Daniel Eran Dilger
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Inside the new MacBooks: Audio and Video

October 18th, 2008

MacBook logicboard

Prince McLean, AppleInsider
Apple’s new MacBook and MacBook Pro models present a variety of changes in the way audio and video are handled, including support for iPhone-style integrated mic headphones and the new DisplayPort standard. Here’s what’s new in audio and video.

Inside the new MacBooks: Audio and Video

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  • nat

    Any possibility the fourth conductor on the headphone jack has been added to the slightly revised MacBook Airs?

  • PXT

    Except that Apple don’t actually support the new DisplayPort standard connector. They use mini DisplayPort in the face of the already existing DisplayPort connector that is already gathering momentum in enterprise-popular PCs such as Dell and Toshiba.

    Apple are locking themselves out of what could be a new generation of display compatibility in the office.

  • http://www.roughlydrafted.com danieleran

    @pxt. The Mini Display Port Apple is using is only differnet physically, in the same sense that USB and mini USB are the same thing. Nobody is going to be troubled by using a MDP to DP cable. On the other hand, full sized DP is clumsy and big and looks like USB, so there wouldn’t have been room without further compromises made.

  • nat

    @ PXT,

    I’d add that Apple might be ahead of the curve in their adoption of Mini DisplayPort over full-size DisplayPort in all their laptops. Apple essentially spells out the likely future of computers and external monitors, which corresponds with their use of the miniature version of the port:

    “The new 24-inch Apple LED Cinema Display transforms your MacBook into a desktop computer in seconds.”
    http://www.apple.com/macbook/graphics.html

    We haven’t seen any laptops with full-sized DisplayPort connections yet because 1) it’s a brand new interface and 2) it would require a larger overall laptop enclosure and/or the removal of other ports to make room for full DSP. Will #2 stop Dell or HP from using it? Probably not, which means their laptops won’t be able to approach the size of Apple’s. Mini DisplayPort will likely turn out to be one of many advantages Apple will use to claim the next generation in computers: laptops (and devices like the iPhone/iPod touch).

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