The hell of Apple video connectors | Hacker News Reader

The hell of Apple video connectors

jgc.org

29 pointsjgrahamc35 comments

While this is certainly valid, it's depressing that most non-Apple laptops still only ship with VGA so most meeting rooms are stuck with an inferior, non-digital connector.

This wouldn't help the issue with having 4 different video connectors, but to Apple's credit, they are standardizing on Mini Displayport. The first run of the Macbook Air was the only one to have the micro DVI (because no other video connector existed that was small enough for their needs and they just needed to minify an existing standard, hence Micro-DVI) and it has now been replaced by Mini Displayport on all current models. Additionally, the Macbook, the only laptop they offer without Mini Displayport will likely be updated soon adding it thus bringing every portable computer they offer to the same standard. Any transition period is tough, it's just sad that while Apple has moved from VGA to DVI to Mini Displayport, most non-Apple laptops (see Dell, HP, Lenovo) still ship with VGA or the awful S-Video.

Move into the 21st century already. Laptop makers (Both Apple and non-Apple) need to pick a digital standard.

Even their desktop computers have now standardised on mini displayport. All currently shipping iMacs, Mac Minis and Mac Pros have mini displayport.

This wouldn't help the issue with having 4 different video connectors, but to Apple's credit, they are standardizing on Mini Displayport.

Part of this issue exists because Apple keeps "standardizing" on new (display) technologies. This is good, because it helps drive the industry forward, otherwise we'd still be stuck with VGA, but it's not really standardizing when the next product cycle, like every 18 to 24 months, there is a new standard they adopt across all products.

The problem is that most old projectors ship with VGA. Imagine you bring a shine laptop with HDMI/DisplayPort in the conference room, only to know that the old projector there drives VGA / S-Video only ... I think that's why business laptops still sport VGA when consumer lines have long ditched analog and adopted digital standards.

Hehe.. Get ready to throw Light Peak into the mix next year, if this engadget story is correct: http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/26/exclusive-apple-dictated-...

Though I think in the end it would be a big win, replacing USB/Firewire/Display a common fiber-based cable with massive bandwidth.

I'm hoping someone will build a projector with an embedded computer and a USB port built in. Just plug in a flash drive or SD card and display a PDF file as a presentation. No messing with laptops or cables or display settings.

If it had a well-designed, simple interface (remote control with only five or six buttons) and a high "just works" factor, it could be the Flip video camera of projectors.

It's been tried but what do you support?

It has to do powerpoint, with the ability to do the latest version's transition effects a flash movies. People have to be able to just turn up and not need to have converted their presentation in advance

Maybe Bluetooth instead of/ in addition to USB?

One thing would push this like nothing else, mobile phones with enough computing power in them to drive a sizeable display through something like bluetooth (but faster).

I'm forced to use this beast: http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB571Z/A

To run a 30 in secondary display off my 17 MBP. It's flakey and I have to make my machine never sleep when it's plugged in. The other day I got a KVM switch to do windows builds and it runs through it. Fortunately I don't have a terrible case of "Fuzz of Death:" http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1837465...

But it does happen every now and again. Total PITA esp considering that their old display ports worked just fine.

If your 30" display supports DisplayPort, you will soon be able to get a Mini-DisplayPort to DisplayPort cable (http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=102...). Why it's taken this long, I do not know.

Just the other day I came across some kind of article that included a bit on a wireless computer to monitor link, let me go dig and see if I can find it.

edit: found it:

http://gigaom.com/2008/02/27/too-many-signals-delivering-wir...

It's a 2008 article, you'd expect some movement since then.

edit2: more info:

http://www.wirelesshd.org/

I wonder why IR didn't catch on? Maybe the available hardware was too anemic at the time? But there have been gigabit IR links in R&D labs. As screens get larger, the bandwidth requirements get larger. Maybe that combined with the negotiation overhead between devices at unknown distances did it in. (Line of sight is also a problem for some applications. But for my monitor setup, it would work fine.)

I think a big issue with IR is interference. Think bright sunlight and such.

A small nit: proposed UWB (ultra wide band) schemes at 5GHz and 60GHz are considered EHF (extremely high frequency) or millimeter-wave; IR is generally considered to start at at least 300GHz.

There isn't a heck of a lot of interference per se at 60GHz, but it is very hard to design a transmitter that is not highly directional and line-of-sight sensitive. My feeling is that the low range and line of sight requirements mostly limit current incarnations of this technology to situations that are already amenable to HDMI cables.

There's a good writeup from earlier this year on Ars Technica ( http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2009/02/cutting-the-cord... ) that goes through some of the commercial offerings around that time. No idea if any of them are still around, or in what form.

GP is not talking about UWB but about IR:

http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS117678+16-Ap...

Sorry about that, it didn't register that GP's question was tangential to GGP's UWB-focused links. Regarding IR, I agree that interference is the biggest issue. The electronics also get harder as you approach THz frequencies, but that could be worked around if IR radiation weren't so pervasive. Interference is probably the reason you can only get up to 1Gbps or so, even in a lab (and you'd need 10.2Gbps to transmit HDMI 1.3, for instance).

You're doing it wrong...

There are a few options, but they are all along the lines of this: http://www.amazon.com/Addlogix-MA-WL-DVGA-Wireless-Projector...

He's missing the Apple Display Connector.

And Mini VGA for iBooks and old iMacs: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mini-VGA

Slight tangent, but:

we don't buy Apple monitors or RAM because of the excessive price

I've been thinking of adding RAM to my MBP. Excessive price is bad. What should I do?

http://www.crucial.com/ is probably a good place to start, select your system from the drop downs and it will give you the exact type of memory you need - and for a decent price. There might be cheaper options if you hunt around, just get the dimm size from crucial and google around to compare prices.

Buy from crucial, when you factor in their free shipping they are cheaper than most half decent brands. You might find some super-bargain RAM cheaper if you don't care about whats stored in it.

Crucial also have excellent service for returns or if the stuff doesn't fit.

Buy the RAM from a third-party vendor like Newegg or whatever, not from Apple. Often you can get the exact same RAM, but for a much lower price. Just be careful to get compatible RAM.

Sidenote : I was just checking out iMacs, which are pretty cool. Upgrading from 4GB to 8GB costs 900$ at the apple store. That's expensive. That RAM better be great.

iMacs use laptop ram. Getting 8GB DDR3 ram for laptops is expensive, even from newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE.... $900 from Apple isn't nearly as bad of a markup as you might imagine.

side note: I wouldn't buy the G.SKILL ram. Anecdote, but I've had bad experiences with it. Plus, ~half the cost of the closest item makes me suspicious of its quality.

Anecdote, but I've had great experiences with G.skill memory. I have maybe a dozen machines with that stuff in them and they are working great.

I usually buy from these guys: http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/apple/memory/.

actually, you should start your search with:

http://www.ramseeker.com/

In fairness, the MBPs and MB's now both use the MDP connectors.

MBPs use MDP, MBs use MiniDVI

The old MB's are MDVI. The new MB's are MDP.

Sorry, but the MacBooks (not pro) that apple sells are still MDVI [1], although I'm sure that will change in the next product refresh.

[1]http://store.apple.com/us/tab?node=home/shop_mac/family/macb...

The "new MB" has been incorporated into the pro line. There are rumors that the "old MB" (the white one) will not be upgraded, but simply dropped.

The new MB's that are not yet released?

The current white MB has MiniDVI.

Holy. I have a MacBook Pro!

I thought the 13" silver Apple laptop was still a MacBook.

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