Overview
In January 2003 the 12" PowerBook G4 pleased all those who had been craving for a successor to the PowerBook 2400 for so long. Unfortunately, a VGA port prevented users from attaching Apple ADC flat panel displays.
We built VGAtor as a bridge between these and other notebooks and the coveted Apple ADC displays.
Today, VGAtor enables the pristine digital quality of Apple's DVI and ADC displays on nearly all recent VGA-based computers, including the Apple iBook G4, iMac G4 and iMac G5!
VGAtor to the rescue!
VGAtor condenses VGA, USB and power signals into a single digital connector, preserving the original colour and resolution and adding flicker-free digital flat-panel quality, often superior to the built-in notebook display!
Setup is straightforward - all necessary cables are included - just plug everything in and choose "Detect Displays" in the Displays Control Panel, and presto, your ADC or DVI monitor is up and running!
A software wizard is included so that you can fine tune image parameters such as Phase (the fuzziness on screen), horizontal and vertical position and, should you ever need to, colour as well. VGAtor stores the parameters associated with your display and will remember them until you change your display for another model.
This allows you to leave VGAtor on your desk (the case is just too beautiful to hide it!) waiting for you to come back and use the extra display whenever you need it, without even rebooting your PowerBook!
Compatibility:
Video Cards
 VGAtor is compatible with all PowerBooks with a built-in VGA port as well as all PC notebooks that can use a second display as additional desktop space.
Specifically, VGAtor was optimized for the PowerBook G4 12" with VGA. This PowerBook supports the full range of Apple ADC and DVI** displays in full resolution and colour depth.
iMac G4, iMac G5 and iBook G4 computers will mirror the internal display by default. With a firmware patch, unsupported by Apple, this can be expanded to full dual display capability, just like the 12" PowerBook VGA. We have enjoyed trouble-free external DVI and ADC displays on a number of computers for many months now without the slightest side effect. MacWorld has a blog on their experience with the iMac G5.
PC notebooks require a chipset that is able to handle dual displays (typically this is the case for ATI and nVidia mobile chip sets from 2003 and later as well as some earlier ones - Details).
The PowerBook G4 Titanium with VGA is limited to 16 Bit colour at 1280x1024 and higher resolutions.
Older PowerBook G3 (Pismo, Lombard and Wallstreet) models are limited to max. 1280x1024 (15 and 17" ADC Studio Displays) and video quality may be lacking at the top resolution.
All desktop computers with VGA cards should be able to use VGAtor. We are however unable to extensively test such combinations. We will do our best to help with any issues you may encounter within the limits of the resources available to us - so far such issues have been few and far between.
Mac and PC computers with DVI cards should really be using DVIator. However, sometimes VGAtor is the only option - e.g. if the DVI chip on such a card has blown. This often leaves the card working well in VGA and the owner is tempted to give VGAtor a try. Unfortunately, some cards provide unexpected results - particularly Radeon 9000 Mac cards have an irritating habit of immediately shutting down the computer when they notice an Apple ADC display connected via VGA. Please contact our technical support if you require a solution.
Displays
VGAtor supports the Apple 15" Studio Display, the 17" Studio Display, the 20" Apple Cinema Display, the 22" Apple Cinema Display and the 23" Apple Cinema HD Display with ADC connectors (see ADC connector on the right).
Since Sep. 1st, 2004, VGAtor ships complete with an ADC-DVI adapter. This adapter enables the use of the 20" Apple Cinema Display (DVI), the 23" Apple Cinema HD Display (DVI) and even the Apple 30" Cinema HD Display**.
**The Apple 30" Cinema HD Display is supported in Presentation Mode only. In this mode video signals are transmitted using the single-link DVI standard. The resolution is 1280x800 - ideal for boardroom presentations to small and medium sized groups or for use as an LCD TV. We have successfully tested Presentation Mode with PowerBook G4 (all Titanium and Aluminium models with VGA output) and PowerBook G3 "Pismo". Older PowerBooks do not work!
The now obsolete ADC 17" CRT Studio Display is incompatible!
An overview of the Apple displays, their cabling and the various video connectors involved is provided here.
Operating System
VGAtor is independent of a specific OS, there is no special requirement for the computer or the operating system other than requirements dictated by the video card.
The wizard software for fine-tuning display quality is available for Mac OS X and Windows 2k/XP.
Similar products
To do the reverse - run a VGA display on an ADC Mac - we offer an ADC-VGA adapter called VGA Extractor.
We also offer a set of products to perform DVI-ADC conversion (DVIator) and ADC-DVI conversion (DVI Extractor II).
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