Connecting old Apple Cinema Display to new Mac Mini (M1)

Hi all,

I've connected my Apple Cinema Display 23" to my Mac mini M1 (Big Sur 11.1) by HDMI to DVI single link passive adaptor (Club3D).

I get Pink squares (see at very beginning of the movie), a pink static line at the very left of the screen and TERRIBLE GHOSTING (screens persisting after closing).

The crazy thing is that the ghost windows persist after a full reboot and appear through the boot screen at startup. same with full power-off and reboot.

The screen has a pink-is sheen and is micro-checkered (as if I was looking through a fine mesh), making it look much brighter than it should. No flickering issues though.

Note that NONE of this behaviour shows when I use this with my old 2011 MBP over mini DP, so it's not the screen.

Apple said in the M1 mini specs that hdmi to DVI should work - clearly not.

Have a look at this:

Absolutely horrible... And the worst thing is that Apple just does NOT communicate about this problem and does not fix it.

This user had a successfully connection via HDMI with the new 11.2 update (still beta):

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252071059?answerId=254451249022#254451249022

Okay so this is where I’m at- I have the 27” Cinema Display (with mini port- not thunderbolt ). I got a mini to thunderbolt 3 adapter and screen worked great. I also connected an non mac 2nd monitor to hdmi port and both work great- but then I wanted the Cinema Display monitor to have the camera and speaker work- I used a usb (but usb3 ) adapter to usbC. The camera only works for a little and then I get a usb power usage error message. I can’t find a usb 2 adapter. I also found the bottom left of ci I’m a display monitor to get very hot...anyone have these issues. I am connecting all to a Mac mini m1....I am worried of over heating and fire etc. Any tips would be appreciated or links to best adapters. Or just not worth it... if not anyone have a good webcam they use with Mac mini. Hate to not use my Cinema Display but with so many adaptateurs who knows. Also ever since adding the usb adaptor the screen sometimes goes black for a second or two

I have two 23" ACD's.

I just updated to 11.2

Before the update, on 11.1, only one of my displays worked with the HDMI output.

Let's call that display "Mango".

Mango had bad colours when connected via HDMI-DVI adapter.. like burned in pixel.

But with the "USB-C to DVI" adapter, it worked perfect, with beautiful colours. Totally normal picture.

The other display we'll name "Kiwi.

Kiwi didn't work with the "HDMI-DVI" adapter at all.. only showed picture for 1 sec, then turned to flickering snow.

But Kiwi did however work with the Benefei USB-C adapter, with beautiful colours.

Now with 11.2 update:

Kiwi works great with both adapters (usb-c and HDMI output)

Mango is now flickering, on both outputs (usb-c and HDMI output).

This is very upsetting :(

Apple made 2 versions of these Apple Cinema Displays.. The model number is the same but the contrast & brightness are better on the latest model.

The old model has a more yellowish tint and the newer has a more blueish tint (with much better picture quality).

Old

Brightness: 270 cd/m2

Contrast: 400:1

New

Brightness: 400 cd/m2

Contrast: 700:1

Mango is the old version.

Kiwi is the new version.

So now you know which version ya'll have :)

I must say - after your post i checked whether the 11.2 update had been rolled out for me(finally) and it was. I updated to 11.2 and indeed the issues i had with the HDMI-DVI single layer adapter to connect my 23’ Apple Cinema Display were GONE after the update to 11.2.

Finally: no more pink vertocal stripe to the left of my screen, no more nasty ghosting (even persisting after reboot), no more ‘micromesh-looking’ pattern on the screen all the time and the pink squares seem to have vanished.

Everything looks crisp and colors are correct, no flicker whatsoever. As it should be.

for completeness: i have an apple mac mini M1 running

• A 30’ Apple Cinema Display with a Club 3D USB-C to dual link DVI adapter(HDCP Off) (ref no: CAC-1510A) (Had to Option+click resolution setting to select full resolution only once and it remembers)
• A 23’ Apple Cinema Display with a Club 3D HDMI- DVI passive adapter (i assume same pinout as original Apple HDMI-DVI adapter)

Both run at 60Hz.

