I had dual monitors with my M1 Mini, one 5K Ultrafine and a 4K LG via HDMI. It would hang on the reg. I upgraded to the 256GB SSD 16GB RAM M1 mini and it works like a champ.
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M2 Mac mini supports dual USB-C displays
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That would likely also depend upon your workload / memory usage.
Just enough stuff to fill the two screens with content. Nothing crazy. I have 0 swaps with 16GB with same workload. Could be OS changes. FYI I have owned every Mac mini generation except 2014 since the PowerPC version. The M1 16 gives the same type of "room" to move around that the 2018 i7 with 32GB did, but it is much more responsive.
Filling two screens could be light memory usage or it could be relatively heavy memory usage for an 8 GB machine. It would have been useful to know your memory usage behaviour / memory pressure and swap sizes in Activity Monitor on your 8 GB machine.
Safari maybe a dozen tabs, Chrome for Youtube TV, Edge for some other video or YouTube , apple mail, apple messages. Utilities running istat menu, easyrez, monitor control, sound source, better snap, air message server. That should about be it. Memory pressure always green with 16gb, 45-70 with 8GB.
Hey just thought I'd chime in on some findings with my Mini and displays.
I have a base M2 and Lenovo Thunderbolt 3 dock (first gen) and although it has a multitude of display outputs on it, it does not work as intended. I have my Mini hooked up to my 4k Dell Ultrasharp via USB-C -> Displayport.
My secondary display for the Mini is an older but working fine 20 inch Dell monitor with only DVI and VGA. I really only use it for music, web, social stuff, etc. The Dock's built in VGA would not work at all and the 4K coming off the Displayport was only registering at 30hz instead of the 60hz its supposed to.
For my secondary display my solution was to use HDMI from dock -> DVI.
I tried hooking up 3 monitors at once and nothing happened. So I suppose there is some kind of hard limit.
I have a base M2 and Lenovo Thunderbolt 3 dock (first gen) and although it has a multitude of display outputs on it, it does not work as intended. I have my Mini hooked up to my 4k Dell Ultrasharp via USB-C -> Displayport.
My secondary display for the Mini is an older but working fine 20 inch Dell monitor with only DVI and VGA. I really only use it for music, web, social stuff, etc. The Dock's built in VGA would not work at all and the 4K coming off the Displayport was only registering at 30hz instead of the 60hz its supposed to.
For my secondary display my solution was to use HDMI from dock -> DVI.
I tried hooking up 3 monitors at once and nothing happened. So I suppose there is some kind of hard limit.
I will find out tomorrow about dual 4k screens on 8GB. I've ordered the base model, try it out and if it's stuttering, order the 16GB.
Ran two 2k monitors on my M1, and had a few beach balls/swapping with only 8GB of ram. This was with 6-8 apps, chrome, safari, all with multiple tabs. Never got horrible, but 16GB is like night and day for my workflow.
Running dual 4k screens on my new Mac mini M2, base model, both USB-C identical monitors, slight problem. Can only set one of them to scale at 3008 x 1692. The other monitor will only scale at 2560 x 1440. Both will go native 4k. Swapped one over to HDMI, no joy. I'm thinking it might be a memory issue? When I temporarily just mirrored one screen to the other, they both were at 3008 x 1692. Thoughts? Anyone tried on a 16GB or an M2 Pro?
On an M2 Pro i had all scaling options available with two 4k monitors.
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Me as well. Rocking two Dell S2721QS - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08L5TG1RD?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details
One is HDMI, the other was DP to USBC, but had some flickering. Bought an HDMI to USBC (on Dell's suggestion) and it has been great since.
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Yes, no issues with that. There were 4 or 5 scaling options IIRC, from ’looks like 1080p’ to native 4K. The others were ‘looks like 3008 x 1692’ and ‘looks like 2560 x 1440’. I have just wiped the Mac mini and packaged it back up as I am returning it, but hopefully @MuckSavage70 can confirm.
Is 2304x1296 available for both of them?
For the full list, right-click in the icon resolution area in the Displays settings, and then choose Show List.
This is for my 3840x2560 Huawei MateView 28 on the M1 Mac mini:
Not sure how to access that on Monterey. I was referring to the following scaling options on a 4K monitor using a 2018 mini:
3008 x 1692 doesn't come up on the list for one of the USB-C monitors. It must be a memory thing as it is shared with the GPU.
I've been on web chat, no clue, I'm guessing it's the 8GB RAM. MacBook Pro M1 16GB and my old intel Mac mini 16GB both worked at the same scaled resolutions.
In Monterey it's OPTION-click. I think you may have to click beside the icon, not on it.
Don't feel too bad, even the Mac mini M2 Pro doesn't have many more usable Thunderbolt/USB-C ports in reality either (despite it technically having 4x).
I say this because I tried a bunch of USB-C stuff I had laying around: SSD enclosures, extension cables (hard for me to get to the back of the mini), a super thin USB-C flash drive, and literally can't fit a bunch of them next to the HDMI port I'm using (or next to each other - the HDMI port is a totally normal width HDMI cable fyi). There's not enough room between the ports. Total. Epic. Fail (like the idiotic design I see in a lot of super cheap USB hubs).
Doesn't actually have 2x usable USB-A ports either... once I plug in my (again, TOTALLY normal sized) USB-A into one port I can't fit my industry-standard micro/SD card reader in the port next to it (the SUPER common Anker one many, many professionals use) - the USB-A ports are NOT spaced far enough apart...
Never, ever, had this issue on my old (2012) Mac mini - where I could fit literally anything in there no problem since the ports are turned 90º vertically.
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It's an HDMI thing I guess. Just unpacked my new MM Pro M2 and while my MB Pro M1 could do 3008 x 1692 (my sweet spot), my new MM Pro couldn't, just as described above.
When I took out the HDMI cable and inserted the USB C - then it worked. Will try the dual setup later (2 x USB C), good I chose the Pro for the extra ports if it works... Fingers crossed it will work...
But strange it is!
Edit: am using 2 x LG 27 UP 850W displays. One is still hooked up to the MB Pro M1, the other to the MM2.
When I took out the HDMI cable and inserted the USB C - then it worked. Will try the dual setup later (2 x USB C), good I chose the Pro for the extra ports if it works... Fingers crossed it will work...
But strange it is!
Edit: am using 2 x LG 27 UP 850W displays. One is still hooked up to the MB Pro M1, the other to the MM2.
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