You're wrong.
Consumer electronics: SCART ----> HDMI
Computers: DVI ------> Display Port
Apple computers are the most future-proof, offering a Display Port connection since 2008.
Most of the world never used SCART. Most of the world used composite, then S-Video, then Component, and now HDMI.
You're also extremely mistaken when it comes to computers. If you go to online etailers, you can find more HDMI native GPUs than you can DisplayPort GPUs. On top of that, you'll find more MOTHERBOARDS with built-in HDMI than DisplayPort. Theres also the fact that every single respectable display made within the last several years has had HDMI connectivity.
You'd also be very hard pressed to find a PC notebook that has a non-Intel GPU that does NOT include an HDMI output. HDMI has been standard in PC notebooks for years now.
Starting with the 1.3 spec in June 2006, HDMI had a mini-HDMI connector very similar in size to mini DisplayPort as well. Further proof that Apple's use of mini DisplayPort ON EVERY SYSTEM is just a means for them to pocket the $30 for their extremely overpriced adapters.
You can hook any apple computer of the last 4 years to any DVI/HDMI or VGA non-apple monitor....
And this is achieved with the minimum waste of space on the motherboard and the chassis, thanks to the Mini-DVI and Mini-Display Port connection, ensuring a unique connection for all the product line and the possibility to put that complete array of ports (VGA, DVI/HDMI, DVI-DL) even on very small products.
Think about the MacMini: it has 2 VGA, 2 DVI/HDMI and 1 DVI-DL ports. It's five video ports. Which small computer could have such a number of ports?
The apple policy about video ports is the best possible, full stop.
Sorry man, but the Mac mini only has 2 physical connectors. The only way to convert to another is with an expensive adapter that might or might not work. Plus those adapters don't support full HDMI 1.3 spec, such as 8 channel LPCM and 2560x1600 resolution over HDMI.
It's the price of
VERSATILITY and I'm happy to pay it
Without this "adapter swapping game" we couldn't have 5 video ports on the mac mini, 3 video ports on the Macbook Air, 3 video ports on the Macbook Pro, ecc. in a minimal waste of space and design.
Again, don't be misleading. You don't get 5 video ports on the Mac mini. You get two. The only way to get another is to convert it with an overpriced adapter. Converting the port does not magically add another port. It simply changes its function.
The dongle is not that expensive if you think you can use it across the whole line of product and it's a one-shot expense. BTW, you can get cheaper third party adapters if you want.
The dongle is expensive. I shouldn't have to buy it at all. Every PC I've dealt with within the last 3 years has had HDMI, why haven't Macs?
All taken in account, I reapeat, it's a price everyone should be happy to pay, if the outcome is having a complete choice of video ports (and future proof with Display Port, how many 2008 windows laptops got it?) on every single product of the line.
Why should I have to pay extra to get video out of my laptop and on to another display? Thats freakin ridiculous! I can walk into Best Buy right now and buy a notebook that costs $200 less than the plastic MacBook and it will have dedicated graphics, a larger screen, AND HDMI output along with a VGA out. So why should I have to pay extra for something on a Mac thats a standard feature on every single other notebook AND netbook on the planet?
Again, I couldn't care less about DisplayPort. HDMI is everywhere, it supports 2560x1600 over a single link cable with spec 1.3 (3 years old now) as well as 8 channel LPCM, and HDMI 1.4 supports up to 4096x2160 over a single cable. Why should I care about DisplayPort when Apple is just using it as another classic example to CHARGE customers extra money for a feature that is standard everywhere else?
The wires are the same, it's only a smaller connector, it takes a trivial cable to connect Display Port to Mini-Display Port.
And Mini-Display Port is today a STANDARD, because Apple decided to release it for free and the DP group decided to put it in the OFFICIAL Display Port 1.2 specifications.
