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Triple Monitors - Mac Mini

G

GoSooners

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 26, 2011
43
0
Sorry, stupid question. Looks like the dual-link adapter isn't a "splitter". Thus far, it looks I can only do dual monitors (at the same resolution). Once the new TB display comes out, perhaps that can be daisy chained but the resolution from the HDMI port is only 1920x1200.
 
GoSooners said:
Sorry, stupid question. Looks like the dual-link adapter isn't a "splitter". Thus far, it looks I can only do dual monitors (at the same resolution). Once the new TB display comes out, perhaps that can be daisy chained but the resolution from the HDMI port is only 1920x1200.
Click to expand...

Yep, you can daisy-chain Thunderbolt displays so, theoretically, you could have two of them from the Thunderbolt port, and a third-party one from HDMI. Otherwise, you can only have two (one from TB and one from HDMI).
 
Your Mac mini can only run a single Apple Thunderbolt Display. Two 27" screens require a hefty video card, which the mini does not have.

I think you'll have a very hard time running 3 displays with the mini.
 
tekcor said:
Your Mac mini can only run a single Apple Thunderbolt Display. Two 27" screens require a hefty video card, which the mini does not have.

I think you'll have a very hard time running 3 displays with the mini.
Click to expand...



Video Support
Works with almost any display or HDTV.

  • Thunderbolt port with support for up to 2560-by-1600 resolution
  • HDMI port with support for up to 1920-by-1200 resolution
  • DVI output using HDMI to DVI Adapter (included)
  • Support for dual display and video mirroring
 
http://www.apple.com/displays/

"Connect two Thunderbolt Displays to a 15- or 17-inch MacBook Pro or to an iMac and put an extra 7 million pixels to work. To make a desktop workstation out of your MacBook Pro, just daisy-chain additional Thunderbolt devices, including high-performance storage and video and audio capture devices, through the display."

As I said, two Thunderbolt displays will not work on the mini.

However, you might be able to connect a Thunderbolt display, and an HDMI display. Then get a MDP-to-DVI adapter and connect a smaller DVI monitor daisy chained from the Thunderbolt display *may* work. But obviously, you'll have screens of different sizes. You might be able to get two HDMI displays, connect one to the mini, and one to the Thunderbolt display via a MDP-to-HDMI adapter.

I don't have a definitive answer. The tech specs make it sound like a TB and HDMI combo will work, but two TB will not.
 
tekcor said:
<snip>
Click to expand...
Nothing that you've written or on Apple's site says that two displays will not work. The burden of proof is upon you to conclusively show that they won't. The Mini's Thunderbolt port is no different than the one found on the MBP or iMac – what technical issue(s) do you see that could possibly prevent dual displays other than that Apple didn't explicitly state that it could?
 
Mackilroy said:
Nothing that you've written or on Apple's site says that two displays will not work. The burden of proof is upon you to conclusively show that they won't. The Mini's Thunderbolt port is no different than the one found on the MBP or iMac – what technical issue(s) do you see that could possibly prevent dual displays other than that Apple didn't explicitly state that it could?
Click to expand...
I've heard the HD3000 only has two outputs, and if one is tied to the HDMI port (or just can't tunnel two through TB for whatever reason), that would be one reason. Not really sure about the Radeon model outside of a possible similar limited output situation. Considering the displays aren't even out yet no one can even test it out.
 
Well Anandtech's MBA review has an interesting detail (for context, Light Ridge is the Thunderbolt controller in the iMac, MBPs, and Mac mini):
Light Ridge supports four bidirectional 10Gbps channels (20Gbps total per channel) channels and two DisplayPort inputs/outputs. On the iMac it's used to drive two ports on the back of the system.
Click to expand...
So the potential definitely seems to be there at least, it's just a question of how it's all connected. A little later it mentions that the HD3000 only supports two outputs, which is why the MBA (and I assume 13" MBP) is limited to a single external display (one output is linked to the internal screen). I still semi suspect this is the case with the HDMI output on the Mac mini, so the low end and server likely can't do daisy chained displays off the TB port.
 
