“Apple didn’t just introduce new laptops Tuesday; it also introduced a new term to the vocabulary of Mac users—DisplayPort. The Mini DisplayPort found on new MacBooks, the refreshed Macbook Air and 15-inch MacBook Pros replaces the DVI and mini-DVI interfaces found on older models. But is this another proprietary debacle like Apple’s failed Apple Display Connector (ADC) interface? No,” Peter Cohen reports for Macworld.
“DisplayPort is, in fact, an open industry standard promoted by the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA), the same group that determines standard sizes for flat panel display mounts, for example. And Apple isn’t the only company supporting DisplayPort. HP, Philips, Samsung, Lenovo, AMD, Nvidia, Intel and many other companies have thrown their weight behind the standard, so we’ll be seeing a lot more DisplayPort-compatible devices in the coming years,” Cohen reports.
Full article, with just about everything you’ll want to know (and then some) about DisplayPort here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Martin” for the heads up.]
Apple is always ahead of the pack. They were the first folks to put in the small floppy drives and the first one to declare them dead.
Innovation should be part of their corporate name. Let everyone else play catch-up.
A good reason for firewire is that many of the top audio recording interfaces are firewire only, and one of the top recording platforms is Logic on a Macbook and/or Macbook Pro. It doesn’t take the Pro model to have a great recording platform. Well, it didn’t until now.
@jas67
While I agree that Apple should not have dropped FW 400 from the MacBook, I can’t imagine that a large number of people who have $1300 to spend on a new laptop will buy an HP or Dell instead of a MacBook. If they’re that into video editing, they’re used to certain software and their Macs; they won’t switch to Windows just because of a FW port.
Instead of buying a MacBook Pro, just buy a new HD camcorder. If you have a high level video camera (prosumer, etc.), then you’re either going to hang onto your current setup or move to the MB Pro instead of HP or Dell.
@bevo1051
my thoughts exactly. sounds like most of the complainers are from the first wave of ‘switchers’. any old school mac person would know this is a regular thing with apple.
We are now in the exact same situation we were 10 years ago when Apple yanked floppy. They did it forcefully, unequivocably and unapologetically. The internet was very young, yet bitching was still plentiful.
At this point, the biggest losers will be musicians (pro audio portable interfaces) and MiniDV people. Musicians will have to make a decision: get a cheaper MacBook, sell your old interface and buy a cheaper, USB2-only device (there are many to choose from). Otherwise, if cheaper audio is not an option, squeeze some $700 more (or wait until new MBPs are available as refurbs) and get the ‘book with the FW (and extra screen real estate). For those that need to purchase NOW, there’s always the refurb section with white models. They are now cheaper than ever, they all come with full warranty and are elligible for full AppleCare. By the time you’re ready to replace that MB, Apple will roll out next generation and who knows what the connectivity standard will be then (USB3? FW3? eSATA?).
For MiniDV people, choice is quite similar. If it’s a consumer camcorder, sell the old one and get a tapeless one; presumably, HD (they start at $450 these days). Or, get a refurb, or MBP.
We are in the same situation we were when we had to replace all those devices using Apple Serial port (printers, modems, joysticks), or SCSI, in order to continue to exist. Back then, it was much more expensive to do that (printers were $500, scanners $800, joysticks $150, modems $200…), yet we all bitched and eventually did that. Time is coming to do that again. This time around, though, the transition will be much less expensive for the minuscule number of people who are going to be affected.
My problem is not with the new DisplayPort — at least its not HDMI — but the fact that Apple charges me an additional $29 for an adapter just so I can use it. C’mon Apple, you should throw the DisplayPort-to-DVI and DisplayPort-to-VGA adapters into the box.
Cheap bastards! (oh wait, that’s me)
Apple could drop the monitor from it’s notebooks and most of you would defend it as the greatest thing ever, computers without a screen. Apple apologists… get a life and actually understand that people need this technology, which Apple itself invented. This is Steve Jobs being a prick (period).
This will cost Apple a lot of sales. This is just one of many examples of why Apple will never be a huge player. As a stock holder this is appalling that they seem not wanting to maximize sales and profits.
and a display port to CGA! i still have a few years life in that baby
When Apple went to PowerPC, you praised PowerPC and IBM and you blasted Intel (x86) for being so slow and antiquated. When Apple went to Intel, you praised Intel (and x86) for being the future and you blasted PowerPC and IBM for being stuck in the past.
