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Best monitors to use for the Mac mini

KScottMyers said:
You do realize that the Thunderbolt port does power the display, HD camera and microphone, speakers, 3 usb ports, a firewire 800 port and an ethernet port? What other display does that?

I'd say its the best display for the new mini.
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If you mean power the display as in supply AC power, no it doesn't. It still needs to be plugged in to the wall.

Besides, if one is going to spend $1000 on a display plus the cost of a mini, perhaps one would be better off spending $1400 on an iMac instead.
 
The base model iMac is what I would recommend for your mother too. It's a compact beautiful machine that does anything she could want from it. She would get a nice keyboard, mouse, screen, webcam, microphone, speakers all working well together. Even the sound is passable on these for people who are not too fussy.

They are also easy to move around if required.
You probably won't end up saving that much if you have to buy all those "ingredients" separately.

You really can't beat an iMac for value in functionality and aesthetics.
 
Vampire18 said:
That is E-IPS, $319 for E-IPS is not a good price....
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If you are a bit patient, Dell often has 20 percent discounts on monitors and occasionally even more. Is $255 a bad price for a monitor with these spec's? It seems to be in the same ballpark as similar monitors mentioned in this and other threads.
 
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Hi Screenwriter, Samsung P2350

As you're buying a mac mini for your mom, I assume that it is for normal day-to-day home use.

I just got a mac mini and I already had a Samsung P2350 monitor (1920x1080) full HD screen with matte finish. It is widescreen with VGA and DVI ports. Its a nice clean monitor will all necessary and high end features needed (all those 50000:1 contrast ratio, 2ms delay etc. frankly, we won't even be using any of those in day-day use). Movies and colors are just perfect. Not even a single problem till now, its been 2 years. I am a graphic/video designer and the monitor is just simple and perfect. It is the best pick amongst the lower end monitors in Samsung. I never found the need to buy a LED monitor after this.
And it now it might be around 220USD. It was 300SGD when i got it.

I did extensive research before buying this monitor and comparing with other monitors of this price range, so you don't really have to worry about the technical details. It is just enough (more than) for normal use. Not many people buy this monitor, Samsung advertises more for its latest design and LED monitors which are pricy. People who 'know' about technicals and who know stuff like 50000:1 and 100000:1 contrast ratio makes no difference... and in fact, this option makes watching movies disturbing (the dynamic contrast ratio option), will say that 100$ difference between 2 monitors just for a high dynamic contrast ratio, is just a hype.
 
xraydoc said:
If you mean power the display as in supply AC power, no it doesn't. It still needs to be plugged in to the wall.

Besides, if one is going to spend $1000 on a display plus the cost of a mini, perhaps one would be better off spending $1400 on an iMac instead.
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Correct - I don't mean AC power.

The nice thing about the mini - instead of using an iMac, is that you can more easily upgrade the drives as needed down the road, and even upgrade to a newer mini as Apple refreshes them without having to deal with buying another display. eBay is great for this. Its a lot easier selling and shipping a mini compared to an iMac. The TB Display also gives you the option to move to a Mac Pro down the road as they upgrade the machine to take advantage of Thunderbolt.

You're really kinda locked in with an iMac.
 
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I'm curious about how folks are connecting the new Mac Mini to the displays in this thread without DisplayPort connectors.

Is anyone using the HDMI Interface, and, if so, how well is it working? Any downsides to this approach?
 
tamvly said:
I'm curious about how folks are connecting the new Mac Mini to the displays in this thread without DisplayPort connectors.

Is anyone using the HDMI Interface, and, if so, how well is it working? Any downsides to this approach?
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I'm seeing this to be a big issue with the Lion OS and or the Mac Mini regarding which cables work or don't work. This is some what troubling that many are having issues with the hook up,which seems to be a simple procedure,but is not.

I plan on either keeping my old Dell 2407 monitor with just a DVI port or getting the Dell U2410 and wanting to hook it up with the HDMI cable,but stories on this forum suggest that it may or may not work,ie:

1) HDMI to HDMI does not work, or one must turn off the monitor and turn it back on again, perhaps a few times in order to get it to work, or

2) HDMI to the DVI Adapter will work and some say it has issues as well.

Apple should address this soon, or I may have to pass on the Mini until it does, and that would not be good for me, since I do like the Mini alot. :(
 
SR45 said:
I'm seeing this to be a big issue with the Lion OS and or the Mac Mini regarding which cables work or don't work. This is some what troubling that many are having issues with the hook up,which seems to be a simple procedure,but is not.

