Kanex iAdapt V2
Thursday, 16 June 2011
Designed by Apogee in the US, the Kanex (‘connects’, get it? I guess you need an American accent) iAdapt V2 is a Mini DisplayPort dongle with an HDMI connector on it – plug the little white and silver dongle into your Mac’s Mini DisplayPort, and an HDMI cable into the dongle, and that in turn into your TV, and there you have it.
Choose the HDMI port on your TV’s selector, and suddenly you have a large, sharp secondary display showing whatever you want showing from your Mac. It also works with HD projectors.
Imagine you have a game that uses 5.1 surround sound or a movie that does the same – suddenly, your media centre is hosting your Mac’s content, if you have the sound system to go with it. Just like any projector or secondary monitor, you can choose to mirror your Mac’s display (the same image is displayed on both screens) or use the other monitor as a secondary display, which lets you pile your emails on one screen and Photoshop on the other, for example.
Since Apple’s version of DisplayPort supports sound as well, the one connector is all you need for the April 2010 MacBook/MacBook Pro or later, the late 2010 MacBook Air, and all 21.5-inch and 27-inch iMacs.
Remember to also set HDMI as the sound output in System Preferences, and likewise the Display System Pref lets you manipulate the monitor’s resolutions.
What about Thunderbolt?
Since Apple cleverly added Thunderbolt support through the Mini DisplayPort, that’s supported too – it’s fully compatible up to 2.25Gbps per channel. If your display is only 720p and not 1080p or 1080i (which is also detects), the built-in auto-EDID feature adjusts the Mini DisplayPort output to suit.
Conclusion — The Kanex iAdapt V2 worked perfectly with my Sony 1080p 32-inch display, and showed movies off in style plus gave me a great, larger alternative to my usual 22-inch external display that I use with my 2010 MacBook Pro when I am at home.
What’s great — small, fast and easy to use
What’s not — it may not be all that strong in rugged environments, as the housing is just plastic. You wouldn’t want to stand on it.
Needs — a long HDMI cable if you don’t want your laptop right next to the display, say if you are presenting or you just wan to watch a movie and not have your Macbook right by the action (typical HDMI cables are only a metre long).
4.5/5
What — Kanex iAdapt V2, RRP NZ$51.75
System — Mini Display Port input to HDMI output; supports up to 2.25Gbps per channel; maximum resolution 1920x1080p@60Hz; colour depth 12 bits per channel; supports uncompressed digital audio LPCM 7.1, 5.1 or 2 channels; supports compressed digital audio Bit-Stream (Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus and DTS-HD Master Audio). Power: Mini DisplayPort; for April 2010 MacBook/MacBook Pro or later; late 2010 MacBook Air; all 21.5-inch/27-inch iMacs. Dimensions: 15.24cm (L) x 3.3cm (W) x1.52cm (H)
Distribution — Ingram Micro NZ Ltd has just become the NZ distributor – so look for it in the usual Apple Reseller, computer and electronics store.
Contact — Kanex
But wait, there’s more
There are more handy devices available, too, but I haven’t tried them. The Kanex XD lets you use an iMac 27-inch LED display, or a Cinema 27-inch LED display, with a Blu-Ray DVD player, Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3. This unit comes with a one-metre HDMI cable plus the same-length Mini DisplayPort cable.
There’s the AirBlue, which is a portable music receiver that receives the music wirelessly over Bluetooth. I means you can play the music from an iPod touch, iPhone or other Bluetooth-enabled players through your home stereo or speakers. It charges up via USB for ten hours playing.
The MLINQ is a USB-HDMI adapter which lets you add a third display to a Mac which only has one Mini DisplayPort (the latest iMacs have two). It supports audio, video up to 1080p and power. It also lets you use HDMI devices with legacy Macs that don’t have the Mini DisplayPort.
