Dual 30″ Apple Cinema Displays

Updated on 18-08-2022 in Docking Station
8 on 15-08-2022

My work was e-recycling two perfectly fine 30″ Apple Cinema displays (model year 2006, 2007) so I decided to grab them for my home office.  I have a Lenovo laptop.   I purchased two Club 3D CAC-1510-A adapters and both displays look and work great. 

Now I want to use them as dual monitors, but I have never tried using 2 monitors before, and I’m assuming this might be tricky due to their age and I don’t use a MAC.  My best guess is to buy a dock that can receive 2 USB 3.2 gen 1 Type C ports?  I also want a dock that powers my laptop.

I would prefer to buy a club 3D product as I’m very happy with the CAC-1510.   Any suggestions?

 
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1 on 15-08-2022

Nice grab for sure! (those things still cost a fortune secondhand and the colors are unmatched)

What Lenovo laptop?

Using 2 active adapters over a docking station I would not recommend.

I haven’t tested this but the CSV-1580 might be able to work.

https://www.club-3d.com/en/detail/2542/thunderbolt_4_portable_5_in_1_hub_with_smart_power/

 

on 15-08-2022

I have a ThinkPad P15s.   Thanks for the hub suggestion, will give that a try and let you know how it goes.  

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0 on 16-08-2022

ThinkPad P15s has Thunderbolt 3. Thunderbolt 3 on PCs doesn’t guarantee that two displays are supported from a Thunderbolt port, unlike Thunderbolt 4 which requires support for two displays from a Thunderbolt port.

The tech specs say the USB-C port used for charging also supports a display so you can try that with one of of the CAC-1510-A.

The tech specs for the ThinkPad P15s don’t say how many displays are supported from the Thunderbolt port. They also don’t say what GPU (Nvidia or Intel) is controlling each display output (built-in, USB-C, Thunderbolt, HDMI). Connect a display to each port, use the Device Manager (view by connection type), to find each display and see what GPU the display is connected to. Let us know the results.

If you find that the CSV-1580 Thunderbolt 4 hub doesn’t allow connecting two displays using the two CAC-1510-A adapters and you can’t use the Thunderbolt and USB-C port simultaneously, then you might try using the HDMI port for one of the displays using a CAC-1332, CAC-1333, or CAC-1336. I prefer the CAC-1332 because it also allows USB 2.0 (not useful in your case because you’re not connecting a USB-C display). The CAC-1333 doesn’t support USB 2.0 but it may be more convenient because it doesn’t require an extra power connection. Both the CAC-1332 and CAC-1333 are limited to ≤ 4096 width but that’s good enough for your 2560×1600 displays. Hopefully the CAC-1336 allows USB 2.0 connection and width > 4096.

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0 on 16-08-2022

The tech specs for the ThinkPad P15s says both the USB-C port and the Thunderbolt port can be used for charging. The CSV-1580 can support charging (60W) for the Thunderbolt port.

If you connect the CSV-1580 to the USB-C port instead of the Thunderbolt port, it should still support charging (60W) but it will only support one display and the display might be limited to two lanes of DisplayPort as the other two Super Speed lanes of the USB-C connection will be used for USB 3.0. The CAC-1510-A requires four lanes of DisplayPort to do 2560×1600.

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0 on 16-08-2022

HDMI and USB-C ports are both supported by the Intel(R) UHD Graphics GPU.    I’ll try the CSV-1580 option when it comes in, if that doesn’t work I’ll go for the CAC-1333.    Will let you know how it goes.   thanks!

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0 on 17-08-2022

HDMI and USB-C and Thunderbolt and built-in are supported by Intel? Or only some of them are supported by Intel and the others are supported by Nvidia?

Is there a USB-C port and a Thunderbolt port? Can you connect one display to the USB-C port and the other to the Thunderbolt port?

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1 on 17-08-2022

From what I can tell all ports are supported by Intel (USB-C, HDMI, Thunderbolt)

And yes I have both a USB-C and a Thunderbolt port.   I just tried plugging one monitor into the USB-C and the other to thunderbolt and can make themwork as dual monitors.    Only problem now is power for my laptop.

on 18-08-2022
I just tried plugging one monitor into the USB-C and the other to thunderbolt and can make themwork as dual monitors. From DNP

Good. Are they powered by Intel or Nvidia GPU?

Only problem now is power for my laptop.From DNP

The CSV-1580 should solve that (if 60W is sufficient). What power does your normal charger supply?

When you get the CSV-1580, connect it to the Thunderbolt port and connect two displays. If two displays doesn’t work then you know the second display can be moved back to the laptop’s USB-C port.

 

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