Connecting Mac mini (Late 2012) to 4K TV

[Fallen Zen]

I've recently replaced my current 1080p TV with a new 4K TV (which has only HDMI ports) and would like to output anything more than 1080p on it. I know the Thunderbolt port it has is capable of doing that. Which cables and/or adapters I should use to at least get 2K on that TV (LG OLED65B7V).

 

[hwojtek]

Theoretically (I didn't test it but the specs show it should work) you may output 2560x1600 with this https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-DisplayPort-Thunderbolt-Compatible/dp/B00K0UDJFI or this https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1181527-REG/macally_mdhdmi4k_mini_displayport_to_hdmi.html
Perhaps if you bundle it with SwitchResX and create a custom 2560x1440 resolution (or maybe the Mini will allow you to select this resolution out of the box, try holding "option" while selecting scaled resolutions) you might get something usable on a 16x9 screen.

 

[Fallen Zen]

Theoretically (I didn't test it but the specs show it should work) you may output 2560x1600 with this https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-DisplayPort-Thunderbolt-Compatible/dp/B00K0UDJFI or this https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1181527-REG/macally_mdhdmi4k_mini_displayport_to_hdmi.html
Perhaps if you bundle it with SwitchResX and create a custom 2560x1440 resolution (or maybe the Mini will allow you to select this resolution out of the box, try holding "option" while selecting scaled resolutions) you might get something usable on a 16x9 screen.

Well by default after buying a thunderbolt->hdmi adapter my Mac mini still thinks that 1080p is the maximum resolution. Apple insists 2560x1440 should be available on that Mini.

 

[hwojtek]

Is this everything you get once you press and hold "option" (alt on your keyboard) and select "Scaled"? That's odd. Perhaps turning down to 50 Hz will reveal more resolutions to choose from?

 

[Chancha]

AFAIK the bottleneck is not the Thunderbolt I/O, but the 2012's iGPU, it is only good enough for 2k at 60Hz over DP under normal OS X config. Some users have been able to push it to output 4k after some 3rd party tweaks, but at a sub-30Hz frame rate which is less than ideal.

 

[Fallen Zen]

AFAIK the bottleneck is not the Thunderbolt I/O, but the 2012's iGPU, it is only good enough for 2k at 60Hz over DP under normal OS X config. Some users have been able to push it to output 4k after some 3rd party tweaks, but at a sub-30Hz frame rate which is less than ideal.

Well, Apple's page states (https://support.apple.com/kb/sp659?locale=en_US) that this Mac mini is capable of "Support for up to two displays at 2560 by 1600 pixels, both at millions of colors". So I'm like, WTF.

Is this everything you get once you press and hold "option" (alt on your keyboard) and select "Scaled"? That's odd. Perhaps turning down to 50 Hz will reveal more resolutions to choose from?

Tried that, only lower resolutions are shown.

 

[Chancha]

Well, Apple's page states (https://support.apple.com/kb/sp659?locale=en_US) that this Mac mini is capable of "Support for up to two displays at 2560 by 1600 pixels, both at millions of colors". So I'm like, WTF.

That statement on Apple's page is true but it is ambiguous, it says "up to", with a catch.

Here on this site it lists more:
https://everymac.com/systems/apple/mac_mini/specs/mac-mini-core-i7-2.6-late-2012-server-specs.html
"This model simultaneously supports 1920x1200 on an HDMI display or a DVI display using the included HDMI-to-DVI adapter and 2560x1600 on a Thunderbolt or Mini DisplayPort display or even a VGA display (with an optional Mini DisplayPort-to-VGA adapter, which is compatible with the Thunderbolt port)."

I got 2 of these 2012 Minis myself, using dual displays with them require using the HDMI port for one of the monitors, which as you see is limited at 1920x1200, even worse than DP. Over DP, since the machine does not support DP daisy chain, it is limited to a single 2560x1600.

I have never owned Apple Thunderbolt Displays, but it seems only this way you could chain up 2 2560x1600 TBD to fulfill that official Apple specs statement (Apple TBD uses proprietary / non-standard wiring to achieve things like this).

Regardless, even adding the total pixels of 2x 2k displays, it is still sizeably lower than what it takes to drive a single 4k display, at the same refresh rate. The "hacks" out there that manage to output 4k signal out of this Mini are essentially harnessing the total available graphical bandwidth of the machine, then concentrate them into one DP stream, at the expense of lower refresh rate.

 

[Fishrrman]

I think the best you're going to get from a 2012 Mini is 1080p (1920x1080).

I doubt that the Mini and tv can yield 1440p (even though the tv is 4k).
The hardware just won't permit it.

 

[hwojtek]

Some more insight here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/4k-newbie-use-with-mac-mini.1843649/#post-25491003

 

[Amotilos]

Well, Apple's page states (https://support.apple.com/kb/sp659?locale=en_US) that this Mac mini is capable of "Support for up to two displays at 2560 by 1600 pixels, both at millions of colors". So I'm like, WTF.



Tried that, only lower resolutions are shown.

Problem is your Mac thinks your TV is a TV and it only does the higher resolution on what it thinks is a MONITOR. So that's in answer to your WTF question.

There are utilities to trick it to work on TVs but I've wasted days of my life trying to coax my Mac mini to do 4k with custom tweaks of the internal drivers, and concluded that 23Hz refresh and frequent screen rewrites in garbled colours just wasn't worth it. 2k works great out of the box, but I had to try 4 different TB to HDMI adapters to get it working. And no, the 4k adapter I bought didn't do it whereas a no brand cheap one did. Go figure.
Also, with my reading glasses on, a 2k signal on a 4k display doesn't look sharp.
Happy experimenting!