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Is a Mac Mini suitable?

Zeebedy

Zeebedy

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 10, 2011
362
71
Scotland, UK
Hey guys,

Im leaving the PC game, and going back to mac, and a console..

Im looking at a Mac Mini (base) but my worry is my monitor, its a 43" 4K ASUS XG438Q monitor.

Will a Mac Mini run this display OK? And what is my best method of connection to this Mac? My monitor has only Display Port and a HDMI.


Cheers guys!
 
I am using a base model Mac mini (i5, 512GB with 8GB RAM) with a 24" Dell 4k monitor. No issues whatsoever. I am connecting via USB C to DisplayPort and quality is excellent. Not sure if the 43" would be different, but my 24" works great at 4k.
 
Not sure if you will be able to get the 3840x2160 and 120Hz that monitor supports using the standard Intel video. eGPU might be needed to get the resolution and refresh rate.

I am running 3840x2160 at 60Hz and it works great, and I have read people getting 1440p with 120Hz with the TB3 to Displayport, not sure about 4K@120Hz but maybe someone here has more experience.
 
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An eGPU would certainly help. The mini's HDMI port can push 4k at only 30hz. If you use a TB3-to-DP cable, you'll get 4k at 60hz. But for anything higher than that, you'll need an eGPU. You'd go TB3 from the mini to the eGPU and then DP from the eGPU to the monitor. If you go that route, make sure you get a compatible eGPU:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208544
 
I don't see any problems with using the 43" display.

Some considerations:
If the display has displayport, I'd try that connection first.
For the Mini, you want a USBc (Mini end) to displayport (display end) cable that is advertised to support 4k. Read user reviews to be sure.

If you want to try the HDMI port, MAKE SURE that the HDMI input on the display is HDMI 2.0. HDMI 1.4 may give you only 1080p (not true 4k).
 
jayducharme said:
The mini's HDMI port can push 4k at only 30hz.
Click to expand...
This is incorrect.

The Mac mini's HDMI port is capable of driving one 4096-by-2160 resolution monitor at 60 Hz.

Unsurprisingly, this is covered on the Tech Specs page for the product:

www.apple.com

Mac mini - Technical Specifications

See all the technical specifications for Mac mini with the M4 or M4 Pro chip.
www.apple.com

My LG monitor's (27UL650-W) information screen tells me it is displaying at 3840x2160 / 60Hz when I use an HDMI cable. Just make sure you are using a decent HDMI 2.0 cable like a Monoprice Select Series cable. The Mac's System Report confirms the 4K/60Hz display.

I get the same resolution if I use a USB-C cable between one of the Mac's Thunderbolt 3 ports and the LG monitor's upstream USB-C port. Same if I use a DisplayPort 1.4 cable between an eGPU and the LG's monitor's DisplayPort connection.
 
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Erehy Dobon said:
This is incorrect.

The Mac mini's HDMI port is capable of driving one 4096-by-2160 resolution monitor at 60 Hz.

Unsurprisingly, this is covered on the Tech Specs page for the product:
Click to expand...
It may say that on the specs page, but I've never been able to get that to happen in the real world. I spoke with an Apple tech about the issue and he told me the only way to get 60 hz was to use the TB3-to-DP cable.

One possibility is that I got my mini before the recent refresh. Maybe the 2020 minis are capable of it.
 
Thanks for all the input guys.

I have a eGPU enclosure and a RX 580 on the way to setup, get my new mini tomorrow, wont get eGPU unit until next week but will get everything setup tomorrow and see how I get on..
 
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jayducharme said:
It may say that on the specs page, but I've never been able to get that to happen in the real world. I spoke with an Apple tech about the issue and he told me the only way to get 60 hz was to use the TB3-to-DP cable.

One possibility is that I got my mini before the recent refresh. Maybe the 2020 minis are capable of it.
Click to expand...
The "new" [sic] Mac mini from 2020 is a Mac mini 2018. Same exact internals. The only difference is the base storage has increased. It's a Built To Order Mac mini 2018 with an SSD capacity bump without the storage surcharge. That's all. Everything else is the same. It's the same CPU, same integrated GPU, same graphics capability. There is no revved CPU part. There is no Mac mini 2020 [sic].