In fact, you can now find it even on non Apple products, look at this Ati 5XXX EyeFinity video card
Good for it. Now go find the hundreds of Windows notebooks and desktop add-in GPUs and desktop motherboards that have HDMI built-in and compare those to the number of products that have DisplayPort built-in. Don't forget that the original DisplayPort spec was approved about a month before HDMI 1.3. So it's had 3 years to be adopted. Guess which spec has been adopted over the last 3 years? Thats right, HDMI. Apple is currently the ONLY computer manufacturer that does NOT ship HDMI in its computer products.
Can you connect it to VGA as well?
Not that I'm aware of. But have you seen the video quality of Apple's mini DisplayPort to VGA adapter? I own one. The video quality is as bad as a noisy S-Video cable connected to a standard definition TV. I've used it with multiple displays and various VGA cables and the quality never improved. Funny thing is, the VGA out on my PC notebook is crystal clear.
Can you connect it to DVI DUAL LINK 2560x1600 as well?
No need. HDMI 1.3 supports 2560x1600 over a single link cable. Basically, a cable you walk into the store and buy right now will support 2560x1600.
A better question here is when will Apple's mini DisplayPort to dual link DVI adapter that costs $100 FINALLY WORK?
Has it a convenient shape and size for future very small products?
Yeah actually.
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51dLgu5KPuL._SS400_.jpg Mini HDMI cable for the 1.3 spec. No reason Apple couldn't have used it.
Is it future-proof for connecting to Display Port monitors?
HDMI equipped displays outnumber DisplayPort displays by what? About 100:1. Again, HDMI 1.3 was approved a month after the original DisplayPort spec. Over the last several years, the industry has chosen to adopt HDMI. It is only APPLE that has chosen not to adopt HDMI in favor of making customers pay extra money to get something that is standard on every other computer in the market.
HDMI is such a worse choiche than Mini-Dispay Port.
Not really. HDMI is everywhere. It is in nearly every full size PC notebook sold these days that does not include an Intel GPU, it is in many PC desktop motherboards, it is in the vast majority of PC desktop GPUs and those that don't have the port built-in include an adapter in the box. HDMI equipped notebooks support 8 channel LPCM over HDMI, and so do desktop GPUs. HDMI doesn't require any expensive adapters to be connected, and thanks to HDMI being everywhere, you can connect an HDMI equipped PC to nearly everything.
Look at someone, like me, who wants to connect their PC to their HDTV and surround sound system. My notebook PC has HDMI. It takes ONE CABLE to connect it to the entire setup. With my MacBook I have to get out my mini DisplayPort to HDMI adapter, an optical cable for audio, the mini TOSLink adapter for that cable, connect it all, and then change a bunch of settings on my A/V receiver to get it to take audio in over optical rather than HDMI.
Thats another big issue. Apple's use of mini DisplayPort with no audio support holds Macs back as well. If they ever get blu-ray drives and Apple doesn't include audio support in DisplayPort, then Apple owners will miss out on half of the experience blu-ray offers because theres no way to pass the lossless or uncompressed audio! The SPDIF standard is limited to Dolby Digital Plus and DTS Core. No uncompressed PCM or lossless audio for Mac owners! Yet my 2 year old PC notebook passes uncompressed PCM and decoded Dolby TrueHD and DTS Master HD over HDMI just fine.
So?
With Mini-DP you can do everything, including connecting a 16:9 HDMI display....you just need the right adapter and cable....
And with HDMI you get higher resolutions, no need for clunky and sometimes outrageously expensive adapters ($99 for the Dual Link DVI adapter) that can sometimes eat up a USB port for power (dual link DVI adapter again) that don't always work and you have to swap them out multiple times to get them to work finally (dual link DVI adapter yet again). HDMI gives you almost guaranteed 8 channel LPCM support, as well as the ability to pass decoded and bitstreamed Dolby TrueHD and DTS Master HD. HDMI has had a "mini" connector for over 3 years now. Displays with HDMI outnumber displays with DisplayPort by about 100:1 and if HDTVs are brought into the picture, its probably more like 10,000:1 heh. HDMI is a standard feature on PC notebooks, PC motherboards, and PC GPUs.
Other than Macs, its more difficult to find a device that DOES support DisplayPort than it is to find one that does NOT support HDMI, netbooks excluded.
