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Is there a way to have dual monitors on a mini

wnameth

wnameth

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Hello, i am seriously thinking about getting a mini, and a 18" LCD. The only issue is that i currently have dual 15"'s on my PM. Will this be a selling point? is there some sort of VGA splitter? This would be more of an issue in the future, for video editing
 
hi wnameth,

i posted a similar Q on another forum site.

the answer i got was NO.

there is a usb VGA add-on for another monitor to be attached but only works for wintel 😱

i am getting my mac mini in little over 12 hours time 🙂 and my new 20.1" tft arrives on sat morning 🙂

i thought of dual but instead opted for a huge screen to pair with the mini

hope this helps
 
Yes and no- If you want to mirror the image. There is box's out there that split the signal (google it) but to have a "spanned" desktop, is nearly impossible.


sorry. that is why it is a 500 dollar computer.
\
kyle
 
Thanks, but i am still wondering if an 18" display will compare to crappy dual 15". that aren't even the same color. I would be getting a nice crisp 18" PixelVision
 
wnameth said:
Thanks, but i am still wondering if an 18" display will compare to crappy dual 15". that aren't even the same color. I would be getting a nice crisp 18" PixelVision
Click to expand...
I am not sure on your question - but i think what you are trying to say is...


The 2 screens are horriable? And you want a replacement?

well, the 18 will be MUCH better than dual 15..... the reason being is 15 inches is SO small that it would be hard to multitask.


Hopefully you have a joyous Mini experience..

kyle
 
You'll actually lose a little bit of real estate going from dual 15s to a single 18.

15": 1024 * 768 * 2 = 1 572 864
18": 1280 * 1024 = 1 310 720

The difference is relatively negligible, but you may notice it.

As for dual displays on the Mac mini, you may be able to get a USB VGA adapter, similar to this:
http://www.overclockers.com.au/article.php?id=334086

That would allow you to add other displays via USB. I've never used one, esp. on a Mac, so I can't vouch for it either way, but it's something to look into.

HTH.
 
ChrisBrightwell said:
You'll actually lose a little bit of real estate going from dual 15s to a single 18.

15": 1024 * 768 * 2 = 1 572 864
18": 1280 * 1024 = 1 310 720

The difference is relatively negligible, but you may notice it.

As for dual displays on the Mac mini, you may be able to get a USB VGA adapter, similar to this:
http://www.overclockers.com.au/article.php?id=334086

That would allow you to add other displays via USB. I've never used one, esp. on a Mac, so I can't vouch for it either way, but it's something to look into.

HTH.
Click to expand...
but those 2 15's do not have as much "usable" space... in my opinion at least.

kyle
 
Even if you could find some way to hack dual displays with a mini, it probably wouldn't be in your best interest. Using dual displays divides your video RAM between the two displays, in the case of a mini, leaving you with 16mb of VRAM per display. Things like exposé would activate pretty slowly with 16mb of VRAM, and once Tiger comes out, you'd definitely notice the hit with anything that used CoreImage.
I know that some people do this with machines like iBooks and don't care, but I certainly don't think I'd like it much.
 
Chaszmyr said:
Even if you could find some way to hack dual displays with a mini, it probably wouldn't be in your best interest. Using dual displays divides your video RAM between the two displays, in the case of a mini, leaving you with 16mb of VRAM per display.
Click to expand...
An external video adapter (such as one connected via USB2) doesn't introduce this problem. The second/third/whatever monitor would have a dedicated controller w/ its own RAM and everything.
 
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