Can I use 2 Studio Display's at native 5K with a Mac Mini M1?

[questionwonder]

If I buy a Mac Mini M1 can I buy 2 new Studio Displays and have them both run at native 5K?

According to the Apple site it says:

Simultaneously supports up to two displays:

• One display with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz connected via Thunderbolt and one display with up to 4K resolution at 60Hz connected via HDMI

It looks like the 2nd display would only run 4K?
For $699.00 I was thinking of getting the M1 to hold me over until the M2 laptops hit the market.

 

[fwmireault]

You can connect only one Studio display to M1 Mac mini. From what I know, you can't connect a Thunderbolt/DisplayPort monitor via an HDMI port, even for 4K resolution. You can connect a second display to the Mac mini, but it can't be the Studio Display, it must be an HDMI 4K monitor.

 

[joevt]

HDMI to DisplayPort/USB-C adapters are currently limited to 4K width.

A future HDMI 2.1 to DisplayPort 1.4 adapter may support 5K width but of course the limited bandwidth of the Mac mini's HDMI 2.0 port means you'll have to use a lower refresh rate to get 5K. It is unknown if the Studio Display will accept arbitrary timings (but I think it will).

 

[questionwonder]

I want a setup with 2 or possibly 3 of these displays, but I currently have an Air 2020. I don't want to buy a 14 or 16 inch before the M2, so I'm looking for a cheap option until I upgrade to a more expensive machine. Of course, if I wait until the M2 then I'll want the next display, so I'm stuck in a fanboy conundrum.

 

[joevt]

You could try DisplayLink but I don't think it can give 5K resolution on the Studio Display.

 

[4sallypat]

Will the M1 Mini be able to run the Studio Display via USB-C/TB + 27" Thunderbolt Display using a TB3-TB2 adapter simultaneously ??

 

[Amethyst1]

Will the M1 Mini be able to run the Studio Display via USB-C/TB + 27" Thunderbolt Display using a TB3-TB2 adapter simultaneously ??

No.

The Studio Display must be connected to a Thunderbolt 3 port; the other display must be connected to the HDMI port. So you need a HDMI to DisplayPort adapter like this one, plus a Thunderbolt add-in card to encapsulate that DisplayPort signal into a Thunderbolt stream for the 27" Thunderbolt Display.

This isn't going to be easy.