While this is certainly valid, it's depressing that most non-Apple laptops still only ship with VGA so most meeting rooms are stuck with an inferior, non-digital connector.
This wouldn't help the issue with having 4 different video connectors, but to Apple's credit, they are standardizing on Mini Displayport. The first run of the Macbook Air was the only one to have the micro DVI (because no other video connector existed that was small enough for their needs and they just needed to minify an existing standard, hence Micro-DVI) and it has now been replaced by Mini Displayport on all current models. Additionally, the Macbook, the only laptop they offer without Mini Displayport will likely be updated soon adding it thus bringing every portable computer they offer to the same standard. Any transition period is tough, it's just sad that while Apple has moved from VGA to DVI to Mini Displayport, most non-Apple laptops (see Dell, HP, Lenovo) still ship with VGA or the awful S-Video.
Move into the 21st century already. Laptop makers (Both Apple and non-Apple) need to pick a digital standard.
This wouldn't help the issue with having 4 different video connectors, but to Apple's credit, they are standardizing on Mini Displayport.
Part of this issue exists because Apple keeps "standardizing" on new (display) technologies. This is good, because it helps drive the industry forward, otherwise we'd still be stuck with VGA, but it's not really standardizing when the next product cycle, like every 18 to 24 months, there is a new standard they adopt across all products.
The problem is that most old projectors ship with VGA. Imagine you bring a shine laptop with HDMI/DisplayPort in the conference room, only to know that the old projector there drives VGA / S-Video only ... I think that's why business laptops still sport VGA when consumer lines have long ditched analog and adopted digital standards.
I'm hoping someone will build a projector with an embedded computer and a USB port built in. Just plug in a flash drive or SD card and display a PDF file as a presentation. No messing with laptops or cables or display settings.
If it had a well-designed, simple interface (remote control with only five or six buttons) and a high "just works" factor, it could be the Flip video camera of projectors.
It has to do powerpoint, with the ability to do the latest version's transition effects a flash movies. People have to be able to just turn up and not need to have converted their presentation in advance
One thing would push this like nothing else, mobile phones with enough computing power in them to drive a sizeable display through something like bluetooth (but faster).
To run a 30 in secondary display off my 17 MBP. It's flakey and I have to make my machine never sleep when it's plugged in. The other day I got a KVM switch to do windows builds and it runs through it. Fortunately I don't have a terrible case of "Fuzz of Death:"
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1837465...
But it does happen every now and again. Total PITA esp considering that their old display ports worked just fine.
Just the other day I came across some kind of article that included a bit on a wireless computer to monitor link, let me go dig and see if I can find it.
I wonder why IR didn't catch on? Maybe the available hardware was too anemic at the time? But there have been gigabit IR links in R&D labs. As screens get larger, the bandwidth requirements get larger. Maybe that combined with the negotiation overhead between devices at unknown distances did it in. (Line of sight is also a problem for some applications. But for my monitor setup, it would work fine.)
A small nit: proposed UWB (ultra wide band) schemes at 5GHz and 60GHz are considered EHF (extremely high frequency) or millimeter-wave; IR is generally considered to start at at least 300GHz.
There isn't a heck of a lot of interference per se at 60GHz, but it is very hard to design a transmitter that is not highly directional and line-of-sight sensitive. My feeling is that the low range and line of sight requirements mostly limit current incarnations of this technology to situations that are already amenable to HDMI cables.
There's a good writeup from earlier this year on Ars Technica ( http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2009/02/cutting-the-cord... ) that goes through some of the commercial offerings around that time. No idea if any of them are still around, or in what form.
Sorry about that, it didn't register that GP's question was tangential to GGP's UWB-focused links. Regarding IR, I agree that interference is the biggest issue. The electronics also get harder as you approach THz frequencies, but that could be worked around if IR radiation weren't so pervasive. Interference is probably the reason you can only get up to 1Gbps or so, even in a lab (and you'd need 10.2Gbps to transmit HDMI 1.3, for instance).
http://www.crucial.com/ is probably a good place to start, select your system from the drop downs and it will give you the exact type of memory you need - and for a decent price. There might be cheaper options if you hunt around, just get the dimm size from crucial and google around to compare prices.
Buy from crucial, when you factor in their free shipping they are cheaper than most half decent brands. You might find some super-bargain RAM cheaper if you don't care about whats stored in it.
Crucial also have excellent service for returns or if the stuff doesn't fit.
Buy the RAM from a third-party vendor like Newegg or whatever, not from Apple. Often you can get the exact same RAM, but for a much lower price. Just be careful to get compatible RAM.
Sidenote : I was just checking out iMacs, which are pretty cool. Upgrading from 4GB to 8GB costs 900$ at the apple store. That's expensive. That RAM better be great.
side note: I wouldn't buy the G.SKILL ram. Anecdote, but I've had bad experiences with it. Plus, ~half the cost of the closest item makes me suspicious of its quality.
This wouldn't help the issue with having 4 different video connectors, but to Apple's credit, they are standardizing on Mini Displayport. The first run of the Macbook Air was the only one to have the micro DVI (because no other video connector existed that was small enough for their needs and they just needed to minify an existing standard, hence Micro-DVI) and it has now been replaced by Mini Displayport on all current models. Additionally, the Macbook, the only laptop they offer without Mini Displayport will likely be updated soon adding it thus bringing every portable computer they offer to the same standard. Any transition period is tough, it's just sad that while Apple has moved from VGA to DVI to Mini Displayport, most non-Apple laptops (see Dell, HP, Lenovo) still ship with VGA or the awful S-Video.
Move into the 21st century already. Laptop makers (Both Apple and non-Apple) need to pick a digital standard.