You people will drink whatever kool-aid Steve Jobs gives you.
@youpeople
that was the dumbest reasoning i heard in a while.
you do know that a company can change after 10 years? 15 years, 20 years etc. look at sony. or sega.
so at the time, power pc chips were great. better than intel’s. but hey, intel was on the ball. ibm was like you, stupid, and dropped the ball. so what does stevie do? he switches over. do you know how big your balls need to be to risk such a move?
@Peruchito
‘you people’ would probably prefer if it was still the early nineties when Apple was hemorrhaging and not a company that is now a 18% (and growing) pain in the ass for the ‘invincible’ Microsoft.
Apparently ‘you people’ also neglects that fact that Apple is in the business of survival, so it adapts itself when needed. Microsoft, on the other hand, clings crazily to the ghost of DOS and Win 95…
@ me
I still pissed that I can’t use a floppy drive with my mac.
NOT TRUE!!!!
Get a USB floppy drive. I have one; works great with Tiger & Leopard. Just thing when I have to salvage an ancient file from floppy.
That said, I don’t use it much.
How many display connector standards does an industry need??
Haven’t seen the specs, but I hope we get a little better lifespan out of this one.
A friend bought a mercedes and it broke him.
His job certainly afforded him the opportunity to make the car payments but the insurance and the dealer maintenance and repairs ate him alive. He was torn between living large and living on Ramen or living small and well.
Many of you sound just like him and maybe you’re just living beyond your means.
Apple IS a cutting edge, bellwether technology company after all, and is run by a small group of people whose goal is to shape the future of technology and their decisions are anything but arbitrary.
In other words, they aren’t doing this just to see if they can piss you off. However, should you decide to leave there are 400,000 potential customers walking into Apple stores each and every day whose expectations aren’t all that high to begin with but Apple isn’t taking either of you for granted.
So let’s be clear. Apple is in this for the sake of Apple, it’s shareholders, and consumers, in that order. I’m not saying it’s right or wrong, but Apple is what Apple does. Sometimes it’s messy.
If you make the plunge and then fail to keep abreast with the swift-moving industry currents you could find yourself in way over your head with a severed lifeline. Plan! Budget! Anticipate! Execute!
If you aren’t doing those things, especially those of you in business for yourself, then you’re not making sound buying decisions and you’re just like all the other marginal players in the industry who always “skate to where the puck is”. But not too worry, ’cause you’re in good company.
I challenge you to find a hundred dollar solution and move on instead falling prey to these abandonment issues!
“For example, if a use screws up, and renders their Mac unbootable, you can easily put it in target mode, and mount it on another Mac to fix it.”
Or you boot off a USB key which costs a lot less then having a 2nd Mac around just to fix your hard drive.
where’s my fingerprint scanner? and card reader? and line-up of ugly “media buttons”? and swivel cam? and bloatware?
the new MacBook is such a disappointment.
Hey dimwits, USB 2.0 is not better technology. USB 2.0 is not where the puck is going. USB 2.0 is not evolving onto a higher plane of existence. Firewire was dropped this week from the consumer line for, well, nothing.
No, you sheep, this is not about floppies and Iomega zip drives.
No reason given for dropping Firewire, because the reason of additional pennies in cost or mm’s in height can’t be disclosed.
How can comsumers use iMovie with their Apple latops when all the dv cameras and many of the hdv cameras in the past year are Firewire? Who is iMovie aimed towards, Mac Pro users?
USB 2.0 for video editing? Sounds like Dell about 7 years ago.
How many consumers purchased enclosed firewire drives for Leopard time machine this year?
That is not moving forward, you mindless koolaid jonestown worshippers.
Firewire could move forward, there was no one better to move it forward than Apple, and now they dropped it over pennies to favor, well, nothing.
Now the pro macs will take on additional cost with the suddenly shrinking supply of firewire devices, now.
It’s not like Apple ships with eSATA ports, so they are just dropping a segment of the ecosystem just cause they need to make all their notebooks identical to their one new computer in the past years, the macbook air. Huh? Yeah, it doesn’t make sense.
Display Port, and the other hand, is better and that is why no one is complaining about the loss of DVI in the notebooks. No one is complaining about the loss of DVI for clear improvement.
