iMacs HD screen

[balamw]

I don't know. Why did Apple put a mini VGA out when DVI would have been better?

1) To differentiate the iBook/PowerBook lines.
2) A mini VGA external connector is probably cheaper than a mini DVI as it has fewer pins & lower required tolerances.
3) iBook users would be more likely to hook up to analog devices, so make it easier for them not to have to select the mini-DVI to VGA adapter or mini-DVI to DVI one.

B

 

[EricNau]

1) To differentiate the iBook/PowerBook lines.
2) A mini VGA external connector is probably cheaper than a mini DVI as it has fewer pins & lower required tolerances.
3) iBook users would be more likely to hook up to analog devices, so make it easier for them not to have to select the mini-DVI to VGA adapter or mini-DVI to DVI one.

B

maybe I should rephrase me earlier statement to:

"I don't know. Why did Apple put a mini VGA out on the iMac when DVI would have been better?"

 

[matticus008]

maybe I should rephrase me earlier statement to:

"I don't know. Why did Apple put a mini VGA out on the iMac when DVI would have been better?"

Any number of reasons. The external connection is an extra piece regardless of what format it is, so there's not really a purely economic reason to go with DVI. For the maximum compatibility and lowest peripheral price, VGA makes more sense, and as balamw said, consumer devices are more likely to have a VGA connection (i.e. there aren't many purely DVI monitors in homes, but there are lots of DVI monitors that also support VGA as well as lots of purely VGA monitors left over). It also gives the PowerMac a bit of a competitive edge.

Most likely it's purely a marketing decision. Since the iMac isn't meant for workstation usage, there's no reason an iMac user would need DVI, in Apple's opinion.

 

[jmo81]

Any number of reasons. The external connection is an extra piece regardless of what format it is, so there's not really a purely economic reason to go with DVI. For the maximum compatibility and lowest peripheral price, VGA makes more sense, and as balamw said, consumer devices are more likely to have a VGA connection (i.e. there aren't many purely DVI monitors in homes, but there are lots of DVI monitors that also support VGA as well as lots of purely VGA monitors left over). It also gives the PowerMac a bit of a competitive edge.

Most likely it's purely a marketing decision. Since the iMac isn't meant for workstation usage, there's no reason an iMac user would need DVI, in Apple's opinion.

The new iMac has a mini-DVI output.

 

[matticus008]

The new iMac has a mini-DVI output.

Right. We're obviously talking about the G5 iMac. As for the future, 2006 is a good time to start moving away from VGA, after all .

 

[FireArse]

Can is say......

I'm not impressed with the 1080p that ive seen, which is admittedly only the trailers on apples site - the shadows seem really blocky

Maybe its just me being a photographer and having seen awesome quality photos?

I don't think the HD clips on the QT site are that bad - BUT the bitrates are pretty low - eg: 1080p file size = 93MB for 1:33 seconds.

*Rough estimate!*
93*8 =7.44E+08 bits for the file
7.44E+08 / 93 seconds = 8000000 bits per second = 8Mbps. The quality is nice - its runs sweet. You encode that raw video (belonging to the BBC somewhere) to MPEG 2 and you'll see how far we've come with regards to video encoding.

720p is defined as HD - but I'm another of those who thinks 1080p is the daddy. Oh by the way - the refresh on all computer screens is progressive. They made 'interlaced' for TV'S to reduce the badwidth required to broadcast TV. Not sure if HD-DVD and BlueRay are gonna be 1080p. you have a link? I think it'll be up to the distributors. still, the extra space on the newer disks mean increased bitrates. Some rumors doing the rounds are saying Blue Ray might stick with MPEG 2 because they have plenty of space to do HD at higher than DVD quality. plus the license fees to encode to H.264 will be considerably more.

F

 

[andrewag]

I know this is from ages ago, and digital connections were not around, but the tray loading imacs actually had the display plug into the imac in the casing like an external plug.