Filed under: Hardware, Portables, Software, Mac mini
Kensington offers first Mac compatible USB display interface
Kensington today announced the sd200V Notebook Docking Station, which is apparently the first Mac compatible DisplayLink adapter. For a while now Windows users have been able to add a secondary display to their system via a USB device. This is the first time Mac users have been so lucky. The sd200V supports VGA monitors with a resolution up to 1440x1050 and also functions as a USB hub with audio, allowing you to connect a monitor, keyboard, mouse, and speakers to your Mac with a single USB cable. They will also be offering a display-only USB DisplayLink solution called the Dual Monitor Adapter later in the year with a DVI port. Although targeted at notebook users, I think this is particularly exciting for the Mac mini which gains genuine multi-display support for the first time (the Matrox DualHead not withstanding).
The sd200V Docking Station is available now for $139.99, while the Dual Monitor Adapter with ship in April for $99.99. Both devices will be Intel Mac only.
[via electronista]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Mike said 9:19AM on 1-16-2008
any idea if this will allow multiple monitors on iMac's now?
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abu said 11:48AM on 1-16-2008
Kensington® Taps DisplayLink for USB Multi-Monitor Products for Mac OS X
http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20080115006095&newsLang=en
Simon Arch said 12:28PM on 1-16-2008
The iMac has mini-DVI port and can support "Digital resolutions up to 1920 by 1200" and "Analog resolutions up to 2048 by 1536" according to Apple's iMac tech specs page. This will only allow one additional monitor, so if you need more than that you'll need something like this.
Mat Lu said 4:41PM on 1-16-2008
You don't need anything extra to run a secondary monitor on an iMac (besides the mini-DVI adapter). This device would let you run three displays total (built-in, external, USB).
mentalsticks said 9:31AM on 1-16-2008
what, just vga? no dvi? that's a dealbreaker...
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mentalsticks said 9:33AM on 1-16-2008
correction: the dual monitor adapter does offer dvi, but not the rest...
shame.
DanielX said 10:49AM on 1-16-2008
Oddly Kensington says that you will need one Dual Monitor Adapter per screen you wish to add to your laptop.But at the Displaylink website they show videos of one adapter and using the basic usb functionality of daisy chaining one LCD to the next. Not using more than one connector. If this is true..seems link someone is trying to milk a per monitor dollar out of us.
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DanielX said 10:51AM on 1-16-2008
opps "link" should have been "like".
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csjk789 said 11:16AM on 1-16-2008
do you mean 1680 x 1050? 1440 x 1050 don't go with one another. It's either 1440 x 900 or 1680 x 1050, both of which are widescreen. So I can finally get a third monitor for my MacBook Pro. Ballin'
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Rboyett said 11:57AM on 1-16-2008
USB?
No networking passthrough, no DVI, no firewire.
Guys, there is this thing on the side of my MacBook Pro called an ExpressCard/34 slot. It has up to 2.5Gbps of bandwidth, not the 450Mbps burst speed of USB2. It could handle EVERYTHING.
So PLEASE make a dock device that makes use of it. I just want to put my Mac on the desk and plug in the power and ONE other device and be done with it.
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John T Davis said 4:10PM on 1-16-2008
I get the feeling based on price and features (e.g.: the lack of ports you mention) this device is aimed at consumers with Macbooks, which don't have ExpressCard slots. If this device does well, I expect to see an even more well equipped version come out within the next six months that would support the ports you mentioned.
An ExpressCard version for the MBP might very well be possible, but that depends on whether or not there is technology that would allow a display to work over ExpressCard.
One also must consider whether it is cost effective to produce such a variant. EC's bus speed is either the same as the on board USB 2.0 or PCIe, depending on hardware configuration, so you may gain very little from an Express-Card version. Also, not all notebooks (and very few consumer level notebooks) have Express Card slots, but each is guaranteed to have at least one USB 2 slot. Ubiquity == more potential sales.
Also, consider that video+audio+USB hub is a lot of traffic for one USB port on the computer this is connected to. It may very well be that the device cannot handle more inputs (Firewire, etc.) without using more USB sockets in the host machine. Future models may do just that.
Shannin said 11:57AM on 1-16-2008
will i beable to plug in as many as i want?
i mean the dual link thing
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Midnight Ryder said 4:23PM on 1-16-2008
No, the Mac Mini does not support multiple displays - there's only one DVI output to work with. For Mini users like me, this might be a good solution. I do a lot of work that would benefit from multiple displays (right now I'm running three VMWare sessions at once translating a project from one HMI package to another, with an older version thrown in the mix too). Even when I had a Powerbook, I had moments where a third monitor would have come in very handy! (But I'm abnormal - most people don't nessisarily need THAT much screen realestate.)
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Chris said 12:58AM on 1-18-2008
The Kensington site still lists this device as requiring XP or Vista. I wonder if it is a hardware change or simply a driver update.
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