Very happy that it finally came through and Apple solved the issues to let the mini M1 do what is advertised. Big kudos to the team at Apple that solved this (4 months after product release)!

I chose to replace a 2012 MacMini, running two 23 inch cinema displays, model number A1082, with DVI-D connectors and adaptors, with an M1 MacMini, mainly in the hope of speeding things up. The displays simply don't work, the HDMI connection shows a correct image for around 3 to 4 seconds, and it then looks like a silver coloured snowstorm. After two chat sessions and an hour to support there is no progress. I was advised to purchase an Apple Thunderbolt 2 to 3 connector, and that dosn't work.

There must be thousands of people using 23 inch Cinema displays, on eBay they sell for the same price as a brand-new 23 inch HD display, that's how good they are. Using these displays is perfectly rational, they are fine, for example working with Keynote, and having two PDFs open on the second screen. There are very few 4K displays of similar size, and even if I did buy one there would be no guarantee that it would work with the M1 MacMini.

It's extremely disappointing that Apple seems to have no interest in helping with this problem, there must be people within the company who know if there is an answer, and if so what it is. Fortunately in the UK consumer protection legislation allows a product purchased online to be returned within 14 days without argument. I'm going to send back the new Mac mini, and I will consider buying one again when I can be given a clear answer as to what display I can use.

I just got my (very) old Apple Cinema Display to work with my M1 MacBook Air. Why it works, I have no idea. Here's what I did:

Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter from Apple

From there to an old Belkin Thunderbolt Express Dock (Model F4U055)

Then to a Mini Display Port to DVI adapter cable (Apple??)

And finally the Cinema Display Cable.

This got the Cinema Display to work, but at a 1280x800 resolution. Then used "Hold the option key down while selecting Scaled" in the display setup dialog to be able to reset the resolution to 2560x1600.

What a kludge! But it works...

This is the one that worked for me. No issues at all. Only thing that was glitchy was when the computer went to sleep, when it woke back up the monitor didn't. Happened twice and I just unplugged the usb-c and put it bac in and it was fine.

Try attaching and reattaching it a few times, that worked for me (while computer is on)

I don’t what you heard but I’m running 2 cinema displays on my M1. Hdmi and usb-c outputs.

this dude has 6 displays connected: https://youtu.be/5jLAwSvs7vE

A little warning for those who run the Mac mini M1 on an Apple Cinema 30"

I was running my Mac mini M1 with Big Sur 11.1 on my old Apple Cinema 30", working as it should.

A few days ago I decided to try 11.2 beta 2. The screen would come on only to go black after 5 seconds. There was no fix for this so I reverted back to 11.1 and all is fine.

Heck yeah, just entered the public beta program and downloaded Big Sur 14.2 and YES the old (2006) 23" Apple Cinema HAD monitor with DVI input, now works beautifully on Apple’s HDMI to DVI adapter, which means I can now use the 2 USB-C ports for my external SSD and for my USB-C 4K Dell Monitor; which in turn provides me with a reasonable number of reasonable speed downstream USB-A and USB-C additional ports.

My Mac mini life is now almost complete; getting the Logitech MX Keys keyboard + MX 3 Master mouse in a few days which negates any bluetooth issue with the unified dongle and allows just 1 keyboard for my work windows Laptop and my Mac. Also getting a UGreen KVM to allow fast switching between the 2 computers, utilising my Logitech C922 webcam and with the work computer connected via DP, I can easily switch between the 2 computers by the shortcut key on the Dell monitor. It means my Mac provides me with 2 screens and access to all peripherals while the windows laptop can access the main dell monitor, keyboard and mouse and webcam and they all also share the B&O speaker connected via the monitor so I think just about all my Mac mini and work computer setup issues are now done.

So happy that 14.2 fixes the HDMI to DVI issue, freeing up that extra USB-C port

The display should work with that adapter. The Mac mini's USB 4 ports will work with USB-C devices.

I confirm, I have same issue with Mac mini M1, Apple cinema 2O and HDMI to DVI adapter. Like a glitch (small dots) and shadow windows remain always on screen. This adapter works fine with MacBook Pro Intel 2015.