Apple Thunderbolt 27" Display vs. today's options?

[casperes1996]

I'm not sure what an eGPU is and I don't think I even want to know.

An eGPU is actually really simple. The e is for external. So it's an external graphics processor. You plug the eGPU into the computer via Thunderbolt, and the display then goes into the eGPU instead of the computer.

casperes... if I may confirm something... is the Intel UHD Graphics 630 unit in the new MacMini easily up to the task of driving a 27" 4k display?

Well "easily" is hard to quantify. It depends what you want it to draw on screen. For instance, not even the best GPUs on the market can easily run a 5K monitor for video games.

For rendering the desktop though, you'll be fine .

It is by far the weakest link in the Mac mini's hardware chain, but I don't think it'll cause you any issues.
For most of what could potentially be an issue for the GPU, you can change the app internal rendering, so it outputs a 5K signal to the display, but uses an internal rendering of a lower resolution - But this is for games and other 3D accelerated workflow. For photo work and desktop use and whatnot, you won't need to worry about anything at all.

 

[DHart]

The LG Ultrafine 5K is.. 5K...

It drives both my 5K and 4K screen perferctly at the same time. No lag or stutter. Just make sure you add atleast 16GBs of RAM as the Intel UHD Graphics 630 shares it's VRAM with your normal ram and with 8GB you get stuttering. You don't need an eGPU.

Good to know. I do have 16 GB of RAM and the i7 processor. Working fine with the Thunderbolt Display. If I replace that with 4k or 5k and worse comes to worse, I'll go through the RAM replacement process, even though it's a bit of a chore, to 32 GB.