Does anyone use 3 monitors?

[Mardiel8128]

Hello friend,

So I'm about to adquire my new mac mini. But don't know if I would use 3 monitors and go for the m2pro. Why do use 3 monitors?

 

[rm5]

What will you be doing on the Mac mini? I think it depends on your use case whether you need three monitors or not. Of course though, it's ultimately a personal choice whether or not you think you need three monitors. I tried running three monitors once, and it was too many—I just didn't need all that screen space, and ultimately, it was just creating clutter on my desk because I didn't ever use the third monitor. But I totally understand how difficult a decision this is for you, because of Apple's stupid limitation of two monitors on the base Mac mini.

Honestly, it's difficult for me to help you make a decision because I don't know what you'll be doing with it. Do you mind explaining a little about what you're planning to do with the Mac mini?

 

[Mardiel8128]

Hello,
Thanks for the reply
I plan to keep a monitor only for whatsapp, and teams
Maybe other to my main work , word, excel
And one the third one don't know really

But I just read a post that better go for the m2 pro, because cpu is more importan than ram? do you agree?

 

[rm5]

Hello,
Thanks for the reply
I plan to keep a monitor only for whatsapp, and teams
Maybe other to my main work , word, excel
And one the third one don't know really

But I just read a post that better go for the m2 pro, because cpu is more importan than ram? do you agree?

That makes sense to me. I think CPU and ram are equally important. I’d go for at least 16 GB of RAM for your use case. As for the three monitors, y’know, you might as well if you’re gonna get an M2 Pro.

 

[Mardiel8128]

That makes sense to me. I think CPU and ram are equally important. I’d go for at least 16 GB of RAM for your use case. As for the three monitors, y’know, you might as well if you’re gonna get an M2 Pro.

Hello again, thanks for the reply. This forum is awesome
Would be bad to not have the 4 thunderbor ports and only 2?

 

[rm5]

Hello again, thanks for the reply. This forum is awesome
Would be bad to not have the 4 thunderbor ports and only 2?

Of course, I'm happy to help! And yeah, I love this forum, too—it's a nice place to discuss technology with a nice community of people!

EDIT: Anytime I say "Thunderbolt port" or anything of the like, that also applies to any USB-C devices, too!

I think the 4 vs 2 Thunderbolt ports is another personal choice that depends on your use case. It sounds like you're leaning towards an M2 Pro Mac mini, just from what I've gathered, and those have 4 TB4 ports. The advantage to having two more ports is that if you connect lots of external drives (or devices in general) that use Thunderbolt, you can do that without the need for a hub/dock. And if you have three monitors, you'll be plugging at least two of those in via those ports (because you only get 1 HDMI port), so keep that in mind.

Essentially, the situation is:

• Base M2 Mac mini w/ 2 TB4 ports = you're using up both ports because you're driving 3 monitors. Can't plug in any more Thunderbolt devices without a hub or dock.
• M2 Pro Mac mini w/ 4 TB4 ports = you're using 2 of them for the two monitors (assuming the third monitor is plugged in via HDMI), and then you have 2 to spare for other devices without the need for a hub or dock.

I hope I'm making sense here. Please let me know if you have any further questions!!

 

[Mardiel8128]

Of course, I'm happy to help! And yeah, I love this forum, too—it's a nice place to discuss technology with a nice community of people!

EDIT: Anytime I say "Thunderbolt port" or anything of the like, that also applies to any USB-C devices, too!

I think the 4 vs 2 Thunderbolt ports is another personal choice that depends on your use case. It sounds like you're leaning towards an M2 Pro Mac mini, just from what I've gathered, and those have 4 TB4 ports. The advantage to having two more ports is that if you connect lots of external drives (or devices in general) that use Thunderbolt, you can do that without the need for a hub/dock. And if you have three monitors, you'll be plugging at least two of those in via those ports (because you only get 1 HDMI port), so keep that in mind.

Essentially, the situation is:

• Base M2 Mac mini w/ 2 TB4 ports = you're using up both ports because you're driving 3 monitors. Can't plug in any more Thunderbolt devices without a hub or dock.
• M2 Pro Mac mini w/ 4 TB4 ports = you're using 2 of them for the two monitors (assuming the third monitor is plugged in via HDMI), and then you have 2 to spare for other devices without the need for a hub or dock.

I hope I'm making sense here. Please let me know if you have any further questions!!

