2012 Mac Mini Monitors

[Archivist]

Hi all,

It seems that my "never ending" saga continues (grr). My previous posts regarding my attempted upgrade of a 2014 Mac Mini generated a great deal of information that was most appreciated. Having said that, my original issue was with my 2012 i7 16GB Mac Mini and the use of the 1 DP & the HDMI ports.

Back in December I purchased 2 ViewSonic VA2719-2K-SMHD 27" IPS Monitors and initially had problems with the DP (Thunderbolt) losing connection with the miniDP to DP monitor as soon as the HDMI monitor was attached. This went to Apple Engineering and may (???) have been resolved by removing various Apps etc. and tweaking my 2012 Mini. {Note 2 ViewSonics with DP outputs from the 2014 Mini was not an issue}

However, my problems have continued in another fashion as I have now had 3 of the 4 ViewSonic Monitors seeming fail/be replaced - 1 last night (brand new and only opened over the weekend)! Not a particularly good record for ViewSonic at least for me. Courtesy of Amazon, they are being returned (yea!), but I now have a new dilemma - what do I replace them with?

I've seen lots of discussion about Dell, AOC, possibly Asus, Acer and BenQ and would love some recommendations. My objective is to ideally have 2 side by side Monitors running 2K (2560 by 1440) preferably 27" (though with the 2012-1 may by necessity be 1080p via HDMI).

I really don't plan to upgrade again for a long time so Thunderbolt 3 and/or USBc and daisy chaining would be ideal. As like many others, I Pray (perhaps we are the prey) for Apple to release a "new" Mac Mini and/or equivalent SFF computer with much newer connectivity.

I look forward to some discussion of my options and what others have experienced good/bad!

Regard,

Dave

 

[darksithpro]

Recently got an LG 27UD69P from BB on sale for 399. Was able to get it running on HDMI 3840x2160 at 60hz after I turned on basic Freesync in monitor settings, because I was stuck at 30hz and thought it was a limitation. It's pretty nice and works well with a 1060, being it's Freesync, not g-sync. 1300:1 5ms IPS. They say u can only get 60hz on DP, but you can in HDMI, you just have to enable it in settings and its not advertised.

 

[ActionableMango]

I've seen lots of discussion about Dell, AOC, possibly Asus, Acer and BenQ and would love some recommendations. My objective is to ideally have 2 side by side Monitors running 2K (2560 by 1440) preferably 27" (though with the 2012-1 may by necessity be 1080p via HDMI).

The HDMI output port only supports up to 1920x1200. The TB/MDP output supports up to 2560x1600.

So if you want the monitors to be identical, I'd get a couple of 1920x1200 monitors. I've used Dells for the most part.

P.S. Darksithpro's post doesn't make any sense to me. I think he is posting out of context.

 

[Archivist]

The HDMI output port only supports up to 1920x1200. The TB/MDP output supports up to 2560x1600.

So if you want the monitors to be identical, I'd get a couple of 1920x1200 monitors. I've used Dells for the most part.

P.S. Darksithpro's post doesn't make any sense to me. I think he is posting out of context.

I would actually agree with your comment, however it is possible to have 2 x 2560x1440 monitors if either has a DP pass through (effectively daisy chaining the monitors together). Even the 2012 can support 2 x 2560x1440 monitors, but just not 1 DP and 1 HDMI. The other problem is the TB/DP port is only TB1 so no real ability to create a "hub" from which to run 2 monitors. That to some extent was the value of the 2014 model, 2 distinct DP (miniDP) ports.

Currently there are several monitors (i.e. BenQ) that have DP in/out ports, the difficulty is the size and compatibility with Apple. As I noted in my OP, I'd like to find one that not only has that but also USBc if possible, so that I can plan for the future if/when/ever Apple replaces the current Mac Mini with something a bit more updated.

That's my quest and question that I've put forth.

Dave

 

[ActionableMango]

I would actually agree with your comment, however it is possible to have 2 x 2560x1440 monitors if either has a DP pass through (effectively daisy chaining the monitors together).

I'm really skeptical that you can daisy chain Display Port monitors on the Mac Mini 2012. Has someone verified that? Last I checked, Mac Mini 2012 uses Thunderbolt 1 port with DisplayPort 1.1 compatibility, and monitor daisy chaining requires Display Port 1.2 or newer.

You might be thinking of Thunderbolt monitors, which can be daisy chained with Thunderbolt 1.

 

[Celerondon]

..., however it is possible to have 2 x 2560x1440 monitors if either has a DP pass through (effectively daisy chaining the monitors together). Even the 2012 can support 2 x 2560x1440 monitors, but just not 1 DP and 1 HDMI. The other problem is the TB/DP port is only TB1 so no real ability to create a "hub" from which to run 2 monitors. That to some extent was the value of the 2014 model, 2 distinct DP (miniDP) ports.

Currently there are several monitors (i.e. BenQ) that have DP in/out ports, the difficulty is the size and compatibility with Apple. As I noted in my OP, I'd like to find one that not only has that but also USBc if possible, so that I can plan for the future if/when/ever Apple replaces the current Mac Mini with something a bit more updated.

That's my quest and question that I've put forth.

Dave

ActionableMango is correct! You cannot daisy chain DisplayPort (DP) or mDP on the 2012 mini because of the display interface version number.

I have no idea what darksithpro was talking about. 3840x2160 at 60Hz from the HDMI port is far beyond impossible on a 2012 mini. Tweak all you want but that HD4000 is not going to drive the HDMI port past what the even the more capable mDP/TB port can accomplish.

 

[ActionableMango]

I have no idea what darksithpro was talking about.

I have no idea what he's talking about either, but he mentions the GPU is an Nvidia GTX1060, so either it's a PC, a cheesegrater Mac Pro, or something with an eGPU...none of which apply to OP's situation.

 

[Neodym]

I can confirm that you can NOT use the 2012 mini to use standard DP daisy chaining on monitors with DP-out, as the Intel HD4000 GPU in the 2012 mini is DP1.1-only and does not support the required standard DP1.2.

If daisy-chaining works with Apple‘s Thunderbolt display, then that is using some proprietary out-of-standard functionalities.

 

[ActionableMango]

If daisy-chaining works with Apple‘s Thunderbolt display, then that is using some proprietary out-of-standard functionalities.

The Thunderbolt port on a 2012 Mac Mini definitely supports daisy chaining of Thunderbolt devices, everything from Thunderbolt hard drives to Thunderbolt monitors. Here is an example with two Thunderbolt monitors:
http://osxdaily.com/2014/01/25/mac-setups-mac-mini-dual-thunderbolt-displays/

As far as I know, and according to Wikipedia, daisy chaining Thunderbolt devices is standard functionality for a Thunderbolt port. I don't think it is an Apple proprietary feature.