VGA to Be Killed by 2015, Intel, AMD, Display Manufacturers Plan

The VGA interface has been around for ages, but it seems that the most important players in the graphics and display industry have pretty much had it with the already obsolete video connector, planning to have it completely killed by 2015.

Frankly speaking, we're quite surprised that certain portable computing systems still come equipped with VGA ports, although the first signs of major changes have started to appear for quite some time now in the desktop market, just about all of the new GPUs released onto the market relying solely on digital outputs, such as DVI, HDMI or DisplayPort.

And now, in an unprecedented joint statement, AMD, Dell, Intel Corporation, Lenovo, Samsung Electronics LCD Business and LG Display today announced intentions to accelerate adoption of scalable and lower power digital interfaces such as DisplayPort and High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) into the PC.

Moreover, Intel and AMD expect that analog display outputs such as Video Graphics Array (VGA) and the low voltage differential signaling technology (LVDS) panel interface would no longer be supported in their product lines by 2015.

That's because, as pretty much everyone knows by now, HDMI has increasingly been included in new PCs for easy connection to consumer electronics devices, while DisplayPort is expected to become the single PC digital display output for embedded flat panels, PC monitors and projectors.

“Modern digital display interfaces like DisplayPort and HDMI enhance the consumer visual PC experience by immersing them with higher resolutions and deeper colors -- all at lower power -- to enhance battery life for laptops,” said Eric Mentzer, Intel’s vice president of Strategy, Planning and Operations for the Visual and Parallel Computing Group.

"Displays and display standards are rapidly evolving, with new features such as multi-display support, stereoscopic 3-D, higher resolutions and increased color depth quickly moving from early adopter and niche usage to mainstream application,” commented Eric Demers, AMD’s chief technology officer, Graphics Division.

“Legacy interfaces such as VGA, DVI and LVDS have not kept pace, and newer standards such as DisplayPort and HDMI clearly provide the best connectivity options moving forward. In our opinion, DisplayPort 1.2 is the future interface for PC monitors, along with HDMI 1.4a for TV connectivity,” concluded Mr. Demers.

Having actually grown up with VGA interfaces, seeing them going obsolete will certainly bring back some memories, but, then again, this is what technological evolution is all about.