hi all,
got 2 massive 20" screens from a friend and they need me to buy em an adapter to work with standard graphics cards rather than with an apple computer with annoyingly different graphics hardware, wot type of adapter is it i need? how do i find out? the monitor is an "apple multiple scan 20 display"
i am currently using a dinky lil packard bell 14.5inch screen with the worst resolution and i would love to b able to use the screens i have! :sad:

any help would b wonderful :D

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Are they the fancy Apple monitors with the clear plastic border? If so, they use an ADC connector. It's a special type of DVI connector that puts DVI, USB, and power into one cable. First, you'll need to ensure that your video card has DVI support. You'll then need to purchase an ADC to DVI converter cable from Apple. If I remember correctly, it's a bit over $100.

Hi,

You may also want to see if those screens will be supported by your Packard Bell computer. If it is an older one, your video card might not have the horsepower to drive the screens.

Christian

its not the fancy ones, u tlkin about the coloured ones right?, its a couple of huge grey ones 20" or 22" sumthin like tht,
the monitor plug has 15pins
. . . . . . . .
. . . . . . .

unlike the normal plug with smaller pins of the same number:
. . . . .
. . . . .
. . . . .

i need an adapter that the first picture plugs into so that it can fit in to the picture of the second picture if you follow..
thanks so much for anyhelp!!
(soz the dots dnt seem to keep the spacing i typed em with :s)

my computer isnt a packard bell btw, its just the monitor im currently using my comp is custom built by urs truly

If you're describing the old Mac-standard 15-pin "D" connectors, you need a DB15 female -> HDB15 Male adapter like the one shown here:

http://www.pccables.com/70023.htm

yup that looks like the one i need thanks :D only im in the uk so im gonna search for a uk company to order it from rather than get it all the way from the u.s at extra cost probably

thank u so much everyone!!

You're welcome. :)

I only posted that particular link because it had a good visual description of the adapter. You can find the beasties all over the place, so I'm sure it will be no problem for you to source one from somewhere more local to you.

Important though (and no punny/funny intended): Make sure you get the sex right!

Those adapters come in both the MAC monitor->PC video card and PC monitor->Mac video card flavors; you need the one which is female (socketed) on the 2-row side and male (pinned) on the 3-row side.

so im looking for a female to male connector?

ive been lookin and it doesnt seem as easy as u said to find :S am i lookin in the wrong places?

If the picture of the connector in the link I posted looks like the right one for the monitors that you have; that's the type you need. It converts older Mac monitors' 2-row, 15-pin video connectors to the PC/VGA standard 3-row, 15-pin connectors. The only thing to keep in mind "sex-wise" is that you are going from a Mac monitor to a PC/VGA video card. Adapters which let you connect a PC/VGA monitor to a Mac computer are of the opposite sex.

I'm not sure why you're having trouble finding the adapter, but some of the links here might help:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=Mac+monitor+pc+vga+adapter&btnG=Search

ok thanks DMR, incredible amount of support and help from this site, im loving it, thank you soooo much !!

incredible amount of support...

We try.. :)


Repost if you have any further questions, or problems sourcing the right adapter.

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