Some TV company - I think it was Samsung - is now promoting a TV with a very thin, almost nonexistent, bezel. The iMac needs to be redesigned along those lines. No bezel, all display. That would make the present iMacs look really dated by comparison.
That'd be nice, but given Apple's obsession with thin, I think they prefer the bezel to making it thicker by putting all the components behind the screen.
I love the Magic Mouse. I didnt' like the Mighty Mouse at all and replaced it with a Logitech Mouse.
And, right click and left click work just fine with it. Switching over from PCs, I was used to right clicking, so I enabled it on the mouse. Problem solved.
Reverse here, big fan of the mighty but not of the magic. Having that discrete scroll nipple meant no accidental scrolling/zooming and enabled a proxy for clicking both buttons at once, not to mention an additional button in the squeeze.
I'm going to jump on the very-quick-to-abandon-recent-hardware bandwagon with the TB thing. What ever happened to that idea from a while back where you would just insert like a 13" MBP into the side of an iMac-like machine?
It seems to me that if USB3 comes with Ivy Bridge in 2012 then the move to new tech will be complete, but not quite yet - and devices should be coming more so for both that and TB by then.
But I'd say the expectation that the new iMac could accept a mini-DisplayPort output as an input was reasonable. I thought one of the TB selling points was its wide compatibility with legacy connections.
That is why you always should think twice and at least three years ahead before introducing any feature. Because if you take away a feature in a future model (or future software version), people will cry murder.
Apple should have known two years ago when they introduced this feature that Thunderbolt would use the mDP port and that the initial implementation of TB would make it impossible to keep that feature for normal DP video streams. Apple should not have offered this feature for two years because providing utility for two model years is worth far less than disappointing the customers when a new model misses a feature of the preceding model.
(Your choice whether to take the above serious and at face value or whether you appreciate the sarcasm.)
That is why you always should think twice and at least three years ahead before introducing any feature. Because if you take away a feature in a future model (or future software version), people will cry murder.
Apple should have known two years ago when they introduced this feature that Thunderbolt would use the mDP port and that the initial implementation of TB would make it impossible to keep that feature for normal DP video streams. Apple should not have offered this feature for two years because providing utility for two model years is worth far less than disappointing the customers when a new model misses a feature of the preceding model.
(Your choice whether to take the above serious and at face value or whether you appreciate the sarcasm.)
The sarcasm was clear.
I'm not really into hardware - but having introduced the feature of iMac as external display I'd like to think Apple at least investigated making support for mini-DisplayPort a possibility. Even if it would have meant adding a non-TB mini-DisplayPort port to the back of the iMac. I think it's a great feature - but I don't know anything about the underlying infrastructure required to add an input port.
Feel free to attack me with more of your sarcasm for daring to disagree with you. Which I still do.
I'm not really into hardware - but having introduced the feature of iMac as external display I'd like to think Apple at least investigated making support for mini-DisplayPort a possibility. Even if it would have meant adding a non-TB mini-DisplayPort port to the back of the iMac. I think it's a great feature - but I don't know anything about the underlying infrastructure required to add an input port.
Feel free to attack me with more of your sarcasm for daring to disagree with you. Which I still do.
I agree it would have been nice if they had kept that feature but you sure know that Apple would never add two physical mDP ports to the back and say one is mDP only and the other is mDP+TB but for all practical purposes the mDP+TB port actually behaves exactly like the mDP port when in comes to video out but the mDP-only port is the one for plugging in a video source. That would be way too messy for Apple.
And coming back to your original post (the one I replied to), this use-the-27"-iMac-as-a-DP-monitor feature was never a feature of DP, mDP, or TB. It was a feature of this particular iMac model, no other all-in-one (and that by definition includes all laptops) from any brand ever had that feature. This feature was a nice hack but not part of the official specification of (m)DP or TB. It is thus not TB is not compatible with any standardised existing feature.
The honest question to be asked was really at the beginning when they added this hack, should we add a hack that might not survive the next change in display port protocol changes? Your answer seems to be to not add it if we are not prepared to keep supporting this hack in all future versions. With technology you often come to a point where supporting old features and implementations really complicates things and the best way to avoid those situations is plan ahead long enough and to accept the occasional clean cut.