Thanks for this great answer
I think i will go for the option with 4 tbports, I'm not a selling person so I buy a product and use it as lons as it lasts. So I hope this mac mini last at least 5 years, and maybe in 5 years I will be needing more monitors or more gpu so the m2 pro is my choice.
Thanks for this awesome help rm5

I think I've made up my mind. I want to last the mac mini as long as it can be. So this 2 extra ports and a better cpu think will be good in the next years. I will go for the mac 2 mini pro

 

[rm5]

Thanks for this great answer
I think i will go for the option with 4 tbports, I'm not a selling person so I buy a product and use it as lons as it lasts. So I hope this mac mini last at least 5 years, and maybe in 5 years I will be needing more monitors or more gpu so the m2 pro is my choice.
Thanks for this awesome help rm5

I think I've made up my mind. I want to last the mac mini as long as it can be. So this 2 extra ports and a better cpu think will be good in the next years. I will go for the mac 2 mini pro

Yes, the M2 Pro sounds like a good choice for you then. Especially if in the next 5 years, you get into some more intense stuff like graphic design, video editing, or music production—you might need the extra power then!

Any other questions, or are you pretty much settled as far as this goes?

 

[Mardiel8128]

Yes, the M2 Pro sounds like a good choice for you then. Especially if in the next 5 years, you get into some more intense stuff like graphic design, video editing, or music production—you might need the extra power then!

Any other questions, or are you pretty much settled as far as this goes?

Hello,
Yes please
about the ram, 16gb will be enough knowing that I will use the macmini for at least 5 years? I don't want that in the year five it takes a long time to open a word or a spreedsheet.

 

[rm5]

Hello,
Yes please
about the ram, 16gb will be enough knowing that I will use the macmini for at least 5 years? I don't want that in the year five it takes a long time to open a word or a spreedsheet.

Basically, the more RAM you have, the more applications, browser tabs, and other tasks you will be able to run at once. Although people will disagree with me, I think 16 GB is a requirement for almost all users, because you want to future-proof yourself, you know what I mean?

If all you're gonna have open is some browser tabs, Teams, Word, Excel, Mail, etc. (all the "basic office programs") then 16 GB of RAM will be more than enough. Personally, I've run into limitations with 16 GB just because of my more intense workload, but it sounds like you won't be doing anything super intense, so I'm not too worried, and neither should you be. That's why my main computer has 32 GB, because my 16 GB M1 Air does sometimes run into issues, but like I said earlier, that's just me

 

[Mardiel8128]

Basically, the more RAM you have, the more applications, browser tabs, and other tasks you will be able to run at once. Although people will disagree with me, I think 16 GB is a requirement for almost all users, because you want to future-proof yourself, you know what I mean?

If all you're gonna have open is some browser tabs, Teams, Word, Excel, Mail, etc. (all the "basic office programs") then 16 GB of RAM will be more than enough. Personally, I've run into limitations with 16 GB just because of my more intense workload, but it sounds like you won't be doing anything super intense, so I'm not too worried, and neither should you be. That's why my main computer has 32 GB, because my 16 GB M1 Air does sometimes run into issues, but like I said earlier, that's just me

thanks friend I will go for the mac mini m2 pro base model

thanks a lot friend

 

[dwig]

Hello,
Thanks for the reply
I plan to keep a monitor only for whatsapp, and teams
Maybe other to my main work , word, excel
And one the third one don't know really

But I just read a post that better go for the m2 pro, because cpu is more importan than ram? do you agree?

I normally work with 3 monitors. At work, my iMac has a second monitor attached and the 3rd is a separate laptop machine. At home my laptop has 2 externals attached bringing the total to 3 including the built-in display.

My usual work is primarily Photoshop. I have Ps on one screen, my various finder dialogs on the second along with any documents (notes on the job, ...) and sometimes a Preview window with some JPEG "sample". The third, laptop, display is used for email and sometimes a calculator or other "tool".

 

[xraydoc]

At home on my Mac (14" MBP M1 Pro), I typically use two displays - a Studio Display in landscape and a Studio Display in portrait. Very occasionally I'll open the lid on my MacBook and use that as a third display for something like a chat window, but usually that just goes onto my secondary portrait monitor.

On my work PC, I use 4 displays all in portrait, but it's for specialized medical applications so it doesn't really apply to general computing.