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

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 :)

Has anyone attempted to connect an A1407 (27” Thunderbolt Display) via thunderbolt 3 -> thunderbolt 2 adapter and an A1316 (27” Mini DisplayPort Cinema Display via HDMI -> Mini DisplayPort to an M1 Mac Mini with any success? If so, can you link to the adapters you used? Im thinking this may be the way to get “matching” dual 27” screens attached to the M1 Mac Mini.

Unbelievable, I do not understand - I have not been using the Mac mini M1 for two days, I turned it on and the picture is correct, no ghosting, no flickering. (Big Sur 11.2, HDMI of Mac mini M1 - Apple HDMI to DVI Adapter - Apple Cinema HD 23-inch Display/first generation). It seems that Big Sur is unpredictable, it did not work correctly since the beginning, now it works, I did not change anything.

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.

yes I have 2 displays connected; the other is a Dell U2720QM via USB-C. Before I got on to 11.2 I had to connect my Apple Cinema HD via USB-C to DVI (I used a cheap generic adapter from China) and then had to connect my 4k Dell display via HDMI but since 11.2 it has been solved and I can use that HDMI outlet for the Apple Cinema HD from 2006 so that I can reap the benefit of USB-C to use as a downstream high speed hub on my 4k USB-C Dell monitor

So don't send your Mac back to Apple; borrow any other monitor from your office, friend or neighbor just long enough to download 11.2 (or 11.3 public beta which is even better, if you have HomePod mini) and if you absolutely know nobody then order a cheap USB-C to DVI adapter online and wait a few days.

there IS a solution to this quagmire, trust me.

Thank you NavarroOne, I bought the USB-C to DVI adapter, and sent the Thunderbolt 2-3 adapter back to Apple. I now have both of the Cinema displays working well, a lot of the time. Unfortunately I am still troubled by one of the displays not waking up from sleep.

This seems to be a known problem with the M1 Mac Mini. Other people on Apple discussions have pointed out that there is no point in buying a new computer which saves you 900 ms on a Photoshop filter if you have to grovel under your desk 35 seconds to unplug and replug the display in order to make it work!

Additionally Dragon for the Mac doesn't work anymore and the Apple dictation is poor in comparison. The hard drive folders are all over the place and the widgets are annoying me. In summary the M1 Mac Mini is nowhere near the leap forward that the 2012 Intel Mac Mini was, it's not bad enough to return it, but it's not good enough to be enthusiastic.

Hello, trying to connect my MMM1 to my 30" Apple CinemaDisplay for two weeks. I have now bought three adapters: 1) deleyCON (HDMI-DVI), 2) CableCreation (USB C - DVI) and 3) StarTech (USB C - DVI). With all connections I get a maximum resolution of 1280x800 px, despite advertisements touting the full resolution of 2560 × 1600 pixels (100 ppi). What is going wrong here? If anyone can help, please feel free to say.

It should also be noted that I currently have no access to my data, which are all on Drobo storages and only accessible via Thunderbolt. Drobo - so they say - is working on the problem.

Best regards

Otto

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...

To get full resolution on the 30" display you need DUAL-LINK DVI. Most DVI adapters are only single-link and limited to 1920 x 1200 maximum resolution.

https://www.startech.com/audio-video-products/cdp2dvidp

This is great! Thank you so much for sharing the links to the adapters?

I have two Thunderbolt displays and know that's not possible but one TB and one Cinema Display seem to be the trick. Do you have the USB output from the Cinema display connected?

Would you be willing to share pictures of the connecters from both monitors to the mini so I can see what goes where? I'd love to have two monitors that look the same and this seems to be the only way to do it without buying two new identical monitors.

Cinema Displays, yes!

I have two Thunderbolt Displays (different product) and that is not compatible (to have both).

I am looking to replace one of the Thunderbolt Displays for a 27" Cinema Display as that seems to work and they look almost identical.

Thanks!

Thanks for the Benefei tip! I have 2, 23" cinema displays with a DVI connector and the Benefei DVI to USB Type C (Thunderbolt 3) adapter is perfect. I had another made by Kanex and it didn't work at all. For the HDMI to DVI connection the Apple adaptor works well. My beautiful Cinema displays live on!

I just got M1 Mini and I'm using an Apple cinema display with one of these:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DRQYWPD/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Amiroko USB-C to Mini DisplayPort Adapter, USB 3.1 Type C (Thunderbolt 3) to Mini DP Adapter Support 4K, 1080P for MacBook Pro, Alienware, to LED Cinema Display / Dell Monitor etc, Gray

IT WORKS FLAWLESSLY!

I agree, this problem is not solved.

I have two 23 inch Apple Cinema displays. Around 80% of the time they work well, wake up from sleep with no problem.

Around 20% of the time my left hand display, connected by a StarTec USB-C adaptor stays black. I then have to reach under my desk and dis-connect, and then re-connect the USB-C lead, and then it all works.

Interestingly when this happens all of the desktop icons on both displays show on the right hand display, all on top of each other. The other curious thing is that if I go on and use Safari under these circumstances it displays line numbers for all the pull down bookmarks! Safari does not do this normally.

To the untrained eye this looks like a software problem, so I hope Apple are paying attention and working on it or I will get backache from grovelling under my desk.

Definitely not solved. My old Cinema Display is the original 30" model, which was almost impossible to use. A bunch of the problems were solved by using my old MacBook Pro with the Ruby script to generate an EDID for the monitor (DisplayProductID-9232). Please, please, please Apple, add the correct EDID for all of your old monitors in your next update!

But that is not the only problem - sometimes the monitor is not recognized and it takes one or more power down reboots to get it to be recognized. And then sometimes it is recognized but has double vision, or it hiccups, going black every thirty seconds or so for a second or two. I've been a Mac user since the beginning, and this is the worst unresolved problem I've ever had. Macs are supposed to just work, and always have in the past. How did the miserable multiple monitor support get past your quality control?