I agree it would have been nice if they had kept that feature but you sure know that Apple would never add two physical mDP ports to the back and say one is mDP only and the other is mDP+TB but for all practical purposes the mDP+TB port actually behaves exactly like the mDP port when in comes to video out but the mDP-only port is the one for plugging in a video source. That would be way too messy for Apple.
And coming back to your original post (the one I replied to), this use-the-27"-iMac-as-a-DP-monitor feature was never a feature of DP, mDP, or TB. It was a feature of this particular iMac model, no other all-in-one (and that by definition includes all laptops) from any brand ever had that feature. This feature was a nice hack but not part of the official specification of (m)DP or TB. It is thus not TB is not compatible with any standardised existing feature.
The honest question to be asked was really at the beginning when they added this hack, should we add a hack that might not survive the next change in display port protocol changes? Your answer seems to be to not add it if we are not prepared to keep supporting this hack in all future versions. With technology you often come to a point where supporting old features and implementations really complicates things and the best way to avoid those situations is plan ahead long enough and to accept the occasional clean cut.
I'm well aware that Apple would never add a port to support this feature, hack, whatever you want to call it. That doesn't make it the only way to look at this. Meaning it doesn't make it "right". It's just the way Apple often does things.
It's my opinion that a company cranking out 27" all-in-ones should strive to make it work as an external display for a previous generation of display outputs. It's an obvious and useful extension of a significant piece of hardware. Even if it requires another port, god-forbid. That's all I'm saying, it's my opinion. You disagree, I can live with that.
I'm well aware that Apple would never add a port to support this feature, hack, whatever you want to call it. That doesn't make it the only way to look at this. Meaning it doesn't make it "right". It's just the way Apple often does things.
It's my opinion that a company cranking out 27" all-in-ones should strive to make it work as an external display for a previous generation of display outputs. It's an obvious and useful extension of a significant piece of hardware. Even if it requires another port, god-forbid. That's all I'm saying, it's my opinion. You disagree, I can live with that.
I don't understand the disappointment of those who want to use a new iMac as a large external display for a recent model MacBook. If you're sitting in front of a 2011 desktop computer why on earth would you want to use an older, slower notebook instead?
It was always my belief that the whole support for video into an iMac was to make use of the display years in the future when the computer part is obsolete. From that perspective supporting anything except Thunderbolt is pointless because 5-7 years from now every Mac and many PCs will have Thunderbolt.
I don't understand the disappointment of those who want to use a new iMac as a large external display for a recent model MacBook. If you're sitting in front of a 2011 desktop computer why on earth would you want to use an older, slower notebook instead?
I don't understand those who can't imagine a use-case different from their own. Like using a work-issued laptop with special apps that aren't on your giant iMac - and wanting to see it on a larger display.
I'm well aware that Apple would never add a port to support this feature, hack, whatever you want to call it. That doesn't make it the only way to look at this. Meaning it doesn't make it "right". It's just the way Apple often does things.
It's my opinion that a company cranking out 27" all-in-ones should strive to make it work as an external display for a previous generation of display outputs. It's an obvious and useful extension of a significant piece of hardware. Even if it requires another port, god-forbid. That's all I'm saying, it's my opinion. You disagree, I can live with that.
Well, by the time you replace your 2011 iMac with a newer computer, this newer computer if it is a Mac will have TB for sure and thus will be able to use your 2011 iMac as an external monitor.
Of course that does not help you with your current laptop but in terms of re-using an iMac as a monitor (instead of selling it for good money), the restricting to TB is probably not an issue.
Do Dell and HP all-in-ones offer a display input option?
Comments
That is nice since the mouse is unusable iMO.
not to mention the trackpad is amazing. i think the magic mouse is Apple's last.
Some TV company - I think it was Samsung - is now promoting a TV with a very thin, almost nonexistent, bezel. The iMac needs to be redesigned along those lines. No bezel, all display. That would make the present iMacs look really dated by comparison.
