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Is anyone driving two 4K displays using a 2018 mini with no eGPU?
- Thread starter gusping
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I've got two 4K displays connected to i5/16GB mini right now.
After reading various posts about how the new Mini couldn't handle 4K, I gave it some testing, opening up lots of app windows, changing the scaled resolution to all the difference sizes, scrolling up and down, zooming apps in and out of the Dock, using the Mission Control key to have all the apps zoom in and out on the screen at once, etc.
Works just fine.
Everything is smooth, no screen stutter. RAM usage under 8GB, so while most users with two 4K displays are probably going to want more RAM anyway, it's not like you need 16GB for two 4K displays.
Seems comparable to my 2013 Mac Pro (I believe the D300 is at least twice as powerful as the UHD 630 iGPU). I only have two 4K's handy for testing, but I did do a side by side comparison with just one 4K display on the mini and MP, and can't definitively perceive any difference in performance, though if I examine extremely closely, I think the Mac Pro might be fractionally smoother, but that could be my own perception-bias - I can't say for sure without doing a blind test.
I can't compare to let's say a top end 5K iMac, but my impression is that anyone "noticing" issues either has a faulty setup or is just the type of user who goes looking for issues... and there are a lot of those types on these forums.
I have the i7 with 16gb with no eGPU and I have HDMI to USB-C cable hooked up to 34" LV Curved Wide Screen at 3440 and a 60" Vizio 4k hooked up HDMI to HDMI. No issues at all. I can stream 4k Netflix on the TV, with Youtube, iMovie, on my monitor, and there is more an issue of the 16Gb of Ram than the GPU. Will likely upgrade Ram before eGPU. I don't use this for gaming, so far it is working perfectly. I will get an eGPU eventually, just waiting for some of the bugs to get worked out. Not necessary right now.
I used the integrated graphics on the 2018 just fine with a single 4k monitor. I've since swapped to an eGPU mostly for gaming and display port. eGPUs have been pretty stable for a while now. Not sure which glaring bug you are concern about.
Some people who use FileVault don’t like how it functions with an external GPU. I’m not aware of any other issues.
Can you elaborate on this? How does an eGPU relate to FileVault?
As for the OP: I'm using 2x Dell 4K 24" screens (via an OWC TB3 > Dual DP adapter) and it's generally fine, both running scaled at "looks like 2560x1440". Occasionally I notice something a little odd, and wonder if it's because of the dual display causing load - a little window stutter here or there. Nothing major - this is primarily a work machine for me, and work generally means screens with heaps of text on them (terminals, an IDE, a browser, etc).
I don't have the link, and it isn't an issue for me because I don't use FileVault, but there's a lengthy thread about this.
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Yes, I'd forgotten that document. The issue is the FileVault login process. As mentioned, there's a lengthy thread about this.