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HDMI video mirroring is going to be big.

My sister-in-law is a high school teacher and has been wishing she could hook her iPad up to the projector since the day she got it.

Think of all the possibilities...makes so much more sense for a school to spend $500 on an ultralight, ultraportable iPad than spend more on bulky desktops you have to cart around just to play a video or show a web article (citation: my old high school).

There's not much more this feature lets me do on the app front, but man I'm excited to see what people do with it.

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How many school projects have HDMI inputs?

(Edit: Didn't realize the original did VGA -- I don't see how HDMI is such a big deal for presentations then)

I assume the iPad 2 hasn't lost the original's capability of outputting VGA.

Edit: the reason it's a big deal is that the original iPad had to have the app specifically coded to deal with the external screen/projector (and few are). The new version just lets you mirror the content, whatever app you're in. It'd be nice if the new iOS retroactively made this possible on the original (at least at same resolution?) but I kind of doubt it. We'll see next week.

It hasn't. But the key here is support for mirroring, which wasn't built-in even when using the VGA Adapter.

It looks like HDMI output is available to all current gen iOS products, as well as iPad 2:

http://macdailynews.com/2011/03/02/apples-hdmi-cable-works-w...

That's pretty curious. Why would they keep that capability quiet for so long?

http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC953ZM/A#overview

The iPad2 is the only device which supports video mirroring.

For all other devices, restricted video out remains, even with the Digital AV Adapter. It will only send video when the application supports it.

Yeah, I read that bit. I guess I wasn't clear: it means the iPad, iPhone4 and iPod Touch 4g have had the ability to output HDMI all along. It's pretty weird they'd keep that quiet IMO.

All our projectors at work have DVI input so a simple HDMI to DVI adapter would make it work.

But more and more lately I see big LCD TVs on meeting room walls instead of projectors. Those almost always have HDMI inputs.

Yup sorry, from the iPad 2 site: "Just plug in the Apple Digital AV Adapter or Apple VGA Adapter (sold separately) and your HDTV or projector becomes a bigger version of your iPad."

I didn't see anything non-HDMI mentioned in the liveblog so I wasn't sure if Apple made it work retroactively. Glad that they did!

The mirroring doesn't work. Having forced my iPad to do it via jailbreaking, it's clear the A4 chip isn't fast enough to do it for apps with any video or animation at all.

Choose the more likely answer:

a) Apple is shipping, and loudly promoting, a feature that "doesn't work" because of a fundamental, immutable hardware deficiency.

b) The software implementation of an unsupported hack, used by an infinitesimal number of users, written by someone who is unpaid and not intimately familiar with the hardware stack and firmware, is inefficient.

Hopefully this will put a dent in SMART's Sympodium series, which in my experience is vastly overpriced for the way it's used. Three grand will buy you a pen-screen monitor that is wired in-between the computer and projector.

Because of the cost, most places will not buy dedicated podiums: ours had to be carted around and wired into the computer setup for each professor.

An iPad is much, much more easy to deal with (everything's one unit) and there's a likelihood that the professor may have one of her own, meaning the tech doesn't need to set up what's needed.

It sounds like a VNC or RDP app for the new iPad or HDMI-enabled Android tablet with annotation features would completely replace this Sympodium.

I was kind of betting the farm on this with some of my app design decisions. This is going to be huge for my startup.

Now I'm interested in what you're developing.

It's amazing how Apple can repackage technology that has been widely available in laptops for years and convince everyone that it's "going to be big."

And I'm sure it will be... Just makes me feel like I'm going crazy though (as I type this on a laptop connected to a 24" HD monitor via HDMI).

Well the reason they convince everyone that it's going to be big is because of how they repackage it. That has been the case from the iPod on and again here with HDMI. As others have mentioned, I don't need anything more than just my iPad for HDMI presentations now.

Here's hoping the same support comes to the iPhone 5. As an app developer one persistently annoying thing is my inability to demo an app to an audience in anything but the Simulator.

I've been working on apps related to camera functionality, and the inability to show these apps on a projector is shitty. If I can mirror the display I'd be exceedingly happy.

You're in luck: http://macdailynews.com/2011/03/02/apples-hdmi-cable-works-w...

"Mirroring supported only by iPad 2."

Until then you could demo your apps on an iPad2.

They only mention charging through the 30-pin port on the HDMI dongle. I wonder if any other 30-pin accessories will work when the HDMI mirroring dongle is attached?

Ipads are a lot easier to steal/damage than desktops.

After watching my 8 month old nephew beat on the iPad playing Baby Piano HD, I would have to disagree on the damage part.

My son have jumped on it stood on it and stamped on it. Not a single scratch or loss of performance. It is a pretty sturdy piece of hardware

As is the rest of the Mac line- my 3 year old literally ran across my MacBook pro and no damage was sustained.

I can feel you on the stealing aspect (though with the optional free engraving you can really limit the resell value), but they are not easier to damage than desktops. There are no moving parts. Unless you drop it in a sink, you're going to be OK (that would be ill advised with a regular PC too). The software is also incredibly hard to screw up, which lowers IT support costs.

An iPad would also be a lot easier to lock away in a secure location, though.

you can get a zotac miniPC for $200 shipped http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856173...

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