Apple Cinema Display: It's a Beauty! Just make sure you are committed!

About a year ago, maybe longer, I purchased the 27" Apple Cinema Display for my office.  It is a beautiful work space and works amazingly well with my MacBook Pro.  My only beef with this display is that it doesn't play well outside the Apple-sphere.  There's no cheating around with the Apple Cinema Display.  I have the model that was released before Thunderbolt with the mini displayport adapter.

Unlike most monitors that have a series of ports on the back of the screen into which you plug a cable such as VGA, HDMI, or DVI, the Apple Cinema Display has a single cord coming out of the back that includes a USB cable, power cord, and male mini displayport.  The new version is similarly configured but has a thunderbolt port instead of mini displayport.  This set-up works great for pairing the display with a Mac.  But, if you want to use this fabulous screen with any other device, there's trouble to be had and an unhappy ending.

I did find a couple of converters made by Altona and Kanex that purport to convert HDMI signals to mini display port on the Cinema Display but they are pricey (around $200)  and only provide 720P resolution (1200 x 768). Ugh!  There is apparently an adapter that will work with a PC or other device that has the larger display port + output [link here] but that's about the only other possibility I've been able to uncover.

Am I missing anything?  I'd love to discover more ways to use this great screen.  Anyway, you get the point. The Apple Cinema Display is a very talented one-trick pony, but it is definitely a pony with one trick.