Hooking up Macbook Air 2nd Gen to Dell u2711 monitor

I got exactly the same issue.

Purchased a MBA 13,3" a week ago and connected it via mini-DP to DP adaptor to U2711. Monitor stays blank, wakes briefly up when I click "discover monitors", then goes to power save mode again. Low resolutions like 1600x1200 work, though. However, the U2711 is recognized by the MBA and it offers me the list of resolutions up to 2560x1440.

Phoned Apple Care but they couldn't help - suggested to order Apple's mini-DP to DVI-D adapter, which "may or may not work". I ordered it but when I saw this thing needs an additional USB port to function I cancelled.

I also phoned Dell and they stated outright that the thunderbolt port is probably not 100% compatible with Display Port - although that is claimed.

Did some more research and apparently it's not just the Dell having this issue - so this suggests a problem on Apples side?

I also wrote an email to Apple complaining that they should state outright on their product page that the MBA is not reliably working with 3rd party display port monitors and that customers have to purchase an Apple display if they want to use an external monitor.

I am still hoping that Apple will fix this issue.

Hello

Same problem with MBA 2011 11" 4G 128Go.

> Perfect with my MacMini 2010

> Black Screen with MBA 2011

same mini display port cable 😟

Hi,

I have MBA 13 (i7 1,8 from this autumn) and original Apple mDP to DVI adapter. I'm not sure, if it is dual-link, but dual-link DVI cable I can connect. It doesn't need additional USB port. I don't see a reason why USB is needed for display adaptor. With this adaptor I had max resolution 1920x1080@60Hz. Today I bought miniDisplayPort to DisplayPort cable (approx 10USD) and native resolution 2560x1440@60Hz is working, but I don't have longer experience yet.

hmm, the dual-link adapter with usb was this thing here:

http://store.apple.com/de/product/MB571Z/A

according to apple care, it "may or may not" work with your Macbook Air.

happy to hear that the mini-Dp-to-DP cable is working for you at 2560x1440, perhaps i'll try a cable from different vendor.

You've got me. You are right. I have "single-link" adapter. USB is probably used to give enough power to dual-link adapter. Everday you can learn something new :-).

My cable is chinese no-name MMK 645-200 (if you will try to find it with Google, name Wentronic will appear) with gold-plated contacts. I paid 202 CZK (approx.8EUR/10 USD). You can find it on Amazon.

Good luck.

It's now OK for me with a mini display port to display port.

reboot MBA plugged resolved my problem.

but if i unplugged the MBA On and plug after the screen, i have sometimes a blackscreen and i must reboot the Mac

Hi do you guys get proper RGB signal into the DELL screen from thunderbolt port via mini-Dp-to-DP cable? If you go to menu and color settings on the DELL, what can you see there? RGB or YPbPr?

I can get only YPbPr, which is very bad, as this has very limited color information and looks terrible compared to DP to DVI adaptor. This is a common problem of all the 2011 and later macs with thunderbolt.

Hi do you get proper RGB signal into the DELL screen from thunderbolt port via mini-Dp-to-DP cable? If you go to menu and color settings on the DELL, what can you see there? RGB or YPbPr? Thx

Hi

Im in RGB witch the Dell and now with a macbook pro 2011

if i switch on YPbPr its ugly

That is very strange! It seems that not all of the 2011 MBP and Airs are affected. Mine sure is, or it is the cable, but that seems weird to me.

Anyway on the same machine - Win is RGB, OS X is YPbPr.

Which cable do you use? Is it the MMK 645-200 mentioned above?

I've received my miniDP-to-DP cable (6ft Monoprice) from Amazon just today and can confirm, that only YPbPr setting is working for me in the Dell OSD. When RGB is chosen, the colors are distorted. My monitor is of Rev.12, if that matters, and the Mac is MacBook Pro 8,2.