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4k @ 60 fps any time soon?

S

sergiobaschi

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 30, 2012
199
6
Gothenburg, Sweden
I currently use the low end mini as a htpc. It does its job perfectly well, but I'm about to upgrade my TV – and going from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 will be a tough one for my little mini...

What do we think, when will there be a mini that can run 4k @ 60 fps?
 
It'll be a while. For one thing, Apple is sticking with Intel integrated GPUs in most of its low-end (and mid-tier!) machines these days. I'm not sure even the best Intel Iris GPUs can really handle 4k @ 60 fps yet.

For another thing, Apple generally likes to update its laptops first, then migrate that technology to the Mini. I don't think any of the existing laptops have the power to do 4k @ 60 fps yet.

And lastly, Apple has been giving short shrift to the Mini (if not the entire Mac line). Updates are becoming far more infrequent, and the 2014 Mini update was barely an upgrade at all (if not actually a downgrade). It may be that Apple is trying to phase out the Mini...
 
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Can someone please shed light on what the bottleneck is on the mini and 4k at 60hz? Does an upgrade to the dual 3Ghz i7 help anything in that regard?

What is the GPU on the mini? Intel 5100?
 
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jpietrzak8 said:
It'll be a while. For one thing, Apple is sticking with Intel integrated GPUs in most of its low-end (and mid-tier!) machines these days. I'm not sure even the best Intel Iris GPUs can really handle 4k @ 60 fps yet.

For another thing, Apple generally likes to update its laptops first, then migrate that technology to the Mini. I don't think any of the existing laptops have the power to do 4k @ 60 fps yet.

And lastly, Apple has been giving short shrift to the Mini (if not the entire Mac line). Updates are becoming far more infrequent, and the 2014 Mini update was barely an upgrade at all (if not actually a downgrade). It may be that Apple is trying to phase out the Mini...
Click to expand...

According to https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT206587, all Macs except for the Mini, the Macbook and the 21" iMac van can handle 4k @ 60 fps. So one solution would be to buy the 11" MBA..!
 
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sergiobaschi said:
I currently use the low end mini as a htpc. It does its job perfectly well, but I'm about to upgrade my TV – and going from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 will be a tough one for my little mini...

What do we think, when will there be a mini that can run 4k @ 60 fps?
Click to expand...

No mini supports 3840 x 2160 at any frame rate.
 
Pretty sure the 15" is able to do 4K 60 FPS (Intel Iris Pro). The 2015 13" should be able to decode 4K 60 FPS through a combination of both CPU and GPU, I mean it handles HEVC pretty well now at least under windows.
 
sergiobaschi said:
According to https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT206587, all Macs except for the Mini, the Macbook and the 21" iMac van can handle 4k @ 60 fps. So one solution would be to buy the 11" MBA..!
Click to expand...

Hmm. All of the Macs listed on that page as supporting 4k @ 60 fps (except for the Air!) have discrete video cards, and as we've seen Apple really, really doesn't want to put a discrete GPU into the Mini. But yes, the Air does sport an integrated Intel HD6000 GPU. So perhaps I'm wrong -- the Intel GPUs can handle that much bandwidth.

Of course, this does still require Apple to actually upgrade the Mini, something else they really, really don't like to do. :(
 
If you want true 4k on the Mini @60hz, you'll have to wait for -the next- Mini, coming soon…?

Hopefully, coming someday...
 
sergiobaschi said:
I currently use the low end mini as a htpc. It does its job perfectly well, but I'm about to upgrade my TV – and going from 1920x1080 to 3840x2160 will be a tough one for my little mini...

What do we think, when will there be a mini that can run 4k @ 60 fps?
Click to expand...

It might come as soon as October 2016 if the Mac Mini switches back to quad core. As mooted previously in this sub forum, the ideal would be to use Iris Pro graphics to get 4k at 60Hz. These are typically chips in the Macbook pro Retina 15" or a desktop variant in the 21.5" iMac.

However, there's also the i5-6267U which was launched last year and has Iris Graphics 550. This has the advantage of faster dual core CPU (2.9GHz) but obviously 2 fewer cores and the Skylake models can apparently feed a display port with 4k at 60Hz.

The only publicly known quad core option would be for Apple to use the recently launched i5-6350HQ cpu which has a guide price of $306, similar to other U series CPUs that Apple could choose from. It's a 45w CPU which is the same wattage as the Ivy Bridge quad that's used in the fabled 2012 quad but the 4 cores in this model don't have hyperthreading.

Obviously I'm sure people in this forum would love an all-quad Iris Pro powered Mac Mini range. It would be strange of Apple to use a dual core U series CPU that's been available for a year in October, especially as they seem to be letting the 15w range Macbook Air models stagnate. They use CPUs that currently power the base Mac Mini and base 21.5" non retina iMac.

Wouldn't be entirely surprised if Apple went that way though.

Take a look, however, at the march that Intel seem to be stealing on Mac Minis with their roadmap for Kaby Lake models starting in 2017.
 
grcar said:
No mini supports 3840 x 2160 at any frame rate.
Click to expand...

Ummmm... From Apple's Mac Mini Tech Specs page

HDMI video output
  • Support for 1080p resolution at up to 60Hz
  • Support for 3840-by-2160 resolution at 30Hz
  • Support for 4096-by-2160 resolution at 24Hz
 
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