All About Video Adapters!

ByMike Moffit

We’ve seen several generations of Macs in the last decade, and at some, a new adapter was introduced to connect video devices to our Macs. At first I thought it’d be shorter making this list by adapters rather than machines, although I may have been mistaken. I’ve listed them in order of age, and hence, relevance to some extent. For Small Dog’s complete list of video adapter offerings, check out our online store.

I will be following this up with an article in regards to connecting your recent Mac to most televisions.

HDMI (Connects to HDMI, DVI) – Only in use on the newest Mac mini, mid-2010 model. HDMI is an audio/video standard in use for about half this past decade in A/V equipment.

Mini DisplayPort (Connects to VGA, DVI, HDMI[using non-Apple adapters]) – This is the adapter used for all current Macs, be it a MacBook, MacBook Pro, Mac Pro, Mac mini, MacBook Air, or iMac. While technically supporting audio as well, Apple doesn’t yet make an adapter that offers this function, and only the newest generation of Macs can support audio over Mini DisplayPort.

If you’re using a 30” Apple Cinema Display, or other large monitor supporting a resolution of 2560×1600 or similar, the Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter will be required.

Special Note: Some devices use Mini DisplayPort as a standard input, such as the 27” iMac (Did you know it could be used as a monitor?) and the 24” Apple LED Cinema Display.

MacBook Owners Beware: Do not confuse this with the next one down!

MacBook Air Owners: The first generation uses Micro-DVI. See below.

Mini-DVI (Connects to VGA, DVI, S-Video, Analog Composite) – This adapter is used by older Macs. Any MacBook older than October 2009 (non-unibody, with removable battery), Intel iMacs older than mid-2009, and Intel Mac minis older than summer 2010. Throughout this generation, the Mac Pro towers and MacBook Pros (silver keyboard) had full-size DVI only. For these devices, see the DVI adapter listed.

Special Note: The 12” PowerBook G4 1GHz and above also used this adapter.

Mini-VGA (Connects to VGA, S-Video, Analog Composite) – We’re now going back a bit. The use of this adapter started with the white iBook 12” (2001 Dual-USB model, just after the colorful clamshells had their time). It carried on through the 12” PowerBook G4s (up to 867MHz models), iBook G4s, and G4 & G5 iMacs.

Micro-DVI (Connects to VGA, DVI, S-Video, Analog Composite) – Only the first generation MacBook Air used this adapter, introduced January 2008. The MacBook Air’s body was too thin for Mini-DVI, and it wasn’t until Mini DisplayPort was released that the MacBook Air was updated.

DVI (Connects to VGA, DVI, S-Video, Analog Composite) – This isn’t so much an adapter as it is a standard. Pretty much all new monitors come with this now. The PowerBook G4 & MacBook Pro 15” & 17”, as well as G4 Mac minis, Power Mac G4 (aside from those using VGA or ADC), Power Mac G5, and Mac Pros used this as a connection standard for their external monitors. It has the same adapter options as Mini-DVI because it uses the same technology.

ADC (Connects to Apple ADC Studio & Cinema Displays) – This connection was in use by Apple on the Power Mac G4, Power Mac G5, and the Power Mac G4 Cube. It offered power, video, and USB over a single cable. The required adapter to use DVI displays with these machines is an ADC to DVI adapter. For using these displays with DVI machines, an Apple DVI to ADC Adapter is required, acting as a power adapter for the monitor.

DB-15 (Connects to VGA) – Hardly worth mentioning in this era, is the connection Apple used to connect their Apple Displays to older Macs (Prior to 1999). While a DB-15 connector, it was a different shape than VGA. This required a small adapter, and for some, a specific pin setting was required.

iPad/iPod/iPhone Audio/Video Interface – While technically not a Mac, I should include these. Via the Dock Connector on the bottom of the device, these devices support audio and video out through either Composite or Component Audio/Video adapters. These adapters also come with a charging block, and support for charging while playing. The iPad also supports VGA-out, using the Apple iPad Dock Connector to VGA Adapter, incredibly useful for giving presentations from the iPad via a standard projector.

Special Note: These devices support video output on a per-App basis, meaning the App Developer had to choose to include the video output function in their App. Only some Apps will actually give video output, those mainly being Videos, YouTube, Keynote, and certain other third-party Apps including Netflix. The video output by these is 4:3, not offering widescreen or true high-definition options.

Scattered ending notes: The second generation of iBook (Firewire, clamshell design) used a composite video cable from the headphone jack to output audio and video via composite. An older generation of iPods used composite output from the headphone jack as well, ending with the 1st Generation iPod Classic. You can also connect a DVI to HDMI cable to run a television or HDMI monitor off normal DVI, should you not have an HDMI-out option on your computer. This wouldn’t support audio, which would be needed through a separate connection.

Other adapter options for newer machines/displays:

There are several adapters available for both connecting your Apple 24” LED Cinema Display or iMac 27” to DVI/HDMI video sources, such as the Gefen DVI to Mini DisplayPort Adapter. I would also recommend using the Kanex iAdapt adapters to connect your MacBook or MacBook Pro to HDMI with audio.

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