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2018 Mac Mini USB-C to Display Port Cable

M

Matte2

macrumors member
Original poster
May 31, 2014
66
2
Terminology can be confusing for a beginner user, but I recently purchased a 2018 Mac mini and would like to connect it to a Dell U2412M monitor. After figuring out that I need a USB-C to Display port cable, I purchased the following cable on a major etailer's website.


However, in the features section, many other Mac models are mentioned as being compatible, but not the Mac mini. Was this an accidental or purposeful omission if the cable isn't compatible with Mac mini?

I hope I purchased a good quality, compatible product.
 
Matte2 said:
Terminology can be confusing for a beginner user, but I recently purchased a 2018 Mac mini and would like to connect it to a Dell U2412M monitor. After figuring out that I need a USB-C to Display port cable, I purchased the following cable on a major etailer's website.


However, in the features section, many other Mac models are mentioned as being compatible, but not the Mac mini. Was this an accidental or purposeful omission if the cable isn't compatible with Mac mini?

I hope I purchased a good quality, compatible product.
Click to expand...
That may work but you could also get an inexpensive HDMI to DVI cable so as to not tie up USB-C ports unnecessarily.
 
Matte2 said:
Terminology can be confusing for a beginner user, but I recently purchased a 2018 Mac mini and would like to connect it to a Dell U2412M monitor. After figuring out that I need a USB-C to Display port cable, I purchased the following cable on a major etailer's website.


However, in the features section, many other Mac models are mentioned as being compatible, but not the Mac mini. Was this an accidental or purposeful omission if the cable isn't compatible with Mac mini?

I hope I purchased a good quality, compatible product.
Click to expand...
They should not have added that features section - just confuses people. The only thing they need to say is link rate (HBR3) and what direction it works at (USB-C to DisplayPort only).

The Mac mini 2018 only supports HBR2 link rate, so it should work fine with this HBR3 link rate cable.

Since the Dell U2412M is only 1920x1200 (not 4K 60Hz), you may want to use a HDMI to DVI cable to keep the USB-C ports free for other purposes.

The HDMI 2.0 port of the Mac mini 2018 can do 4K 60Hz but only at 8bpc RGB or 10 bpc YPbPr 4:2:2.
The USB-C ports of the Mac mini 2018 support DisplayPort 1.2 which can do 4K 60Hz 10bpc RGB.
 
I would be a bit concerned about using an HDMI to DVI adapter, there are a bunch of threads here about people who have had problems. It may depend on the specific display however, many of the complaints are about the old Apple Cinema Display. But there's a thread where the user narrowed the issue down to (IIRC) a non-standard voltage supplied by the 2018 Mini HDMI port. Anyway... caveat emptor, look through old posts in the forum and decide for yourself.

I can say, however, that this USB-C to Displayport cable has worked perfectly for me with a BenQ 2560x1440 (QHD) display, I got it at B&H Photo.

www.belkin.com

USB-C to DisplayPort Cable - 4k@60hz, 6ft | Belkin

Our USB-C to DisplayPort Cable delivers a clean, crisp picture with support for 4K resolutions up to 3840x2160 at 60Hz. 6ft length, Thunderbolt 3 compatible.
www.belkin.com www.belkin.com

[edit]Here's a long thread that discusses the problem

forums.macrumors.com

Mac Mini 2018 HDMI failes after OS upgrade / patch

This is #macmini2018hdmigate ... Mac Mini 2018 -> no HDMI after OS Upgrade is a known problem. Apple support confirmed to me today that they know that and are working on a solution. The problem started with Mojave 10.14.6. The only permanent solution today is to go back and stay on Mojave...
forums.macrumors.com forums.macrumors.com
 
Last edited:
Matte2 said:
Terminology can be confusing for a beginner user, but I recently purchased a 2018 Mac mini and would like to connect it to a Dell U2412M monitor. After figuring out that I need a USB-C to Display port cable, I purchased the following cable on a major etailer's website.


However, in the features section, many other Mac models are mentioned as being compatible, but not the Mac mini. Was this an accidental or purposeful omission if the cable isn't compatible with Mac mini?

I hope I purchased a good quality, compatible product.
Click to expand...


Just wanted to mention that aforementioned cable works beautifully.
 
Based on the posts here I grabbed the Cable Matters USB-C to DisplayPort ( https://www.cablematters.com/pc-1038-125-usb-c-to-displayport-adapter-8k-ready.aspx ) and it fixed my screen black on booting with some other cheapy adapter.

The cheapy adapter would work, but not on the initial boot (force reboot and after that all was fine).

The HDMI port on my monitor is used by another computer, so I wanted to use the Displayport output instead of the HDMI output on my new to my Mac mini.
 
I recently wanted to have all four USB ports available for external SSD's, so I switched my monitor from USB to HDMI. And I got a big surprise - my Mini has always booted very slowly, 30 to 60 seconds to the complete desktop (more or less). I always assumed it was because of the external disks. But after moving the display to the HDMI port, the Mini boots dramatically faster - like around 15 seconds to the desktop!

Does a screen really put that much stress on the USB-C port at startup? Maybe it wouldn't matter if I didn't have the external SSD's?
 
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