Take a look at our
ThinkPads.com HOME PAGE
For those who might want to contribute to the blog, start here: Editors Alley Topic
Then contact Bill with a Private Message

Whi display and not HDMI in my T420?

T400/T410/T420 and T500/T510/T520 Series
Post Reply
Message
Author
koden
Sophomore Member
Posts: 223
Joined: Tue Oct 10, 2006 4:28 am
Location: Denmark

Whi display and not HDMI in my T420?

#1 Post by koden » Wed Jul 12, 2017 10:23 am

I though I have HDMI, but i Think the port that looks like is display.

I'm not sure of the diff.
But in "old" days I got HDMI.
Now it's display.

Why that? Is it because of better resolution in display?

Is there a way to get HDMI in a T420 in some way?
Expresscard?

I know I could just buy a cable hdmi to display.
But sometimes I don't have cables with me, and the other days I was a place where there was a HDMI cable and nothing else.
HDMI cable everybody have but display no one has...yet.
I'm danish. Sorry for my sometimes bad english spelling and understanding.

Sweater Fish Deluxe
Freshman Member
Posts: 100
Joined: Wed Jun 17, 2009 9:22 pm
Location: Ukiah, California

Re: Whi display and not HDMI in my T420?

#2 Post by Sweater Fish Deluxe » Wed Jul 12, 2017 12:40 pm

While HDMI is technically an older spec, they really both started becoming common on laptops around the same time. HDMI is more common on "consumer" oriented laptops, while DisplayPort tends to be found on "business" laptops. So if you had an older laptop with HDMI, it was probably a consumer multimedia style laptop.

DisplayPort is definitely a more powerful and flexible specification. It can support higher resolutions/frequencies than HDMI and daisy-chaining multiple monitors. However (and correct me if I'm wrong here), I don't think the GPU(s) in the T420 support those features, so we're effectively stuck with something similar to HDMI anyway. HDMI is obviously found on a lot more devices so in the end it may be more flexible, depending on how you think about it.

When it comes to "business" versus "consumer" specifications, Thinkpads always get the business, though, so the T420 has DisplayPort. It's technically ++DisplayPort, which means it's electrically compatible with both digital DVI and HDMI, so you can use passive adapters. You don't necessarily need a full cable either. There's ++DP to HDMI adapters on eBay that are about the size of a large thumbdrive, so that's not too inconvenient to carry around.

koden
Sophomore Member
Posts: 223
Joined: Tue Oct 10, 2006 4:28 am
Location: Denmark

Re: Whi display and not HDMI in my T420?

#3 Post by koden » Wed Jul 12, 2017 12:42 pm

Thanks for the answer :-)
I'm danish. Sorry for my sometimes bad english spelling and understanding.

RealBlackStuff
Admin Emeritus
Admin Emeritus
Posts: 23825
Joined: Mon Sep 18, 2006 5:17 am
Location: Loch Garman, Éire

Re: Whi display and not HDMI in my T420?

#4 Post by RealBlackStuff » Wed Jul 12, 2017 12:43 pm

That's a Displayport.
Get a (male)Displayport-to-HDMI(female) adapter, plus a male-to-male HDMI cable and you're good to go.
E.g. this adapter: http://www.ebay.com/itm/401360352244
Lovely day for a Guinness! (The Real Black Stuff)
Lenovo: X240, X250, T440p, T480, M900 Tiny.

PS: the old Boardroom website is still available on the Wayback Machine
.

Post Reply
  • Similar Topics
    Replies
    Views
    Last post

Return to “ThinkPad T400/T410/T420 and T500/T510/T520 Series”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 21 guests