Presentations using MAC Laptops

jsfriedman · #1

We have recently had speakers show up to with their presentations on an IPAD and a MacBook AIR. We had no luck getting them hooked up to our Stake video projector which we successfully use with Satellite and Windows laptops. Any experience on what we need to make Mac products work?

russellhltn · #2

If your projector is anything like ours, they'll need an adapter to VGA. If they do very many presentations, I'd think they'd know that.

crislapi · #3

jsfriedman wrote:We have recently had speakers show up to with their presentations on an IPAD and a MacBook AIR. We had no luck getting them hooked up to our Stake video projector which we successfully use with Satellite and Windows laptops. Any experience on what we need to make Mac products work?

Welcome to macs. They have custom/proprietary outputs that require special adapters to connect to a projector. And there isn't just one. There are at least 3-4 different kinds of video outputs depending on the device and year.

sammythesm · #4

Most die hard Mac users are used to carrying around adapters, but as iPads and Macs go more mainstream, the new users don't know they need to carry adapters. So I'm not surprised you're seeing this.

You can pick up these adapters cheaply at Best Buy or an Apple Store.

For the iPad you will need an iPad to VGA adapter. ($29.99)
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC552ZM/B

For MacBook Air you will need a Mini DisplayPort to VGA adapter. ($29.00)
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB572Z/A

AFAIK, the iPad still has only a few apps that allow VGA output, so you may want to warn your user to test thoroughly beforehand.

sammythesm · #5

crislapi wrote:Welcome to macs. They have custom/proprietary outputs that require special adapters to connect to a projector. And there isn't just one. There are at least 3-4 different kinds of video outputs depending on the device and year.

Apple's video strategy is not as 'custom' or 'proprietary' as you might think. It is extremely forward looking, though, and leads the greater market by 2-3 years.

Most Macs in the wild today have a Mini DisplayPort. It was developed by Apple, but later was adopted as a VESA standard and which Apple licenses free of charge. HP, Lenovo, Dell, Toshiba and others now have laptops on the market with Mini DisplayPorts.

Other video interfaces that have shown up on Macs are DVI (pre-2008-ish) and HDMI (Mac Mini only). Both, also industry standards.

The latest innovation from Apple was through Intel's "Thunderbolt" technology which takes the Mini DisplayPort and allows other peripheral devices to connect to it. It is completely backward compatible with Mini DisplayPort, so a new adapter is not required. Any standard Mini DisplayPort adapter or screen will work with it.

crislapi · #6

sammythesm wrote:Apple's video strategy is not as 'custom' or 'proprietary' as you might think. It is extremely forward looking, though, and leads the greater market by 2-3 years.

Still doesn't help you connect it to a projector.