead2Go" (Digital Edition) It splits the single iMac output to 2 24" monitors. Haven t tried it but it should work. Of course that would mean that the iMac couldn't be in the middle 😟