DisplayPort
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Dell's leaked E6400 ATG for mustachioed, overall types (just not Mario)
So you like the looks of Dell's 14.1-inch Latitude E6400 do ya? Well what if we told you that Dell plans a semi-rugged E6400 ATG version? While it won't replace Dell's fully-rugged XFR D630 when the ATG launches in June, we can't help but be intrigued at the prospect of a dust-proof, shock-proof, and spill-proof, humidity and altitude resistant Centrino 2 laptop with super bright 750cd/m2 (or 650cd/m2 touchscreen) display, GPS, UWB, DisplayPort and more. It can get pretty rugged working unwashed in our robes and slippers, you know. Full features listed after the break as our Week o' Dell scoops continues.
Up close with Dell's Latitude E4300 and E4200 ultra-portables with DisplayPort
Ultra-portables are by the far the sexiest class of laptops. Especially when they start at just 2.2-pounds (1kg) like Dell's upcoming 12.1-inch E4200 or 3-pounds for the 13.3-inch E4300. Both pack LED backlit displays; Centrino 2 chipsets; Firewire, eSATA, 2x audio, ExpressCard 34, and at least 2x USB ports; integrated UMA graphics; DDR3 800MHz with Intel Turbo Memory 2.0; DisplayPort; and a host of security features to keep corporate IT types happy. The E4300 differs with a higher WXGA+ resolution, modular optical bay, peppier CPU options, and a choice of beefier hard disk drives instead of the 32GB or 64GB SSD restriction of the E4200. Plenty more in the gallery including a head-to-head comparison's of each new model with the D430 they'll replace. Stay tuned as our exclusive Week o' Dell Scoops continues.%Gallery-18897%
First! AMD's Radeon HD 3000 graphics cards now DisplayPort certified
After this morning's whispered layoffs, we're digging deep to bring you a bit of good news about AMD. VESA just announced that AMD's ATI Radeon HD 3000 series (and the 780G integrated graphics chipset) are the first graphics cards in the Industry granted DisplayPort certification. About time since Dell's 30-inch 3008WFP monitor has been shipping since December. Way to go Paula AMD, way to go! [Via tgdaily]
Dell's 24-inch 2408WFP monitor with DisplayPort (and everything else) now available
It's here. Dell's 24-inch, Ultrasharp 2408WFP monitor is up and dancing on Dell's US page. $748 buys into a 1,900 x 1,200 resolution, 178-degree viewing angle, 1,300:1 contrast ratio, 400 cd/m2 brightness, 6-ms response, and 102% color gamut. Standard stuff until you get to the vast suite of jacks: HDMI, 2x DVI, DisplayPort, VGA, Composite, S-Video, Component, a single USB upstream, and 2x USB downstream. Just another reason why Round Rock, Tejas is the world's focal point for computer monitors. Who'd have thunk?[Thanks, Brad] Read -- Order page Read -- User guide
Belkin introduces DisplayPort cable
Exhilarating, we know, but it is somewhat notable that Belkin has introduced a DisplayPort cable for the emerging connector. From what we can tell, there's nothing exceptionally special about it outside of its early release, but you will be paying a pretty penny for it when it actually lands. Depending on cable length (3-, 6- or 10-feet), you'll be asked to drop $59.99 to $109.99, and you can make said purchase this April in the US or later in 2008 in Canada, Europe, Asia and Australia.
Upcoming AMD Radeon HD 3450, 3470 and 3650 low-enders leaked
DisplayPort is the most fun when you snag it on the cheap, and according to some leaked specs over on Madbox PC, AMD has a $50 Radeon in the works that'll have you running that 30-incher off of USB for a pittance. The Radeon HD 3450 card is based on the RV620 core, running at 525MHz, with 256MB of RAM and just a VGA plug to accompany the DisplayPort. The HD 3470 ($60) hits 600MHz and 512MB of RAM, and does DVI, while the HD 3650 ($100) maxes out the trio at 800MHz, with 512MB of RAM as well and the RV635 core to back it up. You might not be thrashing around in Crysis, but HD video and perhaps some last-gen shooters should be totally within your grasp whenever AMD gets these to market.[Via Gadget Lab]
Dell's 3008WFP 30-inch LCD with DisplayPort sneaks available -- in US too
So, Flight of the Conchords never made it quite clear what's so special about New Zealand anyways, but Dell has heaped mystery upon mystery by leaking its upcoming 3008WFP UltraSharp onto its NZ online store. We knew the 30-incher was coming, with DisplayPort as its primary claim to fame, but there's plenty else to like. The screen packs a 2560 x 1600 resolution, 370 nits of brightness, 8ms response times, a 3000:1 contrast ratio, and DVI-D (with HDCP), HDMI, S-Video, component and composite plugs just in case. Hopefully we're looking at some sort of silly exchange rate silliness for the price, since NZ$2,699 (about $2,050 US) is roughly double what Dell is charging for its existing 30-inch 3007WFP display. Obviously, no word on when this will hit the States, but all signs point to soon.Update: Ha! It's now on the US site for $2,034 with a shiny green "Buy Now" button and 2 day shipping. Anyone want to purchase and tempt our envy? Also available in Japan starting tomorrow according to official Dell press release. Now, you do have a DisplayPort video card, right?%Gallery-12030%[Thanks, JoseQ and dshankar]
Forget HDMI and DisplayPort -- Kleer and USB now vying for that HDTV link
Ugh, is DRM coming to shackle USB too? You betcha. The USB Implementer's Forum is planning to rollout a variant of tethered USB in 2008 to carry compressed high-def video between TVs and mobile devices. It appears unrelated to USB 3.0 and targets both laptops and personal media players -- however you might choose to define that. A spokesman for the organization said that developers "could layer HDMI's HDCP encryption on top." So it's not definite. But with the studios fighting hard to "protect" their content, well, it's a given that some form of DRM will be there. The new USB linkage is meant to complement HDMI which primarily carries uncompressed video between living room A/V equipment... and an increasing number of media-centric laptops. Thing is, DisplayPort, expected to make a big showing at CES in January, already comes with a slathering of HDCP and is the purported VESA standard for moving HDTV from your laptop to a digital television. To confuse matters more, Kleer Corp is also working on a mid-2008 wireless and wired technology for carrying SD video based on its existing wireless audio technology. Proof that the best part about having standards is that there are so many to choose from.
