Apple’s Video Plug Madness
April 26, 2009
We use macs in our office. The relationship used to be all love/love, but I have to admit some love/hate developing. Just when I think I know where Apple is going, I experience a personality change and there is yet another video standard.
The standard for a good long while in video equipment was S Video, and Apple accommodated this for a while.
mini VGA (iBook)
Mini Display Port
Then there’s DVI – like the Micro DVI used in Macbook Air
But that’s different than Mini DVI
Now that’s different than DVI. You have to get an adaptor to scale up to fit almost all of the video stuff on the market.
There are at least two standards Apple is using here. The DVI-D is digital only, while DVI-I can do both analog or digital. Apple equipment comes with one or the other and they do not work together. I’ve gotten burned buying the wrong adaptor. Some standard huh?
More amazing is how much it looks like (but won’t fit) the G4’s Apple Display Connector.
It’s surprising they haven’t picked up on the whole industry move to HDMI
Of course as Apple keeps changing its mind, one thing remains constant – PC’s good ol’ VGA
Stumble it!
Tags: , ADC, Apple, dvi, HDMI, mac, mini display port, mini DVI, mini VGA, vga, video adaptors, video standards
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April 26th, 2009 at 3:18 pm
The tv and computer industry were looking for a common connector that can support higher than 1080p resolutions. The HDMI can’t. They agreed upon DisplayPort. That’s what Apple is now shipping on all their computers, and that’s what the industry will eventually use. This is no different than DVI. Apple went DVI long before the rest of the industry.
April 27th, 2009 at 7:02 am
Good points.
Keep in mind that HDMI does not support screen resolutions above Full-HD, 1920 x 1080. So if you have a fairly typical 22″ and above display, never mind a 30″, it wouldn’t work.
DisplayPort looks to be the next “standard”, but given the glacial technology adoption rates of PC and peripheral manufacturers, DVI will be with us for quite some time!
Seriously, how many recent PC laptops do you see that STILL use VGA!
April 28th, 2009 at 7:55 pm
Interesting and useful info – thanks for informing all of us. Nate
April 28th, 2009 at 9:45 pm
Thanks for all the comments. However someone please explain how a plug design limits the functionality of the data involved. Is the pin structure really the limiting factor? How is it we can do USB 1.0 and USB 2.0 on the same plugs?