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Comment by freehunter | Hacker News Reader

My laptop (Thinkpad) outputs over DisplayPort. I tried to pick up a DP to HDMI cable from Best Buy when my DVD player died right before we were trying to have a movie night, and the sales clerks had never heard of DisplayPort. Every time I brought it up, they handed me either a VGA or HDMI cable, or insisted that DisplayPort didn't exist, that there was only Mini DisplayPort. Why the hell would they name it Mini DisplayPort if a full size DisplayPort never existed?!

So yeah, in the "real world", DisplayPort doesn't exist outside of last-gen Macbooks.

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Well, "Best Buy" is not the real world though.

Beyond your DisplayPort incident, Best Buy in general is a provincial consumer electronics store, with ignorant sales personel and quite narrow selection. It might have been good enough for 1995, but not in 2014.

It's like visiting a Walmart for delicatessen items.

People do go to Wal Mart for delicatessen items. Wal Mart sells packages lunch meats, sliced cheese, etc. Wal Mart even has ready to eat sandwiches available. They're terrible, but it's cheap and they're not bad enough to make people stop eating them. Likewise, Best Buy is indeed the real world. Mom is going to go to Best Buy to pick up a new laptop. Dad's getting his new TV there (with Monster cables so he doesn't get an HDMI virus). Your cousin was there last weekend buying the camera that looks the best on the display stand. Because, if Best Buy doesn't have it, there's no one to sell it to me. That means I need to go on Amazon and shop around, or ask the family tech guy, and he always gives weird suggestions or asks questions around what I'm really looking for. Best Buy just tells me what to buy.

There's a reason your local deli has one store with three clerks and is only open until 9pm, while Wal Mart is bigger than Jesus and open 24/7. We don't live in the real world. The real world doesn't demand 4K with cables that can carry the signal at full color because they have different priorities than we do.

>People do go to Wal Mart for delicatessen items. Wal Mart sells packages lunch meats, sliced cheese, etc. Wal Mart even has ready to eat sandwiches available. They're terrible, but it's cheap and they're not bad enough to make people stop eating them.

I was using the term "delicatessen" as a quality indentifier, not merely as a product category. Any old cheese and lunch meat won't do.

>Likewise, Best Buy is indeed the real world. Mom is going to go to Best Buy to pick up a new laptop. Dad's getting his new TV there (with Monster cables so he doesn't get an HDMI virus) (...) Because, if Best Buy doesn't have it, there's no one to sell it to me.

Sure, but it's not like it's 1995 and the local Best Buy at Boise, ID is the only option. Tens of millions have an account and order from Amazon and lots of even more dedicated electronics sites.

What's difficult about "going on Amazon and shopping around"? We're not talking about our cousin or dad here, you were relating your story of visiting Best Buy for that cable for your Lenovo. Why even go there?

>What's difficult about "going on Amazon and shopping around"?

It makes people have to think, and in a lot of cases people don't want to have to think. I posted something longer on this subject recently:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7105674

>Why even go there?

Because I needed a cable today, not tomorrow or the day after. Amazon can't match that in my location. That's where I ran into the issues that DisplayPort is not mainstream, and Best Buy only carries things that Uncle Joe is going to need for the TV and laptop he bought at Best Buy.

I understand you used the word deli to mean quality, but there's a reason Apple still has less than 10% marketshare of desktops/laptops. People are more often than not satisfied with "good enough".

+1 and Props for "Monster cables so he doesn't get an HDMI virus". Memorable.

I went to a best buy a while back to see if they had a miniDP to DVI cable. When they didn't, I pretty much concluded the franchise was doomed; I can't imagine cutting selection on what's famously the product you actually sell for a profit. :/

Apparently Amazon can now claim cheaper, better selection, and more convenient.

Newer laptops are including DP, but seemingly only high end stuff.

My Sager NP8255S has mini, fullsize, and HDMI ports.

It's unfortunate as well, because DP lets you daisy chain monitors together; it's the perfect form factor for notebooks all around. You only have to plug in a mouse, keyboard, and single DP dongle for full power to drive 4x monitors, and only using up 2 USB ports (assuming powered equipment). No messing around with USB hubs running multi monitor stuff with AC adapters crowding the power strip. This gets rid of the need for a dedicated docking unit as well.

I think many people really do think DisplayPort is HDMI they do look similar with the exception of the release clip on top of a DP connector, which should be a clue.

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