1) HDMI to HDMI does not work, or one must turn off the monitor and turn it back on again, perhaps a few times in order to get it to work, or

2) HDMI to the DVI Adapter will work and some say it has issues as well.

Apple should address this soon, or I may have to pass on the Mini until it does, and that would not be good for me, since I do like the Mini alot. :(
Click to expand...

Hmmm ... as I suspected. I was wondering if it makes sense to go with MiniDisplayPort to DisplayPort, although these monitors seem to be more expensive in general.

I think the resolution of MDP to DP is bounded at 2560 x 1600. Don't know what the HDMI limits are but suspect they are lower, notwithstanding other HDMI compatibility issues.
 
tamvly said:
Hmmm ... as I suspected. I was wondering if it makes sense to go with MiniDisplayPort to DisplayPort, although these monitors seem to be more expensive in general.

I think the resolution of MDP to DP is bounded at 2560 x 1600. Don't know what the HDMI limits are but suspect they are lower, notwithstanding other HDMI compatibility issues.
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From Apple's website...

• Thunderbolt port with support for up to 2560-by-1600 resolution
• HDMI port with support for up to 1920-by-1200 resolution
• DVI output using HDMI to DVI Adapter (included)
• Support for dual display and video mirroring
 
Get an iMac... It's for your mother for pete's sake. Worried about buying another display? The next gen of iMacs will have a display too, you just buy one of those. It's all in one, she won't have to worry about anything, and best of all, it's cost effective.
 
If HDMI is problematic, I'm wondering if folks are getting acceptable performance out of the Apple MDP to DVI adaptor.
 
mini server to dell 2407 via mini-displayport to dvi cable, no problems whatsoever. also works fine with hdmi-to-dvi adapter.

Z6uh0.jpg

http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/B003OBXHPC
 
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tamvly said:
If HDMI is problematic, I'm wondering if folks are getting acceptable performance out of the Apple MDP to DVI adaptor.
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I am using a mid Mac mini with a LG IPS226V, e-ips, connected via a hdmi cable. No problems with hdmi in video but with 1 exception; the hdmi sound is very lacking in that it is not reliable as in long intermittent cutouts of the right channel. Well, in my case, I was getting the sound by connecting the monitor earphone out to the speakers; so not really sure what is wrong.

Have found, so far, sound from the mini out was also intermittent but was steady after over 5 min with the mini earphone out. It was intermittent as was seen on the sound prefs where the mini (Lion?) was switching back & forth between optical & earphone with an occasional internal speaker displayed.

Think the people at Jobs only want to deal with either hdmi or optical sound output as the "Apple way", else we're "doing it wrong".
 
indg said:
mini server to dell 2407 via mini-displayport to dvi cable, no problems whatsoever. also works fine with hdmi-to-dvi adapter.

Image
http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/B003OBXHPC
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Nice monitor choice ;)

Though I'm using the 2407 with hdmi-dvi on the Mini with AMD video and the flickering drives me crazy. Maybe I should abandon the 2310 and go mDP-dvi with the 2407.
 

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I have the LG L246WP (1920 x 1200) and it only has an HDMI connection. When I use an HDMI cable from the mini thats in my sig to the monitor, everything is off centered and non adjustable and the color looks like crap. HOWEVER, when I use a MDP adapter to HDMI, everything is perfect. What gives?

When I connect the ATV2 to it via HDMI, everything looks fine which leads me to believe its the mini and not the monitor.
 
profets said:
Though I'm using the 2407 with hdmi-dvi on the Mini with AMD video and the flickering drives me crazy. Maybe I should abandon the 2310 and go mDP-dvi with the 2407.
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does flickering occur if you have only the 2407 connected?

i have not seen any flickering on my 2407. i also have a cheap vizio hdtv connected to the hdmi port. the only "issue" i see (which isn't really even an issue) is if the hdtv is off and i turn it on, the 2407 will show a blank blue screen while the hdmi negotiates the hdcp handshake with the hdtv. after a couple seconds, everything is back to normal. the 2010 mini does this also, and it's not a big deal.
 
Excellent monitor reviews

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/

This is the best resource for monitor reviews I've ever come across.

They tend to focus more on the professional end of the market but there's something in there for everyone and the reviews are really thorough.
 
There is no "best" monitor for the mini. A display is a display and if it is supported by the operating system, then it'll work as intended.

All displays come with a range of connection types, from VGA to DVI to HDMI and the Mini can handle the latter two out of the box. Plenty of cheap 3rd party adapters on the market too if you need them.
 
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