By Zach Spear
Published: 11:00 AM EST
Owners of the Mini DisplayPort-equipped line of Apple notebooks who want an easier way to output video to their TV or other HDMI devices will soon have an option.
Discount cable outlet
Monoprice.com will sell Mini DisplayPort to HDMI adapters for $14.25 starting March 15th. Two other new adapters, offering to convert the Mini DisplayPort signal for either
DVI or
VGA, will be available that same day, providing customers with an alternative to Apple's adapters at more than half the cost. The vast majority of today's HDTVs have HDMI inputs, but DisplayPort is a relatively new player on the connection standard scene and connectors between the two are rare, especially for Mac owners.
Apple's new
LED Cinema Display (
review),
MacBook (
review) and
MacBook Pro (
review) introduced last October and
last month incorporated Apple's own variation called Mini DisplayPort into the machines, replacing DVI with a much smaller port, but options to connect the new computer models to HDMI devices are extremely limited, if they exist at all. Amazon, for example, doesn't offer
any except the larger DisplayPort standard, which Apple notebooks do not use.
Some users have worked around the problem with a Mini DisplayPort to DVI adapter that in turn feeds a DVI to HDMI cable, but that method may be less than ideal for many. It requires the purchase of two adapters and may not be aesthetically satisfying. Video quality may also be a concern in some cases.
The Mac maker sells Mini DisplayPort to VGA ($29) or DVI adapters ($29) through the Apple Store, but nothing for the HDMI standard. The Apple TV can output HDMI, but for users who want their whole desktop on their TVs, Monoprice's adapters go on sale in a little more than a month.
Additional DisplayPort Transition Coverage from AppleInsider
Inside the new MacBooks: Audio and Video
A closer look at Apple's move to NVIDIA chipsets, DisplayPort
Apple pushing Mini DisplayPort through no-fee licenses
Apple's mini connector set to be part of DisplayPort standard
