Anyone got a Macbook Pro hooked upto a 30" Display?

[nylon]

I was wondering if anyone was using a 30" display with their Macbook Pro. Either a Dell or an Apple display.

Is their any lag when playing HD video or any GUI lag. Just wondering whether the video card can handle driving a 4MP display without issue.

 

[aaron.lee2006]

They wouldn't make the new intels not compatible with the displays, especially seeing the graphics are superior. Contact Apple or search their tech support and see what happens.

 

[Anonymous Freak]

Take a peek at the MacBook Pro What's Inside page (why, oh why, did they abandon the term 'Tech Specs'?) it states under 'video and graphics support':

Dual display and video mirroring: Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display and up to 2560 by 1600 pixels on an external display, both at millions of colors

Since 2560x1600 is the resolution of the 30" display, that's a good sign.

Then, gander at the Graphics page. The last paragraph states:

When you connect an Apple Cinema Display to MacBook Pro, you lose nothing in translation. That’s because the DVI connection gives you a pure digital signal from system to display. View more than 4 million pixels on the 30-inch Apple Cinema HD display, powered by the X1600 and the dual-link DVI built into MacBook Pro. With Mac OS X, you get three options for using your display: dual-display mode, video mirroring, and lid-closed mode.

Emphasis mine. So that clinches it, it supports the 30-inch display.

And at a local Apple Store today, I saw one running a 30" display.

 

[Maxwell Smart]

*thinks about owning a MacBook Pro AND a 30" ACD...* drooooool.....

 

[NYmacAttack]

I was wondering if anyone was using a 30" display with their Macbook Pro. Either a Dell or an Apple display.

Is their any lag when playing HD video or any GUI lag. Just wondering whether the video card can handle driving a 4MP display without issue.

The video card in the MBP is the best they have ever offered. If the last generations could run them without problems i expect the new MBP to run them without any problems.

 

[radiantm3]

The video card in the MBP is the best they have ever offered. If the last generations could run them without problems i expect the new MBP to run them without any problems.

I have a previous gen powerbook (1.67ghz g4 with 128meg GPU) and it doesn't run that great on a 30". It's like using a 23" display with the mac mini. The quartz animations are a bit choppy. However, I'm pretty sure the new macbooks can handle that res very well with 256mb of ram.

 

[NeuronBasher]

I can't vouch for the performance on the 30" ACD, but on my 24" Dell it runs great. You won't be able to run any modern games at full resolution, but it's still a pretty powerful video card, but HD video and general GUIness should be fine.

 

[Chundles]

I can't vouch for the performance on the 30" ACD, but on my 24" Dell it runs great. You won't be able to run any modern games at full resolution, but it's still a pretty powerful video card, but HD video and general GUIness should be fine.

You can if you run it in "Clamshell" mode with the lid closed. It will dedicate the full 128 or 256 MB to the external display then. The 30" would be sweet running with the full power of the x1600.

 

[NeuronBasher]

You can if you run it in "Clamshell" mode with the lid closed. It will dedicate the full 128 or 256 MB to the external display then. The 30" would be sweet running with the full power of the x1600.

I should clarify: Yes, it will run modern games at full resolution on the 30", but only if you don't care about reasonable framerates. It's not memory that it's short of, it's raw pixel pushing power. If you turn game settings up even slightly it will have trouble at 1920x1200 (ie: my Dell), much less the 30" ACD with it's higher resolution. The X1600 is a great card, but it wasn't designed for gaming at extreme high resolutions.

 

[/dev/toaster]

I will find out in about another week or so. I am going to pick one up since I use my computer as a TV / DVD player. My current screen is a very old 15" LCD thats pretty dark.

Those 30" displays look pretty sweet. I saw a 23" at compusa and I can't imagine how godly the 30" displays are.

 

[nylon]

Thank you for the replies everyone. I know the Macbook supports the 30" inch display I just wanted to know if anyone was actually using this configuration and found that everything was running smoothly and that the GUI wasn't choppy or lagged.