back to article Apple shares mobile display plugs with outside world

When Apple gives something away, you can be sure that they're investing in their own best interests. Today, the company announced that it will freely license the specs for their Mini DisplayPort display-connection scheme, which it introduced in the new MacBooks, MacBook Pros, and the updated MacBook Air. By doing so, they …

COMMENTS

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  1. Seán

    Er

    What about HDMI?

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    Not so fast there, skippy....

    There is one revenue stream which Apple has consistently steered away from: pornography. Probably because the combined effort of "'I'm creaming my shorts o God no a new iPod"-fanbois and hardcore adult entertainment would probably cause said fanboi to blow up.

  3. Ascylto

    Stating the bleedin' obvious!

    "And we all know that Apple never met a revenue stream that it didn't embrace."

    And I wonder if that's why it has at least 25 billion dollars cash in the bank?

    Um ... Apple is a big corporation that sells its products to consumers, and very successfully it would seem ... so why the snide comments? Duh!

  4. alphaxion

    @ascylto

    I think it's more hinting at the overt greed that is now endemic to the fruity one.

    I remember the box for my first ever ipod in 2003. It contained the dock, a belt clip case, a bag for the case, a charger... all of this you have to buy seperately now should you want them.

    While you could spin it as though they're being "green" by not packing as much toxic fluff, you can't deny that they no longer see their customers as special and instead as a cow that requires constant milking.

    Where there was a certain warm touch of "thank you for buying" it's now "here's your product, bugger off and buy something else".

    There is a distinct difference to the apple at the turn of the decade to the apple now.

  5. Richard Cartledge
    Go

    What about HDMI

    "Er By Seán Posted Tuesday 2nd December 2008 07:43 GMT

    What about HDMI?"

    Jobs was asked this question at the new Macbook launch and said it is more suited to consumer AV devices such as TVs and DVD players and not PCs and displays due to HDMI not supporting the resolutions.

    http://www.displayblog.com/2008/10/14/steve-jobs-hdmi-is-limited-in-resolution/

  6. Vincent
    Jobs Horns

    Alternatively...

    We could use HDMI, which already has a lot more support than DisplayPort has. HDMI also doesn't need to be screwed in, and it's around about the same size as a USB Port.

    Basically: What's the point?

  7. Frank Bough
    Thumb Down

    @alphaxion

    How much did your first iPod cost? I seem to remember that the first gen cost £400 for 5GB. The 5th gen iPod Classic that I bought cost £159 for 80GB, and came without the niceties of clips or chargers (not that I've ever felt the need for either). face it, iPods have MASSIVELY improved in value for money, charger or not.

  8. alphaxion
    Alert

    @frank

    it was the 30gb model that first supported windows and cost me about £360.. the prices of ipods have been affected more by the natural decline of tech prices than by what they have cut out of the box.

    And for the "top spec" ipod they're still close to the £300 mark even today since the 32gb touch is £283 and is arguably the "top spec" model.

  9. Andrew
    Boffin

    HDMI

    HDMI doesn't support a high enough resolution to drive Apple's 30" LCD panels. It's a non-starter.

  10. Another Anonymous Coward

    HDMI

    Regarding the HDMI resolution, that seems to be fixed, with version 1.3 offering support for 2560x1600 (30" displays). Agree that it's not the ideal solution though, I simply see it as a next-gen SCART plug rather than something aimed at the computer market.

    The real advantage of Displayport is the USB stream, allowing for monitors to have onboard graphics processing.... as many monitors as you want without having to open up and add stuff to the inside of the PC. At the moment, anyone who gets a machine with integrated graphics has to go spend £30 on a cheap card and void their warranty if they want to add an extra monitor.

    Displayport would also be handy for stuff like my wacom cintiq tablet and other interactive/touchscreen devices.. being able to combine the power, data, and display output streams into one cable would be much better than the snakes nest of wires and bulky adaptor blocks that these things currently need.

    That said, I don't see why apple can't just use regular displayport tech instead of releasing their own mini version to confuse the issue.

    It'd be good to see some standardisation in the industry, having 5/6 different port standards is no good at all when graphics card makers can only fit 2-3 ports on the back, and motherboards only come with one (usually VGA :-( ) port.

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