Thoughts on Apple DisplayPort Bungle Up...

[PeterCH]

Interesting comment on Slashdot today:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1251091&cid=28156285

The comment comes for a story about the new HDMI 1.4 spec release.

There is no adapter that will let you hook a DVI output to a DisplayPort-only monitor.

There are physical adapters that let you get DVI output from some DisplayPort ports. But it just ties a line on the connector that tells the sending device to not actually send DisplayPort signaling, but send DVI instead. This has a couple problems. First is that you are still paying the DVI licensing fees, including HDCP fees. Second is that if the source device doesn't have this alternate mode, the adapter doesn't work, because it can't convert it itself, it can only tell the sending device to send DVI instead.

Apple's adoption of DisplayPort seems like a disaster so far. If you have a more then 3 month old MacPro or iMac, Apple doesn't have a 24" display they can offer you. If you want to put an Apple 30" display on your MacPro, Mac Mini, MacBook or iMac, you need a $99 adapter that is large, takes up a USB port and doesn't even work right on some displays. And if you want to be able to give a presentation from your MacBook/Macbook Pro, you had better have brought a gaggle of adapters with you, since there isn't a projector on the planet that accepts DisplayPort. Not that you would have a DisplayPort cable to connect to the projector anyway, Apple doesn't even sell one! And even if the projector had a DisplayPort cable already attached, you couldn't use that either because Apple used mini DisplayPort, so it's adapter time again, except Apple doesn't sell that adapter either.

Has Apple bungled things. I know many people who use Macintosh laptops for presentations. This certainly is a screw-up of unholy proportions or maybe just a marketing gimmick to 'one day' sell proper adapters and cables or force licensing fees on Sony, NEC et al for projector and display inputs.

 

[Ou grote]

I don't have an Apple 30" display and I don't give presentations.
Reckon I'm OK with it.

 

[PeterCH]

I don't have an Apple 30" display and I don't give presentations.
Reckon I'm OK with it.

Until such time that you need to give a presentation or use a 30 inch display.

 

[diabolus]

This is not only about presentations, it's getting video from a Apple-Box to a screen.

Just some background:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/152418/displayport_what_you_need_to_know.html

DisplayPort is, in fact, an open industry standard promoted by the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA), the same group that determines standard sizes for flat panel display mounts, for example. And Apple isn't the only company supporting DisplayPort. HP, Philips, Samsung, Lenovo, AMD, Nvidia, Intel and many other companies have thrown their weight behind the standard, so we'll be seeing a lot more DisplayPort-compatible devices in the coming years.

Digital Visual Interface (DVI) has become the de facto standard for flat panel displays over the past few years, and it's not hard to understand why. It's a direct digital interface between a computer and a display, which makes it nice and fast, keeps images sharp and colors crisp. But DVI interfaces are big and clunky--probably its most obvious difference with DisplayPort.

..
A lot of what makes DisplayPort better than DVI, though, is found in the technological nitty-gritty. DisplayPort has greater bandwidth than DVI does, for example, and it embeds the clock signal in the data signal, while DVI and HDMI do that separately. It also supports High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP), which should help put content providers at ease.

..

The downside of Apple's push to use DisplayPort: It's still very early in this standard's adoption cycle, and there's no guarantee that DisplayPort will be used as pervasively as DVI is right now. Even if it is, it's going to be an uphill climb for consumers, at least until more display vendors have more products on the market that use DisplayPort.

Unless you're content with the infinitesimal selection of displays that work with DisplayPort right now, you'll have to buy more gadgets to get your new Mac to work with a DVI or VGA display. You're going to pay US$29 for the privilege of getting such an adapter through the Apple Store. Unless you need a Dual-Link DVI adapter to hook up a Cinema HD Display or another 30-inch LCD panel, that is--that'll set you back a full c-note, and you'll be waiting four to five weeks for it, according to the online Apple Store.

What's more, regardless of whether you buy Apple's DisplayPort adapter or a third party's (if you're lucky enough to find one, that is), you're going to mess up your desk with more boxes and wires getting that DVI or VGA display to work.

