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Important Apple Display info

Terry

New member
I just came across this on Apple Insider....

Apple's new 24" LED Cinema Display uses Mini DisplayPort exclusively, so it can only be used by the new MacBook and MacBook Pro. There are no converter boxes for turning DVI signals from a Mac mini or Mac Pro into DisplayPort, which uses not just different physical wiring but an entirely different signaling protocol.

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/10/18/inside_the_new_macbooks_audio_and_video.html

This pretty much rules out the new display for me as I don't have a need to replace my current macBook Pro just to gain DisplayPort. I will get a 30" cinema display which can run the MBP and there is a cable to go from DisplayPort TO DVI.

Terry
 

jonoslack

Active member
I just came across this on Apple Insider....

Apple's new 24" LED Cinema Display uses Mini DisplayPort exclusively, so it can only be used by the new MacBook and MacBook Pro. There are no converter boxes for turning DVI signals from a Mac mini or Mac Pro into DisplayPort, which uses not just different physical wiring but an entirely different signaling protocol.

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/10/18/inside_the_new_macbooks_audio_and_video.html

This pretty much rules out the new display for me as I don't have a need to replace my current macBook Pro just to gain DisplayPort. I will get a 30" cinema display which can run the MBP and there is a cable to go from DisplayPort TO DVI.

Terry
Hi Terry
Thanks for that - changing standards is obviously a tricky one. There is a compatability bit on the apple website as well:

Compatibility

Compatible with MacBook, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro systems with Mini DisplayPort


I'm assuming that this is just the first of a line of new LED displays. I bought the new macbook pro because we're opening an office 20 miles from home, and after 23 years of working from home I shall be commuting. So my desktop imac is being 'relegated' to photographic work, and the new mbp is more portable than the old 17" (and a little faster). For me the new monitor is rather a no-brainer (I'm slightly ashamed to admit that after my imac I rather like glossy screens . . . at least for work).

I think this monitor (and the new laptops) seem to have irritated a lot of people. whether they're right or wrong remains to be seen.
 

etrigan63

Active member
Part of the decision to move to DisplayPort (and Mini DisplayPort) is economic. The DisplayPort standard was developed by VESA and is released for use by the industry without licensing fees. USB is the same way. Plus, USB 3.0 is on the drawing boards (screens?) now and the proposed spec bumps the data transfer rates up to 4.8 Gb/sec. IEEE's FireWire Working Group has announced FW3200 and despite the speed increase, FW has yet to see the level of widespread adoption that USB has. The IEEE also requires licensing fees to use the technology.

Apple's move to the Intel platform was as much to save money by using commodity hardware (sort of) as it was to find a part supplier capable of meeting their demands. The decision to ditch royalty-laden FireWire over free USB is a no brainer.

Besides, FW800 has been out for years and how many peripherals support it vs. USB 2.0?
 

Jan Brittenson

Senior Subscriber Member
I don't think Apple really cares about the $10k HDMI fee. But HDMI is only capable of 25MHz 8-bit RGB, anything else is YUV. DP is all RGB so is more suitable for computer use. If Apple thought HDMI was of interest I'm sure they'd be perfectly happy to license it. But as it is, it's really only usable for home theater use. Their HT product, the Apple TV, does after all have HDMI.
 

Bob

Administrator
Staff member
Yeah, but I have been on commercial a couple of times with him.
-bob
 
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