I noticed that 5 weeks have now passed since the new Macbooks (Pro, Air, Regular) were announced, and seem to recall that this was the shipping delay for those cables that are necessary to drive 30 inch display's. I ordered mine a bit late, but am wondering whether they are on track for others?
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Has anybody gotten a Mini Display Port to Dual DVI cable yet?
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Are there other companies to look out for who may produce the same kind of dongle earlier and/or for less $$?
A third-party produce a proprietary Apple connector for less, sooner?
I needed that laugh. Sorry.
I needed that laugh. Sorry.
A third-party produce a proprietary Apple connector for less, sooner?
I needed that laugh. Sorry.
Why not? It's a friggin cable (i.e. some threads with plastic wrapped around for shielding and a plug on the ends) that costs a whopping $100! Loads of companies are making bags for the laptops and the iPhone that cost less, and they sell them right when the laptop/iPhone comes out. Looks to me like an easy way to make a lot of money. But apparently I'm missing something, otherwise somebody with the means to do it would have done it. Am just wondering what I'm missing. Your argument that it's only a proprietary connector isn't convincing in the light of the above.
No one uses Mini DisplayPort yet. Heck, virtually no one uses DisplayPort yet, so the tech isn't very widespread.
The tech for making cases, however...
I'm pretty sure that I will need two of these, so don't think that I don't share in your plight. I'm just not very optimistic that Apple won't be the only one selling these for a very long time.
Yeah, basically that it's not just a cable. Why else would it cost $99 compared to an actual $29 cable/adapter for VGA and single-link DVI and moreover have an additional USB connection for power.
Which makes me wonder if the mini-Displayport is somehow crippled compared to a normal Displayport (which wouldn't have taken any more space really) since you need extra power. Not to mention having to use one USB port for your 30" monitor totally sucks since the Macbook ports are already limited.
This is pretty much like mini-Firewire which doesn't provide the power pins. I think Apple is screwing themselves here; let's say you were to buy a 30" now and you were going to lose a USB port; would you get the Apple 30" or the Dell 30" with 4 USB ports, DisplayPort, DVI-D, HDCP, Component, and S-Video?
I've also been worried that it's somehow crippled since the signal needs to be amplified internally (inside the dongle, through the USB cable).
The space saving was the only argument I could think of for going MDP (Mini Display Port), apart from Apple wanting to make more money (I now have to buy 3 plugs at a total of $180 incl. tax, where I had to buy none before). The Dual DVI output of my previous generation MBP is quite a bit higher. Is this what you meant by "normal Displayport"?
Good point. I hope Dell&Samsung will come out with large LED screens soon. I'm definitely not buying into Apple's new ways of emptying my pockets.
You wrote above that you're waiting for this cable as well. If I came along today and offered you one for $50, proving to you that it worked beforehand, would you not buy it? Well, I would. And I doubt that it costs $50 in material costs to make such a dongle. Hence it's a way of making bucks. Hence it's normal to imagine/hope that somebody would start doing it.
You really should multiquote.
Well, of course I would. But like I said before, where is anyone going to get Mini Displayport boards, plugs, and converting material?
Well, if you get the cinema display you get a powered USB hub with several ports. A lot of other LCDs have ports in them. I don't see that as an issue.
You should do some research before complaining.
Connecting the display does not require a USB port. You only plug it in if you want to use the USB ports on the display. If you connect the display's USB cable you lose one port on your MBP but gain three powered ports on the display. Its akin to connecting a powered USB hub to your MBP and then complaining that you lost a USB slot.
I don't think its a case of 'amplification', but the display port spec not having enough pins for dual link output natively, only regular dvi. So what I think the adaptor is doing is taking a standard high rest display port res, and then in the adaptor converting this signal to dual link dvi.
I don't think this is true. The USB is actually needed to run anything above the resolution of the current 24 inch cinema display. If it wasn't needed, why would the regular $29 MDP to DVI adapter which I already own not work with my 30 inch monitor?
True, the extra USB connection may also be used to run extra USB ports, but I believe it is also necessary to run the 30 inch screen, and it wasn't necessary with the previous generation MBP.
But please correct me and e12a if we're erring. I definitely agree with e12a that the old MBP was a relatively good deal, given that you saved $160 (before tax) for adapter plugs: there was no necessity to have plugs for DVI, dual DVI, and the VGA dongle came for free with the laptop.
From Apple's site:
On the back of the display, you’ll find three self-powered USB ports. You enable them — along with the built-in iSight camera, microphone, and speakers — the moment you plug the USB connector into your new MacBook. Connect a printer, camera, iPod, iPhone, whatever you like. And they can stay connected, so you can just grab your MacBook and go.
I'm not sure why the adapter doesn't work with the existing 30", but the only mention I've seen of the USB on the new cable says its just to work as a powered hub.
On the back of the display, you’ll find three self-powered USB ports. You enable them — along with the built-in iSight camera, microphone, and speakers — the moment you plug the USB connector into your new MacBook. Connect a printer, camera, iPod, iPhone, whatever you like. And they can stay connected, so you can just grab your MacBook and go.
I'm not sure why the adapter doesn't work with the existing 30", but the only mention I've seen of the USB on the new cable says its just to work as a powered hub.
That's talking about the new 24" display which natively connects on mini display link, not the dual link dvi adaptor.
No, I meant that the regular DisplayPort connector as found on some new graphics cards isn't really that much larger than the mini-DisplayPort connector on the Macbooks. Still smaller than the mini-DVI so fitting it should've been easy. Instead Apple decided to go with the non-standard mini-DP.
As for the USB used for hubs, is there any proper details about this? Because most monitors that have USB hubs on them require a separate USB B->A cable to connect the ports to the computer.