That'd be nice, but given Apple's obsession with thin, I think they prefer the bezel to making it thicker by putting all the components behind the screen.
I love the Magic Mouse. I didnt' like the Mighty Mouse at all and replaced it with a Logitech Mouse.
And, right click and left click work just fine with it. Switching over from PCs, I was used to right clicking, so I enabled it on the mouse. Problem solved.
Reverse here, big fan of the mighty but not of the magic. Having that discrete scroll nipple meant no accidental scrolling/zooming and enabled a proxy for clicking both buttons at once, not to mention an additional button in the squeeze.
I'm going to jump on the very-quick-to-abandon-recent-hardware bandwagon with the TB thing. What ever happened to that idea from a while back where you would just insert like a 13" MBP into the side of an iMac-like machine?
It seems to me that if USB3 comes with Ivy Bridge in 2012 then the move to new tech will be complete, but not quite yet - and devices should be coming more so for both that and TB by then.
That's a stroke. Less than a year old hardware isn't compatible?
Poor form Apple. But to be expected.
Put a sock in it! Its a technical limitation obviously. Move on.
Put a sock in it! Its a technical limitation obviously. Move on.
No, not really. His point is completely valid; Apple always does crap like this.
But I'd say the expectation that the new iMac could accept a mini-DisplayPort output as an input was reasonable. I thought one of the TB selling points was its wide compatibility with legacy connections.
That is why you always should think twice and at least three years ahead before introducing any feature. Because if you take away a feature in a future model (or future software version), people will cry murder.
Apple should have known two years ago when they introduced this feature that Thunderbolt would use the mDP port and that the initial implementation of TB would make it impossible to keep that feature for normal DP video streams. Apple should not have offered this feature for two years because providing utility for two model years is worth far less than disappointing the customers when a new model misses a feature of the preceding model.
(Your choice whether to take the above serious and at face value or whether you appreciate the sarcasm.)
That is why you always should think twice and at least three years ahead before introducing any feature. Because if you take away a feature in a future model (or future software version), people will cry murder.
Apple should have known two years ago when they introduced this feature that Thunderbolt would use the mDP port and that the initial implementation of TB would make it impossible to keep that feature for normal DP video streams. Apple should not have offered this feature for two years because providing utility for two model years is worth far less than disappointing the customers when a new model misses a feature of the preceding model.
(Your choice whether to take the above serious and at face value or whether you appreciate the sarcasm.)
The sarcasm was clear.
I'm not really into hardware - but having introduced the feature of iMac as external display I'd like to think Apple at least investigated making support for mini-DisplayPort a possibility. Even if it would have meant adding a non-TB mini-DisplayPort port to the back of the iMac. I think it's a great feature - but I don't know anything about the underlying infrastructure required to add an input port.
Feel free to attack me with more of your sarcasm for daring to disagree with you. Which I still do.
The sarcasm was clear.
I'm not really into hardware - but having introduced the feature of iMac as external display I'd like to think Apple at least investigated making support for mini-DisplayPort a possibility. Even if it would have meant adding a non-TB mini-DisplayPort port to the back of the iMac. I think it's a great feature - but I don't know anything about the underlying infrastructure required to add an input port.
Feel free to attack me with more of your sarcasm for daring to disagree with you. Which I still do.
I agree it would have been nice if they had kept that feature but you sure know that Apple would never add two physical mDP ports to the back and say one is mDP only and the other is mDP+TB but for all practical purposes the mDP+TB port actually behaves exactly like the mDP port when in comes to video out but the mDP-only port is the one for plugging in a video source. That would be way too messy for Apple.
And coming back to your original post (the one I replied to), this use-the-27"-iMac-as-a-DP-monitor feature was never a feature of DP, mDP, or TB. It was a feature of this particular iMac model, no other all-in-one (and that by definition includes all laptops) from any brand ever had that feature. This feature was a nice hack but not part of the official specification of (m)DP or TB. It is thus not TB is not compatible with any standardised existing feature.
