Mini DisplayPort to VGA Adapter Connects Your Mac or MacBook to Projector, Monitor or HDTV

Isn’t Mac supposed to be easy to use? This is totally not what you’ve paid the good money to Apple for.

Well, don’t worry, there are solutions. Let’s first see what Mini DisplayPort is.

Mini DisplayPort and DisplayPort

Mini DisplayPort was the Apple’s mini version of DisplayPort. DisplayPort is a free and common HD audio-visual standard, and it directly competes against the most-common HDMI standard, with its free license and the ability to output videos to multiple display via a single DisplayPort.

Apple loves mini stuff, it has been using Mini-DVI and Micro-DVI on previous version of Mac and MacBooks. However, for some reason it didn’t choose Micro-HDMI this time, rather, it went with Mini DisplayPort on all the latest Apple computers.

Fortunately, Apple now licenses the Mini DisplayPort free-of-charge. Later, VESA, the maker of DisplayPort standards, has adopted Mini DisplayPort into DisplayPort v1.1a standard, and it will include Mini DisplayPort in the upcoming v1.2 specification.

With the free license and enforced industrial standard, other manufacturers will be able to make affordable Mini DisplayPort products.

Products With Mini DisplayPort

Currently, there is only a very short list of products that are using Mini DisplayPort:

* Apple MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro 13 inch, 15 inch, and 17 inch;
* Apple Mac, Mac Pro, Mac Mini, iMac, Xserve;
* Toshiba Satellite Pro S500, Tecra M11, A11 and S11 notebooks;
* AMD Radeon HD 5870 Eyefinity 6 Edition with its 6 Mini DisplayPorts;
* Adapters and cables compatible with the above computers and displays.

The last category of products is what can help you connect your Mac or MacBook to a projector, monitor or HDTV.

Mini DisplayPort Adapters

There are Mini DisplayPort to VGA adapters, Mini DisplayPort to HDMI adapters, and Mini DisplayPort to DVI adapters.

If you don’t want to carry 3 different adapters, it is the safest to get a Mini DisplayPort to VGA adapter, because pretty much every display, old or new, has a VGA port. This is especially true if you need to frequently connect your MacBook to a projector to give a presentation. While some new projectors do have HDMI or DVI ports, not all of them do, but they all have a VGA port, as VGA port has still been the no.1 most frequently used video port in colleges or business when it comes to presentation.

With a Mini DisplayPort to VGA adapter, now you can easily output video from your favorite MacBook or laptop to virtually any display. You can:

* Extend or mirror your workstation to another screen;
* Give presentation to your classmates, students or colleagues with your own MacBook or laptop;
* Share videos with your friends and family on a bigger external screen or TV.

And the video is output at resolutions up to 1080p (FullHD) and 1920 x 1200 with no compromise in video quality, given that your display supports 1080p or 1920×1200.

How To Use It?

It’s dead easy:

* Connect its male Mini DisplayPort to your computer’s Mini DisplayPort;
* Connect its female VGA port to a VGA cable that goes to your TV / monitor / projector.