Is my Dell laptop too old to work with my Apple Cinema Display?

Question

My laptop is starting to get a little old. It has a VGA port on the back. My nice new Apple Cinema Display that's connected to my Mac Pro is DVI-D. That means I need to turn my analog VGA signal from my laptop into a digital DVI-D signal in order to power my Cinema Display.

Is this possible? Are there cables that will convert the signal? Is it worth it to buy one?

I have a KVM switch that I would like to use but it is also DVI-D so unless I can convert the VGA to DVI-D I am out of luck.

Any advice?

Answer 1

Just to be pedantic, VGA is a resolution, D-SUB (or D-SUB15) is the plug.

You can get an adapter that converts DVI signals to VGA, but not the other way around. You can get an adapter that converts a D-SUB connector to DVI, but it won't convert the signal from VGA to anything (you'll just get VGA signals running over the DVI connector -- this is called DVI-A, for analog).

You can get a converter box that will upconvert the VGA signal to DVI and give you the proper plug, but they aren't cheap ($2-300). Try to make sure the one you get supports the Apple displays.

If this was for a desktop machine, upgrading the video card would be cheaper.

Answer 2

Well, you said is it to old but you have not provided the specification of the laptop.

As long as you have the correct cables and converters, it should not be a problem getting your laptop linked to the screen - you may not get full resolution or good quality, but it should work.