The Video Electronics Standard Association (VESA) has issued the Mini-Display Port (mDP) Connector Standard, as part of the current DisplayPort 1.1a specification standard.

Mini DisplayPort, developed by Apple as a miniature alternative to the VESA approved DisplayPort standard DVI/VGA monitor connectors, is seen by many as becoming more useful now that thinner netbooks are becoming more popular. mDP has been used on various Apple laptop and desktop computers, as well as the 24-inch Apple Cinema Display. Apple is licensing the mDP standard to VESA without fees.

So we now have Firewire, USB-a, USB-b, USB mini-B, USB micro-A, USB micro-B, Ethernet, VGA, DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort and Mini DisplayPort. Do we really need all these connectors? Wasn’t USB supposed to be the Universal connector? Hopefully someone will come up with a way to commonize all these connector types into one all-purpose generic standard for all devices.

For now, DisplayPort and Mini DisplayPort offers high performance audio and video connections for computers, monitors, televisions, camcorders, cameras and DVD players. In the upcoming DisplayPort 1.2 standard, the bandwidth will be doubled to 21.6GBs/second, and support will be added for multiple monitor on single connector, higher refresh rates and resolutions and improved 3D performance. All of which means that we can expect to see more and more mDP connections and cables soon.