4K newbie: use with mac mini?

It's possible but the refresh rate is stuck at 30 Hz. The 2014 Mac minis can do 4K at 60 Hz.

 

Nope, the 2014 Mac Minis share the same Haswell-U chipset as the 13" rMBPs, so it still can only do 4K at 30Hz, but can be upped to 52Hz with some troublesome tweaking.

 

Thanks for the correction, should have known. Quite a disappointment considering many people want to use 4K displays with Mac minis.

 

If Apple had used Haswell-HQ with the Crystal Well eDRAM cache instead (aka Iris Pro 5200), the Mini could've perfectly done 4K @ 60Hz.

 

how can you achieve 4k with a mini? I'm stuck on 2.5k would love to be able to really use my 4k screen

 

Does 3840x2160 show up in System Preferences > Displays?

 

Ive attached a screen shot.

maybe some specs will help

2012 2.3 quad mini
samsung uhd 4k screen
mDP->DP adapter (has done 4k on my cMP & r9 280x)
DP to monitor

 

By default, 3840x2160 won't show up when using DisplayPort, only through HDMI (refresh rate will be 30Hz only). If you want do use DisplayPort, you have to use SwitchResX to manually add the resolution.

EDIT: Sorry, I see you have 2012 mac mini. Unfortunatelly that won't qualify for 4K over HDMI. You may get 4K@30Hz over DP using SwitchResX though (never tried it, but there are some successes on the web).

 

They can only just do 4K resolution but don't expect 4K Video playback.

If you want to get true 4K, the new GTX960 or 970 in an external Thunderbolt enclosure is your answer, or for another thousand and a half get a New Mac Pro.

 

Sluggish

I´ve actually run my 2014-Mac Mini on a 4k screen (settings 4k @ 30 Hz), and it´s a bummer. Most video is displayed poorly, and some not at all (depending on format, bitrate etc.). Pictures, when displayed, look awesome, though. Then again, the cursor is minuscule and so are the various standard windows etc. I tweaked some settings and got most of this sorted, but the sluggishness of the Mini convinced me to dial back to the 1080p-setting which actually is pretty decent.

Still considering the Thunderbolt/external GPU, though. It's rather sparse 4k-content from other sources as of yet, and the Mini is my HTPC of choice.

 

I couldn't get 3840x2160 via switchers with my rmbp.

 

I can do 4k@60 on bootcamp, through DP, without ANY modification on the second tier Mac Mini 2014. They LOCK refresh-rate through OS X to 'force' you to buy an iMac, and apparently do -or at least did- it with Macbooks too, so that you'll buy a MB Pro. This is the last piece of hardware i'll buy from them.

 

What about using Thurderbolt 2 and and eGPU case + cheap Radeon graphic card under High Sierra?
Would this work? Yes/No?

Is the eGPU not supported through Thunderbolt 2?

 

OP:

If you really want to get into 4k, the Mini -is not- the Mac you should be looking at.

Instead, look at iMacs (both 4k and 5k), and MacBook Pro's.

Minis that can do 4k as it should be done may be "in the pipeline", but they're not here yet, and no one (except those who aren't talking) knows exactly when they'll arrive.

That's really all that needs to be said about this topic...

 

Your best bet at 4K with the mini is getting an external GPU. At which point you could rather just get a 4K iMac or a pc.

 

Which one would you suggest ? That’s all I would need it to for.

 

The Intel NUC is comparable to the Mini only it doesn't have ancient hardware.

 

I’d wait until the NUC 8 comes out, i3 should have a quad core.

 

PCPartPicker is also a great resource for building exactly what you want with room to expand.

 

Get a $200 Nvidia Shield TV. I detest the android environment but it works.

 

I have a 2012 quad core mini and I use a 55” Vizio P Series set from 2014. The mini outputs 1080P over HDMI, which the Vizio upconverts to 4K. LOOKS INCREDIBLE!

 

Thank you for the information. Like the OP, I have a 2012 mini and was looking to get a new monitor. I wanted something more future proof than a lower resolution monitor but was unsure if a 4k monitor would work on an older mini. Upscaling is fine for now.

 

https://www.macrumors.com/guide/4k-5k-displays-buyers-guide-mac/