Editor's Note: I have tried repeatedly to post this on Apple's Support Communities, but they keep removing even heavily edited versions under the auspices that it is "nontechnical or off-topic". It is neither, but now I know why helpful information on this topic has been so hard to find. Apple either does not care about its users' frustrations or is so desperate to get folks to toss their old hardware that they prefer to pretend it simply doesn't exist. (As someone with a lot of expensive Apple Store receipts, I can assure them that it definitely does.) Consequently, I am sharing the full, un-edited version here, with the good folks at MacRumors, in the event that someone can actually be helped by a fellow Mac user.
As most owners of these devices know, getting a Thunderbolt 3-enabled Mac to work with Apple's old (but still insanely great) Cinema Displays is a dicey proposition. It can lead to heartache and ruin and a whole lot of silent (or perhaps vocal) cursing at Apple for failing to support its own legacy hardware. After a lot of rigamarole, I have unearthed two distinct solutions for this problem that I wanted to share with the community.
First the Apple hardware I've been working with:
2018 15" MacBook Pro
20" Apple Cinema Display (Aluminum)
23" Apple Cinema HD Display (Polycarbonate)
To put it succinctly, hooking none of the above devices to the above laptop worked out of the box. I went through multiple adapter setups that had been used in my previous MacBook (2013) and all failed spectacularly. And then, in a bit of serendipity, I found one that didn't.
Solution 1:
UGREEN USB C to DVI Cable
This actually powered the 20" ACD natively, which after my initial fails, somewhat shocked me. I have no idea, technically speaking, why this connector succeeded where the others failed, but I used it for four straight weeks on a remote job without issue. (Some users complained about screen flicker, but I never experienced this.) One note: for whatever reason, it takes longer than expected for the MacBook to actually recognize the display — certainly longer than the Thunderbolt connection did on my 2013 MPB, which was basically instant. If you go this route, you may have to give it 15-20 seconds before you see the display actually fire up, which can be a little harrowing at first, but fine when you realize that's what it takes. You may also need to manually switch on/off the display using the touch buttons on the right, if you keep it on overnight.
Solution 2:
An eGPU
This was actually the first solution I found, but I am mentioning it second because it is the most convoluted (and expensive). I found that all the above monitors worked flawlessly with my eGPU, which circumvents whatever weird shenanigans exist between the integrated hardware controller and Mac OS. The eGPU disregards the MPB's graphics hardware completely and allows the displays to be driven directly by the external card, which seems to be a perfectly happy relationship. For this setup, I use a Vega 64 inside a Mantiz TB3 enclosure. The Vega 64 outputs 1x HDMI and 3x DisplayPort so, as one might expect, there is a bit of dongle hell involved in this. I've employed the following configurations:
The 20" display used the following:
And the 23" display worked similarly (but because it was a billion years old, needed an extra converter):
Because of the Vega 64's extra muscle, I could drive both the 30" and one of the other monitors simultaneously, and if I really needed to, could probably fill up all four ports without a problem. Now I had planned on using an eGPU in my setup anyway and already had all these monitors on-hand, so there really wasn't a tremendous increase in my budgeted cost, beyond a few extra adaptors; but, it's probably not worth it to drop $1000 on an eGPU solely in the service of salvaging an 8 year old monitor that you don't already own (or even one that you do.)
When I began this upgrade process last fall, I found precious little information on this issue and what there was wasn't particularly helpful. I hope this helps someone out there who may have this same problem and saves you a bit of my head-scratching frustration. (And hopefully before you get your beloved displays on Craigslist!)
And a final word about eGPUs:
I don't know that they all work the same, but MacOS seems particularly picky about dealing with them. Because I have another drive connected through the eGPU's TB3 hub, the Mac gets very cranky if it tries to go to sleep, as the external drive will improperly disconnect, which just wakes the Mac up again, which reinitializes the drive. This process will repeat ad infinitum, so I actually have to shut my eGPU down completely (manually) before letting my Mac sleep. In order to get the eGPU to eject, however, I first have to close every open application and eject any attached hard drives. Took me awhile to figure this out, but once I did, I just created some quick scripts, mapped them to a keyboard shortcut and the process is mostly painless. Every once in a while, the eGPU either won't eject properly, or the Mac's internal display driver will crash, preventing it from taking over upon restart. Afraid you'll have to talk to Apple for a solution to that one...
