I found out more about the Apple 30 inch Cinema HD display. It requires a special video card with a dual link DVI connector. I thought this implied that two DVI connectors were required, but it turns out that only one DVI connector with all of the pins populated is required. The standard single link DVI connectors on most video cards do not have the bandwidth to drive the display at the native resolution. See the PC Magazine forum for more details.

It looks like I would have to buy a special video card to get it to work with my PC. nVidia is making a card for Apple that costs around $500. Matrox may be making a similar card as well. Hopefully ATI will release a compatible card that is more affordable and won’t generate the heat or draw the power that the nVidia does. The Matrox may also be an option.

I need one of these! Maybe the 23″ would be better for me – I certainly like the lower price of the smaller screen and it works with the run-of-the mill single link DVI cards. The 10% educational discount I get though IU will help as well for either model. Being a student has it’s perks!