ATI DisplayPort cards trickle out
Now that monitors with DisplayPorts are starting to hit the market, you're going to need a compatible graphics card to get in on all that high-bandwidth action, and it looks like ATI is first of the mark with the RV635 XT board that Hot Hardware recently got a chance to test. Sadly, they're not giving up any hard numbers just yet, calling it more of a "show and tell," but we're definitely intrigued by the claims of daisy-chained display support and the ability to run four displays off one card.
Dell's 30-inch 3008WFP display to rock DisplayPort
Samsung's already claimed the title of first announced display to sport a DisplayPort connector, but it looks like Dell's about to enter the game with an upcoming 30-inch panel, the 3008WFP. The update to the much-loved 3007WFP will apparently feature the same 2560 x 1600 resolution, but input options are vastly improved: in addition to that DisplayPort, you're getting HDMI, VGA, component video, two DVI, S-Video, and composite. No word on any other improvements, but with that many inputs, we're pretty certain you can find something to plug into this thing and be happy. Now if only Dell would hurry up and ship that sweet-looking 30-inch DisplayPort concept we saw a while back, we'd be all set.
ATI graphics to support DisplayPort 1.1 in early 2008
Egads, the industry's move to DisplayPort is hotting up with AMD announcing ATI Radeon graphics processors supporting DisplayPort 1.1 in the "early 2008 timeframe." Just in time to support Samsung's new 30-inch panel scheduled to see production in Q2 2008. In fact, AMD just completed successful interoperability testing of their presumably "next-generation graphics processor" toting a native DisplayPort 1.1 transmitter. Taking a deeper look then into those analyst notes issued last week, we can expect the new interface to appear in ATI's Shanghai-class, R700 FireGL graphics cards. Now all we need is an official announcement from some of the PC boys are we're good to go. Yeah, we're looking at you Dell. [Via I4U News]
Samsung's 30-inch LCD with world's first DisplayPort -- game-on HDMI
It's on HDMI fans, the first LCD panel sporting a VESA-approved DisplayPort 1.1 jack was just announced by Samsung -- a world's first. The 30-inch LCD pumps a 2,560 x 1,600 pixels with a 10-bit color depth at a smokin' data rate of 10.8Gbps over a single port. In other words, kiss your DVI (and VGA ultimately) spec goodbye as their days are numbered. In addition to the port, we're talking about a Sammy S-PVA panel with 180-degree viewing angle, 1,000:1 contrast, 6-ms response, and 300cd/m2 brightness. Surprisingly, it's not scheduled for production delivery until Q2 of 2008. Later than we expected especially if it's truly the first to ship. Nevertheless, January's CES is set to be a regular DisplayPort free-for-all with plenty of laptop support provided by Dell, HP, and Lenovo among others.[Via Akihabara News]
Dell's ultra-thin LCD concept with DisplayPort going retail?
Remember that super swanky Dell monitor concept we went ga ga over back at January's CES? Yeah, we still find it hard to believe it's a Dell design. Well, it'll apparently be up for sale later in the year. What's more, it features the new VESA approved DisplayPort 1.1 interface which allows Dell to keep the panel depth to a crazy thin 0.5-inches. Although DisplayPort is said to support a resolution 4x that of today's HDTV resolutions, the panel on this pup was only pumping an estimated 1920 x 1200 when we saw it. No specs or price but we expect good things given Dell's past performance in delivering top-notch displays on the cheap.
AMD's "Griffin" and "Puma" mobile platform unveiled
AMD just let loose a few details on their upcoming "Griffin" and "Puma" mobile platform technologies due out in 2008. The Griffin codename denotes 65nm processors bent on increasing performance and battery life of our beloved laptops and mobile devices. These third generation Turion 64 X2 dual-core 64-bit processors also bring support for DDR2-800 memory. Puma then, is the name given to the overall platform built initially around an RS780 chipset featuring a DX-10 class graphics core, Blu-ray and HD DVD acceleration support, and output options for DVI, HDMI, and DisplayPort. According to AMD, the combination of Griffin with the RS780 chipset will provide "significantly better" performance-per-watt-per-dollar than their existing platform. Be sure to click through to Hot Hardware for the detailed techno-gore. [Thanks, Dave A.]