I think the executives at Apple are too well compensated to understand where the consumers would be miffed about this.
I swithed to OSX about 5 years ago, mainly because video editing on my Sony Vaio was a pile of shite. It blows that Apple now will not allow me to plug my expensive DV cam into the new MacBook. Being innovative is one thing but not supporting your users is jus stupid, given the inroads Apple has made in the pro video and music business.
Why didn´t Apple include ALL the features (including screen size) of the MBP on the MB??? Cheapo bastards!!! Just think about it. We could all have saved hundreds of bucks.
Why are you guys whining simply because Apple made something for people who DON´T have you needs? Especially when there are both cheaper AND more expensive models with what you want??? Does make you look a bit stupid – or just wanting to complain.
Did any of you guys plan on buying one (had it had fw) or is this just a theoretical conversation.
@Alexander
“How can comsumers use iMovie with their Apple latops when all the dv cameras and many of the hdv cameras in the past year are Firewire? Who is iMovie aimed towards, Mac Pro users?
USB 2.0 for video editing? Sounds like Dell about 7 years ago. “
To me dv cameras sound like Dell 7 years ago. Most new HD cameras work with memory cards now. Read through USB.
Oh PROFESSIONAL cameras like the xdcam ex? Memorycards too, but require firewire… You have to go with the CHEAPER MacBook then. Also Perfect for your antiquated dv cameras!
Did any of you bright guys stop and think about that in order to use the professional camcorders you (claim) you own, you also need a better video card. Like the on found in the MacBook Pro.
@John.
Plug your expensive DVCam (or was it the cheapo DV cam???) into the cheap MacBook, or buy the pro.
F’k me… we’re still talking about firewire…
what we’ve lost focus that this context is about DisplayPort
Options for those who must have FW:
1) Get the $999 Macbook (where you actually get more for your money compared to the alu-min-yums)
2) Get a MacBook Pro (save for a couple extra months and the spend the extra $700)
3) Get a Dell or HP some other piece of crap in a box (then toss in virus protection, video, photo, music editing software and web design software and possibly a gym membership to be able to lug the beast around which would make it more expensive than the MBP)
4) Spend a little dough and buy a new camcorder. Sell your current one while it still has a resale value (heard of eBay?) and pony up for a new camcorder
5) Be patient and wait to see what Apple has up its sleeves. If you don’t need a computer right, shut up, sit back, drink a beer, and enjoy your iBook G4 which is still kickin’ it nostalgic.
To get back on track… DisplayPort is the standard of the future. It can handle audio and video through the same connector, although I am unsure if Apple is carrying both streams through its current iteration of DisplayPort.
You know what I like the idea of DisplayPort, I really do! As the article states nearly all of the other major IT hardware manufacturers are involved in its use, now or soon.
Apple is moving with the industry, like any other business has to in order to survive and make money. The days of proprietry connections seem to coming to an end if not already.
Plus if I understood DisplayPort technology correctly it beats HDMI to the ground.
With Firewire, don’t know why the bitching is going on in this thread, but ho hum, I have an external firewire drive, yes just simply change the enclosure like many of you have already posted above. Done!
I also have a Firewire Zip750. Am I upset that if I was to upgrade to the latest macbook I won’t be able to use it – NO! Not just that I upgraded my entire mac suite 5 months ago, but mostly that the Iomega Zip format has been dead for a while now.
Formats and their various connection methods come and go over the years, it is not a new fad it is simply the cycle of development in IT hardware.
The loss of firewire makes so many things more complicated! It used to be that any mac could edit video from any digital camera. Now we have convoluted matching of certain models of mac with certain models of camera. There are millions of excellent DV and HDV cameras out there.
…
Also sometimes a users needs change in an unexpected way after hardware has been purchased. Macs just got more inflexible without firewire.
De-featuring over pennies is something Dell would do.
Looks like the “firewire = floppy disk” canard needs squashing.
Apple dropped the floppy because they wanted to push CD-RW. Why include a floppy drive when the new machines had a better technology?
Same argument for SCSI, etc.
So what, on the new MacBooks. is the better, new fangled, replacement for Firewire that Apple is now trying to push? USB2.0? *snork*
The correct analogy WRT the floppy is if the Blueberry iMac had CD-RW all along and Apple decided to drop it in favor of the floppy.