PC Monitors With Mac

Can someone tell me if there are any non apple monitors that can be used without an adapter on Macs.
I'm on my second Apple display in Three years & My first one died after 14 months & now my second one is starting to give me trouble.
I've decided not to get another Apple monitor as they're not worth the money but I wan't to know what my options are in terms of other monitors.
If I have to use an adapter with a third party monitor that's OK but I just want to know if there are any reasonably priced non apple monitors out there that can be used without one.

When you say "adapter" do you mean the DVI/VGA adapter or the older ADC adapter?

Anyway, if your graphics card is VGA, and you use an ADC adapter to convert the signal to the Apple monitor, then you do not need the adapter.

Any standard VGA monitor will work. I have THIS SONY ONE for example attached to my Mac mini. As it has both VGA and DVI inputs, I need no adapter and connect via DVI.

It would help to know what Mac you have

Hi thanks,

I have a G4 Powermac Desktop 1.42g with Firewire 800. I think its the very last G4 they made before the G5.

Is that an eMac/iMac/powerbook/ jango? What "type" of Mac is it?

Hi thanks,

It's a powermac desktop G4 1.42. The problem I am having is that when I turn my Mac on I hear the chord & I see the power light on my computer & my monitor come on but my monitor stays completely black.
Because I've had trouble with my last apple display I thought that was the problem this time but I've just noticed that when this happens there are no lights on my USB hub showing which ports were active indicating that this may be a computer problem rather than a monitor one.
Any ideas?

Cheers.

Hi jango,


I will reply more indepth tomorrow, but just wanted to say that according to THIS LIST your Mac has ADB and DVI, and includes DVI to VGA adapter.

So, you can attach any monitor that has DVI directly with a DVI lead, and any monitor that has VGA with the DVI to VGA adapter. The ADB port you are currently using (I assume) will not be needed if you go for a non-Apple monitor.

Have you installed any new memory in the machine lately? The quickest way to rule out the monitor is to attach is to another computer (borrow one if you have to, but make sure you use the right lead/adapter for another system )

Hi Thanks,

That list is great I'm gonna keep it.

I have not installed any RAM for sometime (at least a year). The only thing I have done recently that I didn't have before was get broadband installed.

Before that I didn't have internet access at home so my MAC is on the internet for the first time since I bought it over two years ago
.
That may be irrelevant as the whole process of getting my internet connected for the first time was very simple & hassle free but as a result i'm using my computer much more now.

I am becoming more convinced that it is a computer problem rather than a monitor problem as I have now noticed that when it happens (which isn't all the time) not only does my monitor stay blank but my USB hub does not become active & my other peripherals do not seem to be responding.

I was so hung up on it being a monitor problem that I never even noticed that nothing else was working either. This must surely indicate that this is a problem with my computer.

Ultimately the problem is I turn my computer on I hear the chord, I see the power light come on both on my apple monitor & on my computer yet everything else seems dead. It only happens occasionally but it's a real nuisance.

Does this ring any bells?

Thanks again for that list, Jango.