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M4 Pro Mac Mini Supports Up to Three 6K Displays

840quadra said:
Instantly makes it a better option than any currently shipping Apple TV.

There are some great 3rd party applications that can turn a Mini into both a great media server, as well as a TV / media consumption device with support of using an iPhone for a remote.

One of the main reasons why I am ordering a new Mini. Replace a really old Mini that is doing the dame thing, acts as a home server, and bridges in HomeKit devices that aren't natively supported.

These are so dang versatile!
Click to expand...
For the price of the M4 pro mini you can buy 6 apple TVs...they still have some advantages.
 
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turbineseaplane said:
Where did they get that from?

It’s not even on the Mac Mini tech specs at Apple.com
Click to expand...

"
HDMI display video output

  • Support for one display with up to 8K resolution at 60Hz or 4K resolution at 240Hz (M4 and M4 Pro)"
From this piece of info alone I can say it's HDMI 2.1 for both M4 and M4 Pro. M2 Pro has HDMI 2.1 that's for sure, and M4 Pro has no reason to downgrade from M2 Pro. Since M4 and M4 Pro have the same HDMI specs, there you have it.
 
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Nice to see it can support three, but three monitors is overkill for 99% of people. Let's be honest, 95% of the time, extra monitors are purely for enjoyment and distraction. If you have three monitors, chances are you have a gaming console connected to it, or it's purely for gaming. I just got two 27" monitors (the studio display + samsung viewfinity s9), and while it's nice to have two, from my experience anymore than that is purely adults playing with toys level of unnecessary.
 
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Seeing the M1 Ultra Mac Studio looking so tiny while powering multiple of these displays was really crazy. Now, this tiny thing is.

Apple Silicon is definitely getting more to altitude now. The last big step will be when an M4 Ultra or M4 Extreme can handle 1TB+ of RAM.

Not many need that, but display support went backwards going into M1, as well as RAM when Mac Pro gained Apple Silicon.

Displays are now quickly getting to altitude. Next up, Mac Pro.
 
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840quadra said:
Instantly makes it a better option than any currently shipping Apple TV.

There are some great 3rd party applications that can turn a Mini into both a great media server, as well as a TV / media consumption device with support of using an iPhone for a remote.

One of the main reasons why I am ordering a new Mini. Replace a really old Mini that is doing the dame thing, acts as a home server, and bridges in HomeKit devices that aren't natively supported.

These are so dang versatile!
Click to expand...
The Apple TV boots immediately into a useable state. A Mac Mini as an HTPC is going to be janky. It's a better option for someone with specific needs, perhaps, but it's a worse option for almost everyone.
 
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5K/120 seems like good planning if Apple ever launches a 5K ProMotion display.

Also, can the latest HDMI 2.1 spec *not* output 5K+ resolution? Is Apple hobbling it or using 2.0?
 
jimbobb24 said:
For the price of the M4 pro mini you can buy 6 apple TVs...they still have some advantages.
Click to expand...
Fair point, clearly a different use case in my situation as I want it to also act as a server.

WestonHarvey1 said:
The Apple TV boots immediately into a useable state. A Mac Mini as an HTPC is going to be janky. It's a better option for someone with specific needs, perhaps, but it's a worse option for almost everyone.
Click to expand...
What a strange metric to measure, but since I was curious I tested boot time on going directly into AppleTV application.

Cold boot AppleTV 4K into playing an AppleTV show
- Connected via Ethernet
- Connected via HDMI to LG 65" TV (Model UP7560AUD
Elapsed time = 38 Seconds to start playing a show

Cold boot my 13" M1 Pro Laptop into MacOS and resume the exact same show
- Booted into Clamshell mode
- Ethernet connected
- Connected to Asus VP28U monitor via HDMI
- MacBook Pro also serves Home sharing, file sharing,
- Set to start AppleTV Application after login
Epapsed time = 33.6 seconds to play the exact same show (AFTER entering 10+ character password.)

Using a Mac-Mini as a set-top box is not janky at all, people (including myself) have been doing it for decades, my mom even uses it with zero issues (she is 75). There is an entire ecosystem of applications, startup items, supporting iOS applications etc to do it.

