Apple Cinema Display 30’’ with M1 Apple Silicon Mac

Welp... New Macbook Air M1 showed up and I have now tried several configurations of dongles and hubs and can only get half resolution. Including using Apple DVI dual link & apple thunderbolt 2 to 3 dongle. The weird thing is that the 30inch display + thunderbolt dock with apple thunderbolt adapter works perfectly on my 2018 usb-c only macbook pro. Not quite ready to give up but this is annoying...

Mine stays at max resolution, even after reboot or restart. No problems what so ever with that setup. If u got the same adapters wich I linked in the description, and still have issues, my guess would be that the adapter i either broken or the wrong version.

Have you tried hitting the "Detect Displays" button that you get when the option key is held down?

I can't screenshot it but it's the button marked "Gather Windows" that changes to "Detect Displays" when the option key is held down.

I think my issue with it not remembering monitor arrangements and resolution of my 30" is due to the inexpensive USBc hub I'm using.

I bought SwitchResX Control to see if it would fix this. It didn't but it has given me some useful info. When I wake up my MacBook Air SwitchResX Control tells me that my monitor has changed as if I had plugged a different monitor in. I'm powering the USBc hub with the MacBook Air's power supply that then powers the MacBook Air.

I've also noticed that if I plug USB devices into the same hub that I've got the monitor plugged into I'll have even more issues with the 30" like a flicker.

I think a Thunderbolt hub is the answer.

This one has its own power supply and can even power the MacBook.

Might give it a try as I can always return it if it doesn't work out.

https://amzn.to/3ryiKYO

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!

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? :)

I have connected my 30 inch apple Cinema display to the hdmi input of my mac mini M1, and also a 4KLG screen via the usb3 socket.

Can't get the cinema display to scale any bigger than 1980 by 1020, though.

Pressing alt- detect displays- doesn't do anything.

So that's as good as I think I can get from it.

because what would be the point of putting the 4k signal into an hdmi and lose resolution on that?

I have this setup but a lot cheaper

https://www.amazon.com/3D-CAC-1010-DisplayPort-Dual-Link-Adapter/dp/B07T16LLB8

https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-DisplayPort-Adapter-Resolution/dp/B00JQORLCG/ref=sr_1_27?dchild=1&keywords=Cable+Matters+hdmi+dvi&qid=1632770185&sr=8-27

sorry it was the USB Type C to DVI-I DUAL LINK as mentioned above...

That DVI plug with the missing pins is Single-Link DVI, so can't run a 30" display at full resolution. For that you need Dual-Link DVI.

You can also hold down the option key while in display settings, this will add the 2560 x 1600

the OWC Thunderbolt 3 with mini display works great, plus it has eject when you leave your desk top

Seems like using a Thunderbolt dock instead of just a USBc dock allows a lot more stuff including additional monitors.

That will work - but doesn’t solve the dual monitor solution.

I tried that and believe me,. this 100% will not work with the CinemaDisplay 30" mini display port version!! Only the thunderbolt version. Going from Thunderbolt3 to MiniDisplay is a pain in the butt. I still working on it, but with the Dell minidisplay Hub I can get 1sec picture, and then it goes into black screen. The M1 mac mini is an amazing machine, but combined with the CD minidisplay version,. it's almost a no go :-/