• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.

Why doesn't DVI come standard on laptops?

C

c00LaS1cE

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 4, 2006
Messages
198
I've been wondering this for a long time. I've bought two high-end ASUS gaming laptops over the past couple years and neither of them have DVI. A couple of my friends also have high-end laptops from other manufacturers without DVI. How is it that in 2010/2011 laptops are still being manufactured with VGA instead of DVI?

I just hooked up my new laptop to my monitor through VGA and it looks terrible. I had no idea there would've been this big of a difference. I'm wondering if it has something to do with the fact that the laptop is 1920x1080 and the monitor is 1680x1050. I'm planning on getting a new monitor regardless, but if that's not the issue is there anything else I can do to improve the picture quality?
 
My guess is to support projectors without an adapter and because hdmi is becoming the standard.
 
HDMI uses a smaller port; some C2D era ASUS laptops do have DVI, but I think only single link, since dual link needs a few more traces.
 
if i remember correctly manufacturers have to pay 15€ extra for each device with digital video output (only in the e.u.)
analogue output (like vga) isn't taxed
 
jeremyshaw said:
HDMI uses a smaller port; some C2D era ASUS laptops do have DVI, but I think only single link, since dual link needs a few more traces.
Click to expand...

Is HDMI standard on most monitors now? It's been awhile since I've bought one new. My laptop only has one HDMI port and I was planning on using it to hook up to my TV, but I guess I could use a splitter.
 
c00LaS1cE said:
Is HDMI standard on most monitors now? It's been awhile since I've bought one new. My laptop only has one HDMI port and I was planning on using it to hook up to my TV, but I guess I could use a splitter.
Click to expand...

HDMI and DVI single link are electrically compatible, and are identical for all intents and purposes (well... DVI-->HDMI typically will miss the audio transport stream, but HDMI--> DVI, you already know what to expect :p)

A simple adaptor will do, mostly cost about 1 usd or so.
 
DVI has always been an open standard with no licensing fees. Regardless of its inclusion or non-inclusion in past laptops, now it's really a legacy port that is very lucky to have HDMI retain electrical compatibility.

HDMI is obviously the low-end consumer media standard now, and DisplayPort (with HDMI/DVI output via a passive adapter) will almost certainly continue to grow as the business/high-end standard.
 
Blackbeard Ben said:
DVI has always been an open standard with no licensing fees. Regardless of its inclusion or non-inclusion in past laptops, now it's really a legacy port that is very lucky to have HDMI retain electrical compatibility.

HDMI is obviously the low-end consumer media standard now, and DisplayPort (with HDMI/DVI output via a passive adapter) will almost certainly continue to grow as the business/high-end standard.
Click to expand...
i think what i read about was everything with dvi/hdmi-in counting as a tv which is taxed more than a computer monitor
 
dowant120hz said:
i think what i read about was everything with dvi/hdmi-in counting as a tv which is taxed more than a computer monitor
Click to expand...

Yes, that's very possible. I was just trying to alleviate the confusion that it possibly had something to do with the DDWG rather than taxes. The DVI standard itself is open, like DisplayPort and unlike HDMI. For HDMI the manufacturers' fees are listed here.

Really, IMO there's little reason for any manufacturer to go with HDMI over DP now; and we're slowly seeing that conversion (obviously much faster in the mid-end and up with graphics cards and monitors). DP -> HDMI cables and adapters are cheap and have the same royalty as the ports, so it'd be easy for a manufacturer to include one for consumers but the reverse isn't possible.

I guess the biggest reason holding up more widespread adoption is the added confusion for "lamestream" users of yet a new connection, just as it seemed everything was standardizing on HDMI. Regardless, I think few can argue that a technically superior, free standard isn't better than a royalty collecting inferior standard that already is fully supported by the free standard anyway.
 
HDMI to DVI always works well for me, but computers going into an HDMI display never seem to work right for me. It's like the timings are different for HDMI and DVI.
 
450 said:
HDMI to DVI always works well for me, but computers going into an HDMI display never seem to work right for me. It's like the timings are different for HDMI and DVI.
Click to expand...

I understand that if you are going into a TV its going to suck. In my case, I have a monitor with only HDMI input, it even came with an HDMI to DVI cable and, timing works perfect, 60 Hz, no lag, etc...
 
musician said:
coz HDMI is digital and carries sound too. less cables.
Click to expand...
A DVI cable can carry audio too. The audio information is packetized into the blanking interval of the video stream. There are no extra wires for audio in a HDMI cable. If you use two passive HDMI to DVI adapters with a DVI cable in place of a HDMI cable you will still get audio over it.

However, HDMI has a smaller connector so that's likely why you see it on laptops in place of DVI.
 
I think people hit on the real issue with size. Now days the size and form of a laptop is everything to everyone and so they just put HDMI on the laptop and expect you will get a HDMI to DVI adapter. And as said most places still only have VGA lines for their projectors, even though most of their projectors all accept DVI.

I don't know about the arguement that DVI is legacy, sure maybe it is suppose to be, but they have been saying that for like 5 years and I still see DVI as the primary port on all my devices. I just bought a brand new 120 hz LCD monitor and it only had DVI no HDMI or DP. And I have video cards from both ATI and nVidia and they all have at least 1 DVI out. Currently there is no other port that is universal on my video cards. Some have DP, some have HDMI but all have DVI. Old standards die hard and when I can buy a brand new LCD in 2011 that is designed to support DVI I dont see DVI going anywhere for another 5+ years. Also they now say HDMI is legacy but it is not even a universal standard yet plus it does not work very well in alot of situations with high resolution or refresh rates and it has hand shake issues. HDMI is seriously the worst standard they ever made it is utter garbage and a nightmere for customers when it was suppose to be easier. Yet with all that against it DP has not taken off very fast. You would expect that every TV produced now would ship with it and almost all monitors but that is far from the case.
 
Last edited:
rudy said:
I think people hit on the real issue with size. Now days the size and form of a laptop is everything to everyone and so they just put HDMI on the laptop and expect you will get a HDMI to DVI adapter. And as said most places still only have VGA lines for their projectors, even though most of their projectors all accept DVI.
Click to expand...

This. I mean sure iirc a DVI port isn't a huge amount large than a VGA, but it's still space. I think we might see a switch to ports like HDMI and perhaps displayport instead of DVI. Simply put, DVI takes up more space than manufacturers want to spare on their laptop cases.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top