Can the iMac 27" drive a 30" ACD and its own screen simultaneously?

[sparkie7]

ie. can the GPU in the iMac 27" basically drive it's 27" + a 30" ACD

Can anyone confirm. Thanks. Also. can the iMac's screen be turned off while hooked to a 30 ACD, so effectively used as a workstation

 

[sparkie7]

anyone?

 

[Cockroach]

Yes, if you get a mini DisplayPort to dual-link DVI adaptor.

 

[sparkie7]

cool thanks. so how does one go about turning off the imac's display which having a 30" ACD connected

 

[Cockroach]

I'm not sure you can. Why would you want to?

 

[uuaschbaer]

ATI Radeon 4670:

Two integrated DVI display outputs
Primary supports 18-, 24-, and 30-bit digital displays at all resolutions up to 1920x1200 (single-link DVI) or 2560x1600 (dual-link DVI)2

See:http://ati.amd.com/products/Radeonhd4600/specs.html

ATI Radeon HD 4850:

Two integrated dual-link DVI display outputs
Each supports 18-, 24-, and 30-bit digital displays at all resolutions up to 1920x1200 (single-link DVI) or 2560x1600 (dual-link DVI)2

See:http://ati.amd.com/products/Radeonhd4800/specs.html

Notice that both the display outputs of the the 4850 are specified to be able to handle resolutions up to 2560 x 1600, whereas only the primary display output of the 4670 is said to be able to handle that. What the secondary is capable of is beyond me, which is why the 4850 seems to me to be the safest option.

 

[Cockroach]

From Apple tech specs:

Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display and up to a 30-inch display (2560 by 1600 pixels) on an external display

As far as I can tell, it relates to all models.

 

[sparkie7]

I'm not sure you can. Why would you want to?

so i can use the imac as a back up machine to my Mac Pro, without having to use the glassy display, which maybe more of a distraction and a waste of energy having it on. the matte on the 30 ACD and the glassy 27 display would be a pain

 

[Cockroach]

Someone else should confirm this, but I think if you turn the brightness down the the minimum, it turns the screen off. This might just be for laptops, but maybe there's a hack to do it?

 

[Transporteur]

Turning the brightness down to minimum does not shut down the display, either on the notebooks.

The display is still on (hold it in the sunlight, you will see that it is) and is still recognised by the system.

 

[Cockroach]

Yeah, the display is on, but the backlight is off. So it will save power at least.

There probably is a way of doing it - I would try macosxhints.com.