New Mini DisplayPort video adapters from StarTech
All of Apple's new offerings in the Mac line use Mini DisplayPort to pump video out to other monitors or video displays. Whether it's an 11" MacBook Air, a fully-loaded Mac Pro (with two Mini DisplayPort outputs), or any of the machines in between, Apple has standardized on Mini DisplayPort for video output.
To connect to different types of displays, Apple also sells a number of video adapters through Apple retail stores and the online store. There are Apple-branded adapter cables for VGA, DVI, and Dual-link DVI, as well as a Moshi HDMI adapter. Now a new source of these adapters has hit the market.
StarTech is a maker of parts, adapters, KVM switches and the like, and it apparently saw a big potential market for these cables due to Apple's standardization. StarTech has just announced a Mini DisplayPort to HDMI adapter (US$21.99), a Mini DisplayPort to DVI adapter ($21.99), and a Mini DisplayPort to VGA adapter ($33.99).
The pricing is great on the HDMI and DVI adapters; the HDMI adapter is a full $13 less than the Moshi HDMI adapter, while the DVI adapter is about $8 cheaper. The VGA adapter is about $5 more expensive than the Apple equivalent. If you need to connect your Mac to another video display, it's good to know that you have another alternative for the necessary cables.
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Source: http://startech.com/
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All of Apple's new offerings in the Mac line use Mini DisplayPort to pump video out to other monitors or video displays. Whether it's an...
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Seriously? I bought a few of these mini-display to HDMI adapters for $13 including the HDMI cable from Amazon with free shipping. Bought one for my daughter who uses it at college and one for myself. They work great. http://amzn.to/de1QyA
November 22 2010 at 7:57 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyKanex (kanex.com) also makes reaaonably-priced DisplayPort to HDMI adapters, including one that combines the DP adapter with USB Audio out for older DP macs. I have one of these and it works great.
November 21 2010 at 9:40 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyThere'd be a great market in creating a 3-port display switch: one each for HDMI, DVI, and VGA. I give presentations at a variety of places and some only have one of the formats. It's too easy to lose or forget those little Apple adapters; an all-in-one would be quite convenient.
November 21 2010 at 3:08 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyThe latest generation (2010) of MacBook Pros and Mac mini support audio out through the mini DisplayPort jack. All previous generation (2009) Macs do not.
As for the image quality, I'm not so sure.
I connected my 2010 i7 15" MacBook Pro to my 40" Sony Bravia HDTV 2 ways:
1.) Moshi mini DisplayPort to HDMI adaptor (audio and video)
2.) Apple mini DisplayPort to VGA adaptor (video only, audio via MBP headphone jack)
The HDMI image on the TV looks terrible. Pixelated and choppy. Text looks dreadful.
The VGA image is rock-solid and very sharp.
My HDTV supports HDMI 1.2, not the current HDMI 1.3. Will that make a difference, image-wise?
Jeff, my Moshi works great. You might try opening the Displays Prefs while connected to your Sony and adjust the Resolution & Refresh rate to see if you can get a better picture.
Mine is set to 1080p and 60 Hertz (NTSC). Also adjust the underscan so that the picture fits within the fram correctly.
If you're wondering if your Mac supports audio via DisplayPort, it all depends on which GPU you're using. Here's a FAQ that I found from the Moshi website: http://store.moshimonde.com/faq-minidisplayport-to-hdmi
November 20 2010 at 11:55 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyThey need to come out with a god damnn hdmi to MINI DP adapter, and stop pricing them at 100.00
it is not that hard to do.
I bought mine for dealextreme.com (similar to monoprice.com) and they look the same but third the price.
dvi:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.36267
HDMI + support for audio for 10$:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.34025
(remember, after you plug the adapter, you need to change the audio output to HDMI in the System Settings otherwise it won't work!)
Maybe I'm mistaken, but shouldn't the analog VGA adapter be gold plated for better signal rather than the all digital adapters where gold plating doesn't even matter?
November 20 2010 at 6:34 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyYou forgot about Dynex (a subsidiary of BestBuy). They've been making Mini-DisplayPort to whatever for a while now. They're absolute crap, and try to mimic Apple's first-party stuff almost exactly, but they're still out there.
November 20 2010 at 3:19 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI'm still angry that there's no way to connect to an older tv using an S-Video/RCA Cable like the previous gen MBP.
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