I'm thinking of buying a 2.5 GHz Mac Mini with the 6630M GPU (which theoretically supports up to 5 monitors via Eyefinity). I have 3 monitors I would like to use - 2 Dell U2410 (1920 x 1200) and a I-Inc iF281D (1920 x 1200). The 2 Dell monitors have displayport inputs.

What I was thinking of doing is connecting the I-Inc monitor using HDMI, and then getting the Altona Displayport Splitter and using this to connect the 2 Dell monitors to the thunderbolt connection.

Does anyone see why this would not work?
 
tekcor said:
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/07/29/new-macbook-air-using-scaled-down-thunderbolt-chip/

Apple lists that 2 Thunderbolt displays will only work on some computers, not all. That was enough for me. Since it wasn't enough for you, here's the tech behind it.

The question is wether or not the TB port on the display can be used as a MDP on the "Eagle Ridge" TB ports. I don't have an answer for that, but if I had to guess, I'd say no.
Click to expand...

FYI - It's been confirmed that the 2011 Mac mini with the AMD graphics option will run two Apple 27" Thunderbolt displays off the TB port plus one display up to 1920x1200 off the HDMI port.
 
macgeenius said:
What I was thinking of doing is connecting the I-Inc monitor using HDMI, and then getting the Altona Displayport Splitter and using this to connect the 2 Dell monitors to the thunderbolt connection.

Does anyone see why this would not work?
Click to expand...

I don't think it will work- my impression from reading the product description is that it only mirrors video- so yes you can get a picture on all 3 screens, but the 2 monitors connected to the splitter will show the same image. In order to get three fully independent displays, I think the only way is 2x Apple TB displays and 1x display used via HDMI.

Ruahrc
 
xraydoc said:
FYI - It's been confirmed that the 2011 Mac mini with the AMD graphics option will run two Apple 27" Thunderbolt displays off the TB port plus one display up to 1920x1200 off the HDMI port.
Click to expand...

This is correct.

The only negative with this set up is that you have 2 identical displays with the same res. and then a 3rd smaller display with different res. won't look good together.
 
Outrigger said:
This is correct.

The only negative with this set up is that you have 2 identical displays with the same res. and then a 3rd smaller display with different res. won't look good together.
Click to expand...

Did anyone with a 2011 Mac mini try this triple monitor setup already ? How is the performance ?

I hope other vendors will sell monitors with TB ports soon. The 27'' from Apple is the only model with TB support at the moment (?) I looked around and couldn't find any other TB monitors. Otherwise please let me know :)

A similar setup with three 24'' monitors would be ideal for my needs. Using a single monitor for basic work and spare time and switching on the two monitors on left and right as needed.
 
derbladerunner said:
Did anyone with a 2011 Mac mini try this triple monitor setup already ? How is the performance ?

I hope other vendors will sell monitors with TB ports soon. The 27'' from Apple is the only model with TB support at the moment (?) I looked around and couldn't find any other TB monitors. Otherwise please let me know :)

A similar setup with three 24'' monitors would be ideal for my needs. Using a single monitor for basic work and spare time and switching on the two monitors on left and right as needed.
Click to expand...

As far as I'm aware there aren't any other displays with TB connectivity on the market yet. Hopefully there will be. I must admit the support for TB in general so far has been lacklustre. That said to my knowledge the only companies including the technology on their hardware at the moment is Apple and Sony.
 
Mr.C said:
That said to my knowledge the only companies including the technology on their hardware at the moment is Apple and Sony.
Click to expand...

And Sony is apparently using USB ports for TB ( http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/17/sonys-thunderbolt-implementation-hiding-in-plain-site-uses-usb/ ). I hope that's just Sony and TB monitors from other vendors will use MiniDisplayPort-sized connectors.

Same site also mentions TB is going to be in more PCs in 2012

http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/14/intel-announces-thunderbolt-coming-to-pcs-at-idf-2011/

So hopefulyl more TB monitor choices for Mac mini multi-monitor setups by then. On the other hand, few monitor vendors support(ed) MiniDisplayPort so I may be too optimistic.
 
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