Mini-Display Port to VGA and DVI to HDMI??

Macs before 10/2008 had a miniDVI port (except the Mac Pro and MacBook Pros, which had a regular DVI port), after that it became the miniDisplayPort.

VGA is analog and can offer and transfer "video" to an external display with HD resolutions (1280 x 720 or 1920 x 1080), DVI and HDMI are digital and offer better signal quality. DVI and HDMI also offer "HD" capabilities, meaning they can transfer "video" with high resolutions.
Wikipedia and the respective articles on VGA, DVI and HDMI can give you more information, as repeating it here is kinda redundant.

If your display offers DVI or HDMI input go with the miniDisplayPort to DVI or HDMI www.monoprice.com has to offer.
But VGA is still fine, if you don't really care about the signal quality.

If, and only if, you use MRoogle to search these forums here, you will find more than plenty of threads discussing VGA, DVI and HDMI and their (dis)advantages.

JS82189 said:

So to sort of condense it you would reccommend the mini-display to DVI, and then an additional DVI to HDMI? (or is the HDMI converter pointless), and AVOID VGA?

As far as I am aware, there is no mini-display to HDMI, which I am guessing trumps DVI.

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If you use an external monitor/display (not a TV), then DVI should suffice. HDMI is just a digital interface for transferring video AND audio to a TV, so if that is not your plan, DVI is more than enough. That's why it is still in use.
HDMI is just for consumeristic purposes, DVI too, but a bit more mature.

Also as I linked before, Monoprice offers miniDisplayPort to VGA/DVD/HDMI adapters. Apple is not the only source I guess.

And there is no need to avoid VGA, as it is fully capable of transferring HD content, as it supports up to 2048 x 1536 pixel.
DVI offers more, and HDMI offers more than DVI.

So if you want to use a monitor with a bigger resolution than VGA can offer, DVI is better suited.

But it depends on what you want to do. As said/written before, VGA is ... ah, now I'm just repeating myself.

Get the miniDisplayPort to HDMI adapter, if your display/monitor supports it, thus you don't need another adapter if you want to connect your MacBook to a TV with an HDMI port.

JS82189 said:

Ok thanks, isnt offering straight minidisplay to HDMI so Ill try radio shack... its a 32" HDTV so it definitely is hungry for resolution..

it IS only a 13" macbook pro, but eh why not future proof myself now.

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An HDTV does only have a maximum resolution of 1920 x 1080, some smaller TVs only have 1366 x 768, so HDMI is not really necessary.

But nice of course. Also know that the miniDisplayPort does not transfer audio like DisplayPort and HDMI, so you need an extra audio cable for that.

Audio?

Sorry to highjack the thread, but to follow up:

If I use a mini display port to DVI adaptor and connect a DVI to HDMI cable, will audio be transferred via the single cable?

I have confirmed that the 2010 macbooks can now transport audio from the mini display port when using a HDMI adaptor (which apple doesn't even make...yet), I'm just unsure if the DVI to HDMI conversion will prevent audio transport.

Thanks!