DVI or VGA monitor with Macbook?

[LERsince1991]

I'm waiting for my monitor to arrive in the next few days and obviously I need an adapter so I'm wondering wether to get a mini displayport to DVI or to VGA to use with this external monitor and possibly with a projector for presentations at uni.

Acer P223W

I could get either and they would both work on the Acer P223W but maybe the projectors are more likely to have VGA as it has been way more commonly used as a computer display input (at my college all the inputs are VGA).

So at uni they might have DVI on the displays but its more likely to have VGA.

On the other hand VGA is technically worse than DVI. Is the difference noticeable enough to get DVI or should I go for VGA to be more universal/compatible.

Thanks for your input!
Luke.

 

[Eidorian]

Go for DVI and especially on a flat panel LCD display.

 

[LERsince1991]

Go for DVI and especially on a flat panel LCD display.

Your reasoning?

 

[Eidorian]

Your reasoning?

VGA isn't as sharp vs. DVI. There's an additional step inside needed to convert the analog signal to digital as well.

 

[dacreativeguy]

You may need both DVI and VGA converters. On the older macs with full size DVI port, you just plug in a DVI/VGA converter to use the projectors. But with the mini display port to DVI adapter, those same DVI/VGA converters won't work. The apple converter doesn't have slots for the extra DVI pins on the right. So the DVI/VGA converter physically cannot be attached. I'm not sure if there is a technical reason why you can't go display port to dvi to vga or if Apple just wants another $29 sale.

 

[LERsince1991]

VGA isn't as sharp vs. DVI. There's an additional step inside needed to convert the analog signal to digital as well.

Ok, thanks for that info on quality.

You may need both DVI and VGA converters. On the older macs with full size DVI port, you just plug in a DVI/VGA converter to use the projectors. But with the mini display port to DVI adapter, those same DVI/VGA converters won't work. The apple converter doesn't have slots for the extra DVI pins on the right. So the DVI/VGA converter physically cannot be attached. I'm not sure if there is a technical reason why you can't go display port to dvi to vga or if Apple just wants another $29 sale.

I would never want to go mini displayport to DVI to VGA.
My options are either
- Mini Displayport to VGA (for convenience and compatibility)
- Mini Displayport to DVI (for quality)

Thanks

 

[Mal]

Always DVI if it's an option, due to the quality issue mentioned earlier. It's impressively sharper on some displays, always noticeably better on any display.

jW

 

[Eidorian]

Always DVI if it's an option, due to the quality issue mentioned earlier. It's impressively sharper on some displays, always noticeably better on any display.

jW

I had two Dell 1707 displays running off of my Power Mac G4 at work. They were from the same order so they were siblings off the same pallet. The one running off of VGA from the Radeon 9800 Pro was just a little more fuzzy in the menu bar and text departments.

 

[LERsince1991]

Cool thanks for the info
Just found out from a tutor at my uni that I will need to hook my macbook up to projectors... some are DVI aswell but all are VGA... Hmm

 

[LERsince1991]

I think I'm going to try and get a VGA adapter simply for the compatibility for the use with projectors and presentations. If i can get a cheap one on ebay I might get a DVI as well but will have to see. I can live with the slightly less quality from VGA