My Mac mini 2018 happens to be a refurbed unit that I purchased a year ago.

Do you really think Apple would blatantly LIE on their tech specs page (which hasn't changed since the model was first released)? Even all the footnotes for the benchmark stats quote tests done in 2018. C'mon, give Apple a little more credit than that. Sheesh.

I assure you that I am getting 3840x2160p @ 60Hz over an HDMI-to-HDMI cable on a system I bought in 2019.

Check your cable and your monitor settings. Make sure the latter is configured to handle HDMI 2.0 on the HDMI port. My LG monitor required no such adjustment and worked straight out of the box.

My hunch is that your HDMI cable is inferior and can't handle the higher bandwidth.
 
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Erehy Dobon said:
My hunch is that your HDMI cable is inferior and can't handle the higher bandwidth.
Click to expand...
That’s what I thought as well. I’ve bought three different HDMI cables, all of them labeled “high speed with Ethernet”. One is an Insignia. Two are Monster cables. I have several other older HDMI cables I’ve tried as well. All of them provide no more than 1080 at 30 hz when connected to my LG monitor directly from the mini. When I connect from my eGPU, I get 4K at 60 hz. Maybe my mini’s HDMI port is defective.
 
Out of curiousity what monitor are you using?

My monitor has multiple HDMI and only one does 60hz and the rest are 30hz.
 
Hey guys,

got the Mini setup and running, its running surprisingly well. Some loading and juddering in say opening up the applications from the Dock..

Im sure that 16/32 GB RAM along with the RX580 should help a lot.

Now I'm happy with it, I will be upgrading the RAM and ordering the eGPU for sure..

Will load some photos up later on.
 
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Yeah, I fell confident in being able to do the upgrade, but to be 100% safe on my new baby, I'm going to take it to a small company I know, the guy is awesome, and will put me out of pocket around £60 ($75).

And setting up the eGPU will be a cakewalk (just hope the software is not too fussy though!).
 
quick question guys -

do I go with a 16gb or 32gb kit?

won't be doing anything crazy on it, but possibly some gaming down the line, either native or in a emulator.


cheers.
 
32GB is so inexpensive right now I did that with my wife's mini and the most she does is Excel.

$125 for 32GB on Amazon and you won't have to take it apart again later.

I want to know how the monitor works and what hz you are getting when you get the new eGPU. I really like that monitor. I am using a 43" Acer at 60hz but when I upgrade that one might be my top pick.
 
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Hello rip-the-jacker,



I would recommend 32GB RAM. Then, you won't have to worry about it for the future.

I would consider 16GB RAM barely adequate in this day and age. My 2013 Mac Pro currently has 12GB RAM and my Mathematica programs eat too much of it (when running). This results in massive slowdown and disk-swapping.

I'm planning to increase the memory to 32GB RAM within the next week or so.



richmlow



rip-the-jacker said:
quick question guys -

do I go with a 16gb or 32gb kit?

won't be doing anything crazy on it, but possibly some gaming down the line, either native or in a emulator.


cheers.
Click to expand...
 
I would recommend 32GB. 16GB is a good performance improvement but I found that even with anything minimal running, it uses 13-16GB of RAM.

If you plan to use a virtual machine at anytime, such as running a secure Mac OS sandbox or Windows 10 environment, then you'll need another 8Gb on top of that.
 
monkeybongo said:
If you plan to use a virtual machine at anytime, such as running a secure Mac OS sandbox or Windows 10 environment, then you'll need another 8Gb on top of that.
Click to expand...

I am running Windows 10 in a 16gb Parallels virtual machine on my new i7 Mini. Have not really used Parallels for about 10 years now, and am finding that it works really well on the Mini. Just had a quick look at Activity Monitor and saw that 42gb of memory was being used. At the time, I had some GIS software running under Windows and just Safari and Mail running under MacOS. Glad that I have 64gb. :)
 
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