VESA approves DisplayPort 1.1: kiss those DVI and VGA ports goodbye
Get ready for hot, hot convergence kids 'cause the DisplayPort 1.1 specification was just approved. The new VESA-approved digital interface standard is meant to replace DVI and VGA ports while co-existing with HDMI for HDTV connectivity. As you can see in the picture above, it's about the size of a USB connector yet offers 2x the performance of DVI in a much smaller package. They also bake in a nasty dollop of HDCP 1.3 content protection to keep the Blu-ray and HD DVD kiddies happy. The wee size allows the interface to be included in smaller handheld electronics while enabling direct-drive LCD panels thereby eliminating the need for non-panel LVDS electronics in the monitor designs. Of course it also supports pass-through of DVI and HDMI signals via simple adapters similar to DVI-to-HDMI variety on the market today. So which of our esteemed manufactures will bite first? We're not sure, but VESA isn't shy about using Dell's high-end XPS systems in their marketing collateral. Of course, the question they don't answer is, why not just move everything to HDMI? For that, you just have to look at who backs royalty-free DisplayPort (the PC industry) and who backs HDMI (the consumer electronics industry). Yeah, we know.
DisplayPort to support HDCP, too
Analogix Semiconductor just announced its first receiver chip for the DisplayPort interconnect. Yeah, DisplayPort, the latest video interconnect standard which looks to replace HDMI, DVI, and even analog VGA connectors currently found in monitors, TVs, laptops and other portable consumer electronics. What's more, it's fully supported and even, preferred by the Video Electronics Standard Association (VESA) as a low power, low pin count, license-free video interconnect standard. The ANX9811 chip is now available to manufactures for sampling and, when paired with the company's existing ANX9801 transmitter, supports a full 10.8 Gbits/second data rate and WQXGA (2560×1600) resolution over a 15-meter cable. Fine. But the real news here is that the chips will support the DisplayPort 1.1 spec which was proposed in November and should be finalized by VESA in early 2007. The modified spec brings support for DisplayPorts own copy protection technology and now, finally, HDCP. It's not that we're big fans of HDCP or anything, but if we have to be saddled with wire-line encryption, let's choose one and be done with it, eh? Expect to hear more about DisplayPort at CES where Dell, HP, Lenovo, and Samsung will be laying out the interconnect's roadmap in an fractured industry love-fest. Still, like any good standard, you'll have choices: Intel's also pushing their UDI (Unified Display Interface) interconnect to replace both DVI and HDMI in PCs. If we're lucky, Adam Smith will grab whole lot by the throat to shake out a unified standard before the decade is up.
DisplayPort's back -- with Dell, HP, and Lenovo
Ruh roh, just when you knew for a fact you were all settled in with the latest generation of video interconnects for your laptops and peripherals, then VESA comes along and gets three of the most influential companies in the PC business, Dell, HP, and Lenovo, to rally behind its new video interface: DisplayPort. Ok, so it's not that new (we wrote about it last year), but it looks like it's finally ready to rumble starting May 8th. We called up VESA to get the skinny on the port, and they were kind enough to hit us up with that graphic and the following deets: it'll not be backward compatible with with DVI / VGA (ouch), it'll have wire-line encryption developed by Philips -- that's not compatible with HDCP (double ouch), but has a very small plug and scales well (eh). So why create DisplayPort when we've all already settled into DVI / HDMI with or without HDCP for plugging in our plasma or LCD TVs or monitors? Well, because VESA wanted the market to have a unified, license-free video interconnect standard that did a few things current systems don't do, like have a standard low power, low pin count, low profile connector for use on portable device internals and external monitors alike, or scale indefinitely to resolutions, color depths, and refresh rates possibly yet unthought of by systems integrators. Ok, fair enough, but where were these guys in 2001, huh? You know how we feel about nascent standards trying to butt in once we've all finally gotten settled on something decent.
DisplayPort: Because what we really needed was another connector
Ok fess up, who requested another digital interface for video and audio content? Since UDI, HDMI & DVI weren't complicated enough, VESA has come out with their own digital connector to replace VGA, DisplayPort. They originally announced it a year ago, but it is now ready to go, the only question is does anyone care?This article from Digitimes breaks down the challenges DisplayPort faces and what (few) benefits it offers. Unlike DVI/HDMI/UDI, it isn't backwards compatible with anything. If you replace your PC, DVD player TV or monitor with a DisplayPort device you'll have to replace anything connected to it. It also has it's own content protection scheme, much like HDCP, but once again not compatible.We don't really see this standard taking off with no backwards compatibility (however this release from Dell/HP/Lenovo indicates it is "possible" to have legacy compatibility with DVI 1.0) and both high definition DVD formats using a different copy protection format. With its only apparent advantage being a lack of licensing fees, is there a space for DisplayPort?
