DisplayPort - do we care?

I'm a bit unclear about DisplayPort which I believe is a key feature of the upcoming generation of laptops. Is it something we should care about?

Will DisplayPort equipped laptops not have an old-style analog VGA connector? (Were this the case it would be a show shopper; there have been too many times I have to plug into a VGA style projector or computer monitor with a laptop that often travels with me.) Does it replace HDMI and/or act as a superset of HDMI? Just as the first DVI systems (cards and monitors) basically didn't work--I have a Hercules Geforce 2 GTS DVI card, with a DVI that predated DVI-equipped displays by a few months and turned out to be broken by design--is it likely that the first Displayport displays and adapters will have teething problems baked into the hardware that will get swept under the table? Or is this a bit more tried-and-tested than DVI was?

 

HDMI for me....it's DVI with 7.1 support.

 

If DisplayPort Monitors were more prevalent then I'd be excited. But considering there are so few of them out today I don't see much of a point other than promoting the technology.

I do find it very curious that for pure digital display connections we have gone from DVI to HDMI, and now DisplayPort in just a few years. I don't see SVGA going away since it is used in projectors so much. I just wish there was a universally accepted digital display connection. I would put my money on HDMI today but you never know maybe DisplayPort will win it out.

 

I did some reading after making this post and it was eye-opening.

DisplayPort and HDMI have different roots but are competitors. And it seems to me that DisplayPort (an open, free standard with flexible implementation options that sounds a lot like Ethernet or USB) is definitely the way to go versus a closed, proprietary, pay-us-royalties standard like HDMI.

It's clear where Dell stands on this, http://direct2dell.com/one2one/archive/2008/02/19/46464.aspx though it's kind of awkward that they are currently promoting HDMI laptops and Displayport displays....

Is HDMI a hot potato to be avoided in the desktop/laptop space? If the very protocols aren't the same, then are we headed for a world of bluray-equipped PCs and laptops with DP that can't talk to a universe of HDMI-equipped LCDs, plasmas and projectors?

 

DisplayPort is important because unlike DVI most integrated graphics controllers will probably feature this in the future.

 

Displayport will probably be the next step in the PC world from HDMI or DVI.

It has some key features that are more PC specific rather than HDMI wich is more of the Home Theater department.

One feature I remember is that Displayport can daisy chain monitors together for multiple displays from a single output.

There was somebody on the forums just the other day that wanted to have 2 external displays hooked to his notebook. In his case this would have been perfect.

Still its going to be a slow moving transition since it is very PC specific and not backwards compatible with DVI and HDMI. It was nice to have the two worlds merging together from home tv & pc, but I do not think you will ever see display port on a standard tv, only monitors or advanced tvs that are also meant to be used as a pc display.

 

So the evolution has been,

VGA RGB: PCs and TVs shouldn't date.

DVI: It's okay for PCs and TVs to date casually.

HDMI: Things are getting serious, PCs and TVs should get married and have kids.

DP: Time for PC and TV to get a divorce.

 

Sounds about right