I dare call the Mac mini, the AppleTV Pro for such situations.
 
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antnythr said:
Only thing I want confirmed is that the HDMI port on the non-pro is 2.1 and can display 4K120.
Click to expand...

acrakes said:
Also, can the latest HDMI 2.1 spec *not* output 5K+ resolution? Is Apple hobbling it or using 2.0?
Click to expand...

From Apple's tech specs page for the base M4 (emphasis mine). The HDMI port (and the Thunderbolt port) supports up to 8K at 60Hz or 4K at up to 240Hz.

M4

Simultaneously supports up to three displays:

  • Up to three displays: Two displays with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz over Thunderbolt and one display with up to 5K resolution at 60Hz over Thunderbolt or 4K resolution at 60Hz over HDMI
  • Up to two displays: One display with up to 5K resolution at 60Hz over Thunderbolt and one display with up to 8K resolution at 60Hz or 4K resolution at 240Hz over Thunderbolt or HDMI
 
So there will be a new 5K 120hz monitor coming out soon, I'd say for about $3000 and a new 6K 120hz monitor for about $10000...

So if Apple doesn't want to make a new 27" iMac, they should make at least one decent monitor under $1000. It would be totally enough if Apple Studio Monitor was in that price range.

Sure, it's not exactly the same panel that was in the iMac, but it's more or less it. Should not be that expensive. (3/4 of the price I paid for my discounted 2020 iMac, which is nuts)
 
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Martius said:
So there will be a new 5K 120hz monitor coming out soon, I'd say for about $3000 and a new 6K 120hz monitor for about $10000...

So if Apple doesn't want to make a new 27" iMac, they should make at least one decent monitor under $1000. It would be totally enough if Apple Studio Monitor was in that price range.

Sure, it's not exactly the same panel that was in the iMac, but it's more or less it. Should not be that expensive. (3/4 of the price I paid for my discounted 2020 iMac, which is nuts)
Click to expand...
There's hundreds if not thousands of monitors you can choose for this machine.
 
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I want to know if it supports 5k at 120hz without jumping through hoops.

Nozgog said:
Yes but why no 8K120 support like on iMac? Seems weird
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It appears to be a mistake. Apple removed it on the iMac pages after the it got traction online, and changed it to 8k 60hz.

zedsdead said:
No mention of a 5k120 display (doesn't exist yet, but there is obvious talk of this for the Studio Display) - although presumably Thunderbolt 5 can support it no problem.
Click to expand...
Dell has had a 5k @120 hz display out since February, so it very much exists.
 
zedsdead said:
No mention of a 5k120 display (doesn't exist yet, but there is obvious talk of this for the Studio Display) - although presumably Thunderbolt 5 can support it no problem.
Click to expand...
How do you describe the Dell U4025QW which is 5120 x 2160? They advertise as 5k 120hz but it’s actually somewhere in between 4K and 5K. I haven’t found a clear answer if the mac can run that on 120hz or not. I have seen both answers, at least with macs that were out until now.
 
Martius said:
So there will be a new 5K 120hz monitor coming out soon, I'd say for about $3000 and a new 6K 120hz monitor for about $10000...

So if Apple doesn't want to make a new 27" iMac, they should make at least one decent monitor under $1000. It would be totally enough if Apple Studio Monitor was in that price range.

Sure, it's not exactly the same panel that was in the iMac, but it's more or less it. Should not be that expensive. (3/4 of the price I paid for my discounted 2020 iMac, which is nuts)
Click to expand...
I would imagine theyd still sell the 60hz studio display at least until inventories run out but they probably would make a lot of margin still on selling it for 1k they may keep it indefinitely while they sell a $2k promotion studio and whatever they want to sell a new high end option for
 
Three 6k displays or the much cooler Vision Pro. Will Vision Pro work as a display for the new mini
 
"With the M4 Pro chip, the Mac mini can power three of the Pro Display XDR or three of the Studio Display"

If you bought 3 Pro Display XDR monitors, would you have any money left over to buy a Mini? 😁
 
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