So i think it's more a case of Apple "jumping the gun"....someone has to do it i guess as the technology does seem superior than DVI. So it's not a case of Apple being arses with new proprietary ports, but going for an improved , more compact tech.

 

[BobJones]

Like ExpressCard34, DisplayPort is something that the apple designers like, but just drive consumers mad.
It just another case of over-eager early adoption.

I'm pretty sure that a "typical" mac user never plugs anything besides usb into their mac, which is why none of the adapters come bundled with the iMac or laptops. The vast majority of those machines will be truely standalone.

The very least that Apple should give you the displayport adapter of your choice free with your laptop.

The extra revenue from selling the adaptors separately is probably doing a lot of harm, especially with switchers.

I don't think that Cinema Displays sold very well to begin with, but the new 24" must be a real dog in those terms. Who was the genius that decided that it wouldn't sit flush with either the 20" or 24" iMac?

At least they didn't shoot themselves in the foot with the new mac mini and add a mini-dvi adaptor in the box.

 

[BobJones]

This is not only about presentations, it's getting video from a Apple-Box to a screen.

Just some background:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/152418/displayport_what_you_need_to_know.html


So i think it's more a case of Apple "jumping the gun"....someone has to do it i guess as the technology does seem superior than DVI. So it's not a case of Apple being arses with new proprietary ports, but going for an improved , more compact tech.

That is no guarantee of general adoption and commercial success.
And having a load of big names signing on to a new standard is no indication that they will use it. Once we see new products using displayport I'll be less cynical, but right now displayport seems on its way to joining 8-trac and beta on the dead-ends of tech evolution.

 

[dj_jyno]

What Apple should have done is provide both DVI and DisplayPort interfaces on the monitors. This way, you would have the new technology together with the tried and tested DVI. If one doesn't work, use the other one. LCD manufacturers have been doing it for years with D-SUB and DVI (on the more expensive ones in any case).

 

[SDR]

My JHB manager was given a new Macbook by me, and he hooks up to projectors pretty much EVERY day giving presentations. I simply popped into that pathetic excuse by CORE SA called an iStore in Canal Walk when he was here, spent the R500 odd and bought him a displayport to VGA adaptor. He plugs this in, and VOILA no probs so far.

Even worked at Gauteng Legislator, some of SA's biggest corporates, most advertising agencies and the only time he had a problem, was because the inputs that were available to him was only RCA. Luckily this was solved as they had a plasma with a VGA input.

Even then, just buy the little adaptor to the output you want. It's not rocket science.

Sure, I would miss my DVI port on my Macbook Pro (last of the non-Unibody) which I simply plug my desktop Cinema Display into. But it's not a trainsmash as I need to use an adaptor I knicked out of my Mac Mini box (I use it as a HTPC with DVI > HDMI) that converts my DVI to a VGA output when I have to *spit* give presentations.

 

[justinlawrence]

1) R500 bucks for an adapter. Wow.
2) Mac is about style. Adapters are not stylish.

 

[MidnightWizard]

Mac-Mini Adaptors

At least they didn't shoot themselves in the foot with the new mac mini and add a mini-dvi adaptor in the box.

Sorry I am lost now -- what is the adator that one gets in the Mac-Mini box ??

I know you can connect it up to a 24" Apple Cinema display because I have seen it.

For that matter what "normal" screens can you connect up to a Mac-Mini


MW

 

[BobJones]

There is a mini-dvi to dvi adapter in the box.

You can use pretty much any monitor with a mac mini, as long as you have the right adapter. Out the box you'll need a DVI monitor.

 

[icyrus]

Someone has to take the first step, otherwise nothing would ever happen.

This move might not work in the long run but at least Apple is willing to try and move forward.

 

[aquariusboy]

I am considering to change one, any suggestion??

thanks a lot

 

[mjkelly]

What Apple should have done is provide both DVI and DisplayPort interfaces on the monitors. This way, you would have the new technology together with the tried and tested DVI. If one doesn't work, use the other one. LCD manufacturers have been doing it for years with D-SUB and DVI (on the more expensive ones in any case).

+1