4 Monitors with 2012 mini?

[911scanner]

Currently have 2010 iMac running 3 extra monitors, 2 with the Plugable USB adapters.

Considering going to a mini for the Fusion drive & upgraded speed.

Can I run 4 monitors with it, using the 2 USB adapters? While surfing I bumped into a speck that said the HD4000 could only support 3 monitors and I was wondering if anybody had any more info.

Thanks.

[911scanner]

267 looks & no replies?

Am I asking too much of the mini, or is it just that no one really knows the answer?

Or maybe everybody knows the answer & I'm just too much of a noob to figure it out?

[jvpython]

Originally Posted by 911scanner

267 looks & no replies?

Am I asking too much of the mini, or is it just that no one really knows the answer?

Or maybe everybody knows the answer & I'm just too much of a noob to figure it out?

Everywhere I've looked it has always been said that the HD 4000 supports 3 monitors max

[Cave Man]

Apple's web site suggests only two for the new Mini on the Mini DisplayPort, so perhaps a third on the HDMI port.

http://www.apple.com/mac-mini/features.html#thunderbolt

[omvs]

Originally Posted by 911scanner

...Can I run 4 monitors with it, using the 2 USB adapters? While surfing I bumped into a speck that said the HD4000 could only support 3 monitors and I was wondering if anybody had any more info....

The USB adapters should be their own GPU - the 3 limit would be displays directly connected to the onboard graphics. So 2+2 should be be fine.

You'll have slower graphics performance on the displays with the USB adapters, but you should already be used to that from your iMac setup. In fact, the adapters should run exactly the same speed as before.

Out of curiosity, do you lose some of the display effects with your adapters? I have one I've used with my mini, and when using the magnification effect on dock icons, it looks much worse than a monitor hooked to the onboard graphics. I'm guessing mine has no 3D support under OSX, and wondering if thats true of all of them.

[911scanner]

Originally Posted by omvs

The USB adapters should be their own GPU - the 3 limit would be displays directly connected to the onboard graphics. So 2+2 should be be fine.

You'll have slower graphics performance on the displays with the USB adapters, but you should already be used to that from your iMac setup. In fact, the adapters should run exactly the same speed as before.

Out of curiosity, do you lose some of the display effects with your adapters? I have one I've used with my mini, and when using the magnification effect on dock icons, it looks much worse than a monitor hooked to the onboard graphics. I'm guessing mine has no 3D support under OSX, and wondering if thats true of all of them.

Thanks for your clarification. I did assume the same, but was a bit concerned.

As to the performance of the Plugable adapters:

As I don't use them for video (no iTunes movies or Flash/HTML surfing), so I don't see any issues. I use them strictly for tables & graphs in my trading platform. They do have constantly changing numbers, but I don't see much delay or color performance issues.

To investigate a better answer for you, I've just opened a streaming news channel player on one of the adapter run monitors. It is a Java based internet plug-in. In the original player size (3"x4"), with motion, it seems a bit jumpy and the color is faded a tad. When expanded to full screen, the jumpiness is almost unbearable. I wouldn't recommend it for full screen video or gaming. But it seems to be fine for text or fairly static information.