As most owners of these devices know, getting a Thunderbolt 3-enabled Mac to work with Apple's old (but still insanely great) Cinema Displays is a dicey proposition. It can lead to heartache and ruin and a whole lot of silent (or perhaps vocal) cursing at Apple for failing to support its own legacy hardware. After a lot of rigamarole, I have unearthed two distinct solutions for this problem that I wanted to share with the community.
First the Apple hardware I've been working with:
2018 15" MacBook Pro
- 2.9 GHz Intel Core i9
- 32 GB 2400 MHz DDR4
- Radeon Pro Vega 20
20" Apple Cinema Display (Aluminum)
23" Apple Cinema HD Display (Polycarbonate)
To put it succinctly, hooking none of the above devices to the above laptop worked out of the box. I went through multiple adapter setups that had been used in my previous MacBook (2013) and all failed spectacularly. And then, in a bit of serendipity, I found one that didn't.
Solution 1:
UGREEN USB C to DVI Cable
This actually powered the 20" ACD natively, which after my initial fails, somewhat shocked me. I have no idea, technically speaking, why this connector succeeded where the others failed, but I used it for four straight weeks on a remote job without issue. (Some users complained about screen flicker, but I never experienced this.) One note: for whatever reason, it takes longer than expected for the MacBook to actually recognize the display — certainly longer than the Thunderbolt connection did on my 2013 MPB, which was basically instant. If you go this route, you may have to give it 15-20 seconds before you see the display actually fire up, which can be a little harrowing at first, but fine when you realize that's what it takes. You may also need to manually switch on/off the display using the touch buttons on the right, if you keep it on overnight.
Solution 2:
An eGPU
This was actually the first solution I found, but I am mentioning it second because it is the most convoluted (and expensive). I found that all the above monitors worked flawlessly with my eGPU, which circumvents whatever weird shenanigans exist between the integrated hardware controller and Mac OS. The eGPU disregards the MPB's graphics hardware completely and allows the displays to be driven directly by the external card, which seems to be a perfectly happy relationship. For this setup, I use a Vega 64 inside a Mantiz TB3 enclosure. The Vega 64 outputs 1x HDMI and 3x DisplayPort so, as one might expect, there is a bit of dongle hell involved in this. I've employed the following configurations:
- 30" Apple Cinema HD Display > Apple Dual Link DVI to Mini DisplayPort Adapter > TrippLite Mini DisplayPort to DisplayPort Adapter > Vega 64
The 20" display used the following:
- 20" Apple Cinema Display > BlueRigger DVI to HDMI Adapter Cable > Vega 64
And the 23" display worked similarly (but because it was a billion years old, needed an extra converter):
- 23" Apple Cinema HD Display > Apple ADC To DVI Converter > BlueRigger DVI to HDMI Adapter Cable > Vega 64
Because of the Vega 64's extra muscle, I could drive both the 30" and one of the other monitors simultaneously, and if I really needed to, could probably fill up all four ports without a problem. Now I had planned on using an eGPU in my setup anyway and already had all these monitors on-hand, so there really wasn't a tremendous increase in my budgeted cost, beyond a few extra adaptors; but, it's probably not worth it to drop $1000 on an eGPU solely in the service of salvaging an 8 year old monitor that you don't already own (or even one that you do.)
When I began this upgrade process last fall, I found precious little information on this issue and what there was wasn't particularly helpful. I hope this helps someone out there who may have this same problem and saves you a bit of my head-scratching frustration. (And hopefully before you get your beloved displays on Craigslist!)
And a final word about eGPUs:
I don't know that they all work the same, but MacOS seems particularly picky about dealing with them. Because I have another drive connected through the eGPU's TB3 hub, the Mac gets very cranky if it tries to go to sleep, as the external drive will improperly disconnect, which just wakes the Mac up again, which reinitializes the drive. This process will repeat ad infinitum, so I actually have to shut my eGPU down completely (manually) before letting my Mac sleep. In order to get the eGPU to eject, however, I first have to close every open application and eject any attached hard drives. Took me awhile to figure this out, but once I did, I just created some quick scripts, mapped them to a keyboard shortcut and the process is mostly painless. Every once in a while, the eGPU either won't eject properly, or the Mac's internal display driver will crash, preventing it from taking over upon restart. Afraid you'll have to talk to Apple for a solution to that one...
