Hello all,

At this point, imagine all the iPads and other tablets laying around doing nothing. If they could all accept an HDMI signal, you might be reusing one now as a screen. It might be a PS3 screen. It might be what you play movies on in the car for the kids.

Instead, they're e-waste.

It's my opinion that tablets should be required to accept an HDMI signal, and behave as a monitor to be sold. This behaviour would allow all sorts of options without having to purchase stupid little monitors for things… like that last Raspberry Pi sitting in your desk, etc.

What do you think? Am I wrong?

Not right or wrong. It's what you want. But I don't want another big ugly port on my iPad.

They should also be required to come with attachment points for straps, and a battery pack that goes in a fanny pack. And they should have a cotton candy dispenser!

Not at all interested in it myself. I don't need it or want to pay extra for it.

No, because you can buy a 32-inch TV for less than $100.

Who's hooking up a PS3 to a tablet? Someone in rural India?

What about the old batteries in them?

JPack said:

No, because you can buy a 32-inch TV for less than $100.

Who's hooking up a PS3 to a tablet? Someone in rural India?

There's actually a Sony smartphone with HDMI-in, and the use case is that you can hook it up to a camera and view the footage you take in 4k resolution.

I don't know what's involved in enabling this functionality, but I think it's also a very niche use case. Most iPads are too small to be used reliably as an external monitor, and a 15" portable monitor can be had for cheap.

I totally agree.

And, while legislators are at it, they should also require every tablet to come with a flying unicorn pony that poops rainbows. But only the edible candy-flavored rainbows.

Prove me worng.

b&

I think it would be a nice feature to have.

Simpler than using Duet Display or Space Desk in order to use the iPad as a second display for the laptop when working while traveling.

That said, it’s probably not worth the extra cost it would add if governments made such a feature mandatory considering most probably won’t use such a feature.

drumcat said:

Hello all,

At this point, imagine all the iPads and other tablets laying around doing nothing. If they could all accept an HDMI signal, you might be reusing one now as a screen. It might be a PS3 screen. It might be what you play movies on in the car for the kids.

Instead, they're e-waste.

It's my opinion that tablets should be required to accept an HDMI signal, and behave as a monitor to be sold. This behaviour would allow all sorts of options without having to purchase stupid little monitors for things… like that last Raspberry Pi sitting in your desk, etc.

What do you think? Am I wrong?

Click to expand...

Oh man, someone's campaigning for a seat on the EU regulatory commission!

Think of all those average consumers with Raspberry Pi's sadly cast off for want of an 8" monitor when they could just disable the much faster processor in their iPad Mini and use it for a display. If all landline phones were required to have a USB output you could use their dial pads for input.

443355566609667775553****

A waste free world!

Average Joe consumer is a moron. They wouldn’t even know it was there or try to use it. The Jones next door just got an iPad Ultra Pro Max 58 for their Mercedes and Joe Consumer just needs to keep up with them. He maxed out his credit card to buy one and threw his iPad Max 58 in the recycling bin with the Coke bottles. Joe can’t be seen with old junk like some kind of poor person.

Problem 1: Government mandate. Good luck getting you law changed in 2045 when HDMI is a joke. There will be more red tape there than the North Pole.

Problem 2: People are idiots and don’t understand basic things like email. Most will never even know it’s there or get it.

It’s a good idea in general, but it would not make as big of a dent as logic would have you believe….again because people are idiots.

drumcat said:

Hello all,

At this point, imagine all the iPads and other tablets laying around doing nothing. If they could all accept an HDMI signal, you might be reusing one now as a screen. It might be a PS3 screen. It might be what you play movies on in the car for the kids.

Instead, they're e-waste.

It's my opinion that tablets should be required to accept an HDMI signal, and behave as a monitor to be sold. This behaviour would allow all sorts of options without having to purchase stupid little monitors for things… like that last Raspberry Pi sitting in your desk, etc.

What do you think? Am I wrong?

Click to expand...

Simply put: I disagree. Let the market decide what consumers want in their products.

If people wanted it, Samsung would make it and have dozens of ads about how bad the iPad is without it.

Yeah and I want my iPad to last me at least 10 years with all the updates and supports? I mean it's an e-waste either way. The battery is the main problem which makes the iPad essentially unusable after 5 years or so.

You can buy a bigger LCD TV for less than the price of the cheapest ipad.

For gaming, you can already remote play from your PS4/5 to an ipad.

So... yeah.

