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Which lead to connect Mac Mini to Dell Ultrasharp U2412M for best image quality??

northernmonkeyz

northernmonkeyz

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 15, 2011
36
0
Hi,
Just ordered a late 2012 Mac Mini i5 with 8gb Ram and I am just about to order the Dell Ultrasharp U2412M for £220 on Amazon.
I have 2 questions, firstly will I need a different lead other to those that come with it to get the best picture on the monitor? If so what is it called?
Secondly, for the price is there anything else that you would suggest instead of the Dell (similar budget)?
My main use will be photo editing and watching movies (no gaming).
I also don’t mind buying used.
Cheers,
Al
 
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The Dell U series are seriously good monitors.


I'm also getting a U series but the 2713HM and Displayport connection or DL-DVI are the only way to drive the 2560 by 1440, for the 24" version you'll be fine with a mini displayport to displayport cable, or the included HDMI to DVI adaptor and the DVI cable in the box.


For me I would either get a Dell U series in the 16:10 format or a HP ZR series. Both are great, but if you're not gaming then the Dell beats the HP ZR on connectivity.


And yes that link you shared is the correct cable if you want to use the Displayport connection.
 
CoolHotCold said:
The Dell U series are seriously good monitors.


I'm also getting a U series but the 2713HM and Displayport connection or DL-DVI are the only way to drive the 2560 by 1440, for the 24" version you'll be fine with a mini displayport to displayport cable, or the included HDMI to DVI adaptor and the DVI cable in the box.


For me I would either get a Dell U series in the 16:10 format or a HP ZR series. Both are great, but if you're not gaming then the Dell beats the HP ZR on connectivity.


And yes that link you shared is the correct cable if you want to use the Displayport connection.
Click to expand...


Well thanks to the comments on here I went ahead and got the Dell U2412M and I got it for £220 new with free delivery.

Do you think the bundle I bought sounds like a good deal?
Mac Mini i5 with 8gb RAM (Late 2012)
Apple Care till March 2016
Apple magic mouse
Apple wireless keyboard

All of the above is 7 months old and boxed in as new condition all for £550.

Does this sound ok?

All in with the Dell is £770 (1238.08 US Dollars)
 
northernmonkeyz said:
Well thanks to the comments on here I went ahead and got the Dell U2412M and I got it for £220 new with free delivery.

Do you think the bundle I bought sounds like a good deal?
Mac Mini i5 with 8gb RAM (Late 2012)
Apple Care till March 2016
Apple magic mouse
Apple wireless keyboard

All of the above is 7 months old and boxed in as new condition all for £550.

Does this sound ok?

All in with the Dell is £770 (1238.08 US Dollars)
Click to expand...

Considering that a new system will cost £550ish+ £129 + £59 + ~£40 then yes it's a very good deal, though if you're in Portsmouth you can collect the monitor from novatech for the same price for convince
 
The "D. Evans" review on that cable is me..
I bought the white one for my MBP last year and it's worked flawlessly.

I have two dell ultra sharps, the older 2209WA as a secondary and neither have had an issue in years.

I still run two windows laptops, one for work and one for my photo editing, so having something that will play with everything is important.

Hovering over a Mac mini as the MBA is proving too popular in the house and I'm constantly having space issues...

Enjoy your purchases!
 
Aniseedvan said:
The "D. Evans" review on that cable is me..
I bought the white one for my MBP last year and it's worked flawlessly.

I have two dell ultra sharps, the older 2209WA as a secondary and neither have had an issue in years.

I still run two windows laptops, one for work and one for my photo editing, so having something that will play with everything is important.

Hovering over a Mac mini as the MBA is proving too popular in the house and I'm constantly having space issues...

Enjoy your purchases!
Click to expand...

Hi,
Thank you for the post.
I truly cant wait to get it!
I haven't had a Mac since the old blue iMac....been PC since then!
Concerned about calibration tho as I dont have any hardware for it.
 
I've got a spyder 3 pro and there's a little difference but not huge.

My last mac before my air was a LC475 bought in '93 I think and use of classics at uni. When the air first started up with the chime, I had a tear of nostalgia!
 
Aniseedvan said:
I've got a spyder 3 pro and there's a little difference but not huge.

My last mac before my air was a LC475 bought in '93 I think and use of classics at uni. When the air first started up with the chime, I had a tear of nostalgia!
Click to expand...

They still use the chime? I miss that chime.
 
I'm using mini-displayport to displayport to hook up my um2713hm, works really good!

You'll be using thunderbolt-port.
 
CoolHotCold said:
The Dell Ultrasharp come pre-calibrated out of the box to a very, very respectable standard.
Click to expand...

I have three U2412M displays (one at home; 2 at work) that I use with the same Mac Mini. I calibrated all three and I'll tell you right now, you should definitely calibrate yours if you plan on doing any photo editing on it. When you flip between before and after on the calibrated profile, it's like night and day.
 
ocabj said:
I have three U2412M displays (one at home; 2 at work) that I use with the same Mac Mini. I calibrated all three and I'll tell you right now, you should definitely calibrate yours if you plan on doing any photo editing on it. When you flip between before and after on the calibrated profile, it's like night and day.
Click to expand...

Any drivers needed to go with the Mini?
 
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bring back this discussion

i have 2 monitor connect to my mini, hdmi -> for secondary and i already have a thunderbolt to DVI adapter that i use on dell monitor

is it wort it to by a minidisplay port to displayport cable?
does image quality improve?
 
You should buy the $300 Monster Display port cables that are gold plated. /Sarcasm.

Anything other than VGA cables are going to send digital signals to your monitor, i.e. a series of 1s and 0s. Unless you have a need unrelated to the quality of the displayed image, there is no reason to chose one over the other.

HDMI will send audio, other than that, there is no real difference and the display will look identical as long as you are choosing to send digital signals, regardless of of the connection.
 
al404 said:
is it wort it to by a minidisplay port to displayport cable?
does image quality improve?
Click to expand...

If the monitor is 1920x1200 (like the Dell U2412) then no, it won't make a difference. The only reason for getting a mini-dp cable is if you want to connect a second computer to the DVI input on the monitor & switch between the two.

If the monitor is 2560x1440 (like the 27" Dell U2713) then yes, you'll need to use a displayport cable (or a more expensive TB to dual-link DVI adapter) to get full resolution.
 
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