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Thunderbolt to Displayport?

B

BilbooToo

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 22, 2012
18
0
Hi,

Just taken delivery of a Mac Mini to replace my ageing PC, however for the time being at least they'll coexist.

Previously I had my PC connected to my Dell U2412M monitor via a DVI cable, however this is now connecting the Mac (via the HDMI to DVI converter) and the PC is connected via a VGA cable.

The Dell has a Displayport connector, so I was considering...

- Connecting the Mac via a Thunderbolt to Displayport cable
- Moving the PC back to the DVI

My question is, can I connect the Mac to the Dell in this fashion and is there any advantage to it (other than freeing up the DVI port) ie does improve the image in any way?

Thanks in advance
John
 
C

chrise2

macrumors 6502a
Sep 17, 2012
504
70
BilbooToo said:
Hi,

Just taken delivery of a Mac Mini to replace my ageing PC, however for the time being at least they'll coexist.

Previously I had my PC connected to my Dell U2412M monitor via a DVI cable, however this is now connecting the Mac (via the HDMI to DVI converter) and the PC is connected via a VGA cable.

The Dell has a Displayport connector, so I was considering...

- Connecting the Mac via a Thunderbolt to Displayport cable
- Moving the PC back to the DVI

My question is, can I connect the Mac to the Dell in this fashion and is there any advantage to it (other than freeing up the DVI port) ie does improve the image in any way?

Thanks in advance
John
Click to expand...

The mac mini outputs standard mini display port. So if you can get a mini display port to display port cable, you'll be fine.
 
M

martinm0

macrumors 6502a
Feb 27, 2010
568
25
BilbooToo said:
Hi,

Just taken delivery of a Mac Mini to replace my ageing PC, however for the time being at least they'll coexist.

Previously I had my PC connected to my Dell U2412M monitor via a DVI cable, however this is now connecting the Mac (via the HDMI to DVI converter) and the PC is connected via a VGA cable.

The Dell has a Displayport connector, so I was considering...

- Connecting the Mac via a Thunderbolt to Displayport cable
- Moving the PC back to the DVI

My question is, can I connect the Mac to the Dell in this fashion and is there any advantage to it (other than freeing up the DVI port) ie does improve the image in any way?

Thanks in advance
John
Click to expand...

HDMI can only output up to 1080p resolution. Display port can do above the 1080p resolution cap of HDMI, and Thunderbolt is effectively a mini display port connection and a direct connection to the PICe bus inside the machine. Unless your monitor supports higher than 1080p, you don't really need to tie up the Thunderbolt port if you don't want. However, if you do decide to use the Thunderbolt port, you would need the cable chrise2 suggested (mini display port to display port) and not an actual Thunderbolt cable.
 
Exodist

Exodist

macrumors member
Dec 5, 2012
61
0
Buenavista, Agusan Del Norte, Philippines
I recommend getting a one piece cable that mDP on one end and DVI on the other and totally skipping the HDMI all together. Reason being seems like half the Mac Mini users have had issues with HDMI port, they released a firmware fix today. But some are still having issues.
 
M

martinm0

macrumors 6502a
Feb 27, 2010
568
25
Cave Man said:
HDMI on Macs is up to 1920x1200; 1080p is 1920x1080. HDMI version 1.4 supports resolutions up to 4096×2160 but unfortunately it seems as though the HD4000 can only do 1920x1200 by HDMI.
Click to expand...

Ah, did not know they supported up to 1200, thanks! I did know about the 4k rez, but just opted to omit (figures you had to call me out on it!).
 
M

macmin

macrumors newbie
Nov 29, 2012
9
0
BilbooToo said:
Hi,
The Dell has a Displayport connector, so I was considering...

- Connecting the Mac via a Thunderbolt to Displayport cable
- Moving the PC back to the DVI

My question is, can I connect the Mac to the Dell in this fashion and is there any advantage to it (other than freeing up the DVI port) ie does improve the image in any way?

Thanks in advance
John
Click to expand...

I had really poor image quality with the mini DP to dual-DVi. Then I switched to the Display Port to mini display port cable from amazon and it works great with my Dell 30" 2560x1600. I have it at the end of my thunderbolt chain, no problems whatsover (no resume from sleep problems, etc.). Now, color settings are still an issue...but managed to get it to a half decent state by re-calibrating the monitor.
 
M

Mojo1

macrumors 65816
Jul 26, 2011
1,244
21
No problems here using a 2.3GHz Mini with an NEC display connected to the Thunderbolt port using Apple's Display Port to Mini DP adapter.
 
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