The honest question to be asked was really at the beginning when they added this hack, should we add a hack that might not survive the next change in display port protocol changes? Your answer seems to be to not add it if we are not prepared to keep supporting this hack in all future versions. With technology you often come to a point where supporting old features and implementations really complicates things and the best way to avoid those situations is plan ahead long enough and to accept the occasional clean cut.
I agree it would have been nice if they had kept that feature but you sure know that Apple would never add two physical mDP ports to the back and say one is mDP only and the other is mDP+TB but for all practical purposes the mDP+TB port actually behaves exactly like the mDP port when in comes to video out but the mDP-only port is the one for plugging in a video source. That would be way too messy for Apple.
And coming back to your original post (the one I replied to), this use-the-27"-iMac-as-a-DP-monitor feature was never a feature of DP, mDP, or TB. It was a feature of this particular iMac model, no other all-in-one (and that by definition includes all laptops) from any brand ever had that feature. This feature was a nice hack but not part of the official specification of (m)DP or TB. It is thus not TB is not compatible with any standardised existing feature.
The honest question to be asked was really at the beginning when they added this hack, should we add a hack that might not survive the next change in display port protocol changes? Your answer seems to be to not add it if we are not prepared to keep supporting this hack in all future versions. With technology you often come to a point where supporting old features and implementations really complicates things and the best way to avoid those situations is plan ahead long enough and to accept the occasional clean cut.
I'm well aware that Apple would never add a port to support this feature, hack, whatever you want to call it. That doesn't make it the only way to look at this. Meaning it doesn't make it "right". It's just the way Apple often does things.
It's my opinion that a company cranking out 27" all-in-ones should strive to make it work as an external display for a previous generation of display outputs. It's an obvious and useful extension of a significant piece of hardware. Even if it requires another port, god-forbid. That's all I'm saying, it's my opinion. You disagree, I can live with that.
I'm well aware that Apple would never add a port to support this feature, hack, whatever you want to call it. That doesn't make it the only way to look at this. Meaning it doesn't make it "right". It's just the way Apple often does things.
It's my opinion that a company cranking out 27" all-in-ones should strive to make it work as an external display for a previous generation of display outputs. It's an obvious and useful extension of a significant piece of hardware. Even if it requires another port, god-forbid. That's all I'm saying, it's my opinion. You disagree, I can live with that.
I don't understand the disappointment of those who want to use a new iMac as a large external display for a recent model MacBook. If you're sitting in front of a 2011 desktop computer why on earth would you want to use an older, slower notebook instead?
It was always my belief that the whole support for video into an iMac was to make use of the display years in the future when the computer part is obsolete. From that perspective supporting anything except Thunderbolt is pointless because 5-7 years from now every Mac and many PCs will have Thunderbolt.
I don't understand the disappointment of those who want to use a new iMac as a large external display for a recent model MacBook. If you're sitting in front of a 2011 desktop computer why on earth would you want to use an older, slower notebook instead?
I don't understand those who can't imagine a use-case different from their own. Like using a work-issued laptop with special apps that aren't on your giant iMac - and wanting to see it on a larger display.
I'm well aware that Apple would never add a port to support this feature, hack, whatever you want to call it. That doesn't make it the only way to look at this. Meaning it doesn't make it "right". It's just the way Apple often does things.
It's my opinion that a company cranking out 27" all-in-ones should strive to make it work as an external display for a previous generation of display outputs. It's an obvious and useful extension of a significant piece of hardware. Even if it requires another port, god-forbid. That's all I'm saying, it's my opinion. You disagree, I can live with that.
Well, by the time you replace your 2011 iMac with a newer computer, this newer computer if it is a Mac will have TB for sure and thus will be able to use your 2011 iMac as an external monitor.
Of course that does not help you with your current laptop but in terms of re-using an iMac as a monitor (instead of selling it for good money), the restricting to TB is probably not an issue.
Do Dell and HP all-in-ones offer a display input option?
...Do Dell and HP all-in-ones offer a display input option?
I don't know. I don't pay much attention to non-Macs these days for my own use. I used to be far more interested in Windows than I am now...