VESA issues standard for Mini DisplayPort

Developed by Apple and first introduced in 2008, Mini DisplayPort (mDP) has appeared in recent iterations of the MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac Mini, Mac Pro, as well as the 24" Apple Cinema Display. As of yesterday, the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) has adopted mDP as an official standard.

Mini DisplayPort is more suitable for compact devices, and can be used as an alternative to the standard DisplayPort, DVI or VGA connectors. It supports the full range of power, signaling, and protocol capabilities defined in the standard DisplayPort v1.1a.

VESA is finalizing DisplayPort 1.2, which includes mDP and doubles available bandwidth to 21.6Gb/s. The additional bandwidth allows for new capabilities, such as support for multiple displays via a single output connector, higher resolutions, refresh rates and color depths, as well as high performance 3D displays.