I'd rather old iMacs be usable as displays since they're a lot more practical and have nice, big panels, but I guess iPads could fall into that category too.

I kind of agree but it would be a very niche feature.

It would be cool to be able hook up my Xbox to an iPad and game with that, especially if it could take advantage of the display on the Pro models. I would be able to move my Xbox to different rooms without needing a TV, and I could use a single iPad as a display for that plus a regular iPad (I have an iPad mini right now but assuming I had a 12.9 Pro).

While I rarely game, I much prefer gaming and watching shows on smaller screens. I have a 55" 4k TV and I always end up watching shows on my MacBook or playing a game on it lol the TV is essentially eWaste in this situation since it only displays art now. I'm thinking that this feature would only be used as a novelty experience for me and likely only be used for a little bit at first.

But as mentioned above, it would be much, much more beneficial and plausible to allow Macs to be used as monitors (with no restrictions!!), especially with the awesome screens they have. I had a 27" iMac from 2012 that still works and is used for light gaming now that I passed it down to family, but I'm not sure how much longer it will last. I believe it works with TDM but the other device needs to be running an older macOS version?

I upgraded to a 24" iMac and the screen is beautiful, however it's a shame to think that when the internals are no longer useable, which I hope will be longer than the 10+ years my last one has lasted, it'll be a 9 pound paperweight if Apple doesn't change it. My G4 Cube setup is over 20 years old and still runs like a charm and I can still game on it!

That being said, I have an original iPad mini from 2012 that still works as a Philips Hue controller, so I guess old iPads are still usable even without an HDMI input. Those who would want to reuse an old iPad can likely do so, and those who don't would probably not want to even with HDMI input

I think the OP means a video signal in general, rather than HDMI. An iPad, for example, could be made to accept video input through its USB-C/Thunderbolt port.

I would like to see all-in-one computers (e.g. iMac) having a Target Display Mode feature in order to be sold. That is something I can get behind, and would certainly help prevent e-waste.

iSayuSay said:

Yeah and I want my iPad to last me at least 10 years with all the updates and supports? I mean it's an e-waste either way. The battery is the main problem which makes the iPad essentially unusable after 5 years or so.

It only makes the battery unusable after 5 years. Not the iPad. - A new battery may cost 8 % of a new iPad. So I will soon replace the battery in my 2018 iPad Pro 12.9".

Yes.. Even though very less people wish to have this option, worth if it happens.

drumcat said:

Hello all,

At this point, imagine all the iPads and other tablets laying around doing nothing. If they could all accept an HDMI signal, you might be reusing one now as a screen. It might be a PS3 screen. It might be what you play movies on in the car for the kids.

Instead, they're e-waste.

It's my opinion that tablets should be required to accept an HDMI signal, and behave as a monitor to be sold. This behaviour would allow all sorts of options without having to purchase stupid little monitors for things… like that last Raspberry Pi sitting in your desk, etc.

What do you think? Am I wrong?

Click to expand...

Prove me wrong: my iPad isn't laying around doing nothing just because it doesn't have an HDMI port that I don't use. If I want to watch movies... GET THIS!... I can do that wirelessly. It's so cool, you should try it.

….also thinking more about it….this niche feature in every device would generate more e-waste than now. No matter what…it’s destined for the bin. It’s a solution in search of a problem.

It honestly wouldn't require much to implement on USB-C iPads that are not the 10th Generation model. Hell, maybe the 10th Generation iPad would be fine with it. I just assume that the USB 2 spec on that port rules that sort of thing out. Certainly using an old iPad (which will have a pretty decent screen regardless) as a portable TV when it gets old is kind of a cool idea. Makes console gameplay on the go a real possibility.

drumcat said:

Hello all,

At this point, imagine all the iPads and other tablets laying around doing nothing. If they could all accept an HDMI signal, you might be reusing one now as a screen. It might be a PS3 screen. It might be what you play movies on in the car for the kids.

Instead, they're e-waste.

It's my opinion that tablets should be required to accept an HDMI signal, and behave as a monitor to be sold. This behaviour would allow all sorts of options without having to purchase stupid little monitors for things… like that last Raspberry Pi sitting in your desk, etc.

What do you think? Am I wrong?

Click to expand...

It should be provided as an option - if I don't use HDMI with my iPad then I don't want a gaping port for it. Then again... there are those who do. So, make it an option in exchange for a mild price bump (say, $50-$100 for HDMI model)