Apple Cinema Display 30’’ with M1 Apple Silicon Mac

I actually find the solution AND it work perfectly, just now I had to had a software manipulation that was not necessary before.

So to answer the initial question - Yes you can connect your Old 30" Cinema Display in full resolution with an Apple M1!

This is 11.2.1, can only run 1280x 800, choosing 2560 and it goes black! Disconnecting the adapter and connecting it again gives me just enough time to change it to 1280...haha this is embarrassing Apple! Tried a few 3rd part apps but no success

Guys this adapter works great, now I can finally get rid of the ***** clumsy Apple adapter. I’m now able to boot 11.2.2 without the 30” screen going black within 5 seconds at max resolution. Don’t even have to use the USB connection. Do I dare update further? :)

That is not what I did. If you followed my post I used a dual link dvi to usb-c adapter from microcenter. Sounds to me that one of your adapters has stopped working though because there is no reason why what you did wouldn’t work.

Kara_69 Said:

"Apple Cinema Display 30’’ with M1 Apple Silicon Mac: Thank you TheLittles for your answer. I will be fully confident when I will read a feedback from someone using this ACD 30´ with an Apple Silicon M1 ship 😊"

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Let us know if how it works out. It's always a blast to use with my 15" 2018 MBP.

I have no experience with the 30" Apple Cinema but can report that, since yesterday, I'm using my old 27" Apple Cinema Display LCD with my brand new Mac Mini M1 and it works flawlessly. I had to buy an adapter MiniDV-USB-C and that was it. Hopefully the 30" should work too (and my God how beautiful that screen is, still to this day! :-) ). You will obviously need a different adapter that allows you to plug it into a USB-C port...

cheers!

@ratephi

What adapter are you specifically using? So far no one has been able to get Apple Cinema Displays to work on the M1 Macs.

Which display model is it and which adapter specifically are you using? Do the USB ports work on the display? The camera? Audio?

I have the MC007LL/A - A1316 and was planning on using this adapter:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N4FQNYW?ots=1&th=1

So far all I've seen is reports of the display not working with Mini DisplayPort to USB-C connectors on the M1. I would love to be proved wrong.

Seems like you have the Thunderbolt version of the display. Apple made a Thunderbolt version later, mine used the Mini DisplayPort. So I still don't have any confirmed Mini DisplayPort to USB-C adapter verified success stories.

Apple originally released a display using DVI, then it went to Mini DisplayPort, then to Thunderbolt. So in essence, your display is newer than mine but not as old as the DVI.

Perhaps it is just the Mini DisplayPort that isn't getting it's signal through to the M1 Macs. People have ample examples of it working with the prior Mac models (pre-M1).

If you have a Mini DisplayPort display, it can only use a Mini DisplayPort to USB-C Adaptor. You can't chain multiple adapters to try to change the connector type yet again.

Hi Vincent, I was replying to ratephi in particular. Just want to get the information out there for other's trying the olde Apple Displays.

I haven't seen any success stories with the DVI version of the display. Yes it does sound like they managed to get a DVI version to work on the 2018 Mac mini by chaining two adapters together, but unfortunately no success stories on the M1 that I am aware of.

Right now it appears to be the Mini DisplayPort conversion that may not be supported on the M1s. If you find a report of another manufacturer's Mini DisplayPort display successfully connecting via a USB-C adapter, then we will know that it isn't technically impossible under the right conditions.

The problem is no one has been able to do so yet. They've tried. We're talking people who have a 27" Apple Cinema Display connected to a MacBook Pro 2019 or an 2018 Mac mini with a Mini DisplayPort to USB-C adapter. That same display and adapter did not work on the M1 Macs.

What they claim it supports only is valid when proven in does work. So far it hasn't been proven to work. Which is what we'd all like to find... some evidence of a working setup out there. Because without it, all evidence suggests that you can't connect a Mini DisplayPort display to an M1 with an adapter.

@Kara_69

While I haven't seen evidence of 30" Apple Cinema Display connected to an M1, I have seen evidence of a DVI display connected to the M1. You will need a DVI to USB-C adaptor. Scroll through the thread.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/mac-mini-m1-hdmi-to-dvi-issue.2270297/

The problem here seems to be that people seem to NOT know the difference between all these Apple displays. Apple Cinema Display and Thunderbolt Display MAY look the same on the exterior, but they are NOT THE SAME.

I'm still using a 27" Thunderbolt Display, all indications point to it working with M1 Macs using a Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adapter from . I have yet to see anyone confirm that it works. I've asked several YouTubers to confirm if any of them have a Thunderbolt Display.

I'm using Thunderbolt 2 enclosures, including an OWC Thunderbay 4 RAID enclosure for my storage/backup solutions, so I don't mind keep using my Thunderbolt Display even though it only has USB 2/FW 800 for its other connectivity. TB2 is plenty fast for my other drives.

I have seen confirmed reports that the Thunderbolt Display works with the Thunderbolt 2 to Thunderbolt 3 adapter. I would have expected Thunderbolt displays to be supported because they aren't that old and most Thunderbolt ports support older Thunderbolt versions.

There hasn't been any reports of a Mini DisplayPort to USB-C adapter working... with a Mini DisplayPort monitor. These people know what their display is because they have them running on an earlier Mac with the very adapters in question. They just don't work on the M1. So it's not just a case of using the wrong type of adapter, they have the right type, it just isn't working.

Which is why we are looking for some sort of confirmation that someone has successfully USED a Mini DisplayPort to USB-C adapter with a Mini DisplayPort display.

@levizadori

I sent an email to one of the manufacturers of a Mini DisplayPort to USB-C adapter to see if they have tested the adapter on the new M1s.

While it is true manufacturing defects can cause an adapter to not work out of the box, the issue seems to also be that adapters that currently work on non-M1 Macs aren't working on the new M1 Macs. This means the M1 is considered the culprit.

I've started seeing reports of HDMI adapters working (for HDMI displays of course) initially but then not working after sleep mode or restart. This seems to suggest that the issue may indeed be more with the M1 and not so much with the adapters. People shouldn't need to reconnect their cables all the time.

These reports are more alarming because it suggests that the display if you do get it to work may stop working out of the blue due to no fault of their own. Perhaps the M1 is still too "frontier" for it's own good.