ATI has just unveiled a brand new high-performance graphics card called the FireGL V7700. But what’s so interesting about that I hear you ask? Well, apart from delivering some impressive frame rates under high-end CAD and DCC apps, it features a new interconnect standard called DisplayPort.
DisplayPort is a purely digital standard and can handle resolutions upto 2,560 x 1,600. It’s smaller and thinner than DVI or VGA, a bit like USB, and there’s no need to screw the cable in – which always annoys me so I never end up doing it.
There are currently only a handful of monitors out there with DisplayPort support, which is why the FireGL V7700 also supports DVI. Only time will tell if the technology is going to take off, but it’s certainly a move in the right direction and also makes perfect sense for ultra-thin notebooks. There’s simply no room for a VGA connector on a Mac Book Air… or so Al Dean tells me. I’m still waiting for mine to arrive.
