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Do not... I repeat... do NOT buy 2018 Mac Mini unless you have a 4K monitor

E

EightyTwenty

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 11, 2015
809
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I was at a Best Buy earlier today and had the chance to look at Mojave on a 1080p monitor and it was a complete and total mess. Avoid at all costs. It was so bad that I couldn't even think of using something like that. The text was blurry as hell and everything looked terrible.

Avoid, avoid, avoid. You need 4k or higher to even consider using a machine running Mojave.

I remember there was a guy on here who wanted to drop $3,000 on this mini and he claimed he had a $80 BenQ monitor. LOL. That dude is in for a world of hurt dropping that much money on a blurry disaster.
 
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EightyTwenty said:
I was at a Best Buy earlier today and had the chance to look at Mojave on a 1080p monitor and it was a complete and total mess. Avoid at all costs. It was so bad that I couldn't even think of using something like that. It was warm garbage. The text was blurry as hell and everything looked terrible.

Avoid, avoid, avoid. You need 4k or higher to even consider a machine running Mojave.

I remember there was a guy on here who wanted to drop $3,000 on this mini and he claimed he had a $80 BenQ monitor. LOL. That dude is in for a world of hurt dropping that much money on a blurry disaster.
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I'm running Mojave (macOS v. 10.14.1) on my Mac mini (Late 2014) with a hp 27q monitor (resolution at: 2560 x 1440) and the display looks quite nice. I admit, 4k would look awesome, but I don't feel it is necessary.
 
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Starship67 said:
What is it with people and their grandiose advice, on what people should and shouldn't buy. LOL
Click to expand...

Especially based on a Demo setup at Best Buy......
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ThisBougieLife said:
Wish Apple made their own 4K monitor instead of the LG one which I hear is mediocre. :(
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If Apple made their own it would use the same LG Panel..... Apple and LG are tight.
 
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EugW wrote:
"Mojave looks bad on any non-Retina Mac. However, yes, there is a terminal command to change it back."

And pray tell, what IS that terminal command?

Must be something wrong with my eyes, but Mojave looks no different to me (than did previous OS's) running on a late 2012 Mini....
 
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EightyTwenty said:
on a 1080p monitor
Click to expand...

There is the aforementioned lack of antialiasing, but how big was the 'monitor' (or was it just a TV?). Anything beyond ~20" at 1080p is going to look terrible regardless of any amount of antialiasing, it's just a matter of PPI.

D.T. said:
unless you have a desk made of gold
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Everyone knows it's a desk made of gold anodised aluminium.
 
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Hmm, so was my 24" Dell monitor running at 1080 a fluke? Mojave looked just fine on it even before the terminal command application.
 
Plenty of people have been waiting for a new mini because they want a Mac that is (mostly) headless.

I sometimes connect my MacBook to an external monitor and I agree Mojave made a big difference in text quality.
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mightyjabba said:
Mojave apparently changes the font smoothing preferences that make non-retina screens look different than they used to, but you can change it back. I assume this is the issue, and it really has nothing to do with the Mini itself.
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It’s a matter of opinion whether this is better or not but it isn’t changing it back to what it was pre Mojave. It’s. Still different. I don’t like the bold effect of the anti aliasing settings.
 
ThisBougieLife said:
Wish Apple made their own 4K monitor instead of the LG one which I hear is mediocre. :(
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No it is not, it is the same panel as new iMacs, 21" 4k LG Ultrafine = iMac 21" / 27" 5k Ultrafine = 27" 5k iMac/Mac Pro
I have both of them and are 2 of the best monitors I´ve had.
 
sergioarista said:
No it is not, it is the same panel as new iMacs, 21" 4k LG Ultrafine = iMac 21" / 27" 5k Ultrafine = 27" 5k iMac/Mac Pro
I have both of them and are 2 of the best monitors I´ve had.
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I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT THE PANEL

I know it's the same panel in the iMac; I've seen it. I'm not talking about the picture quality. I'm talking about the issues that people have had with the monitors not turning back on after the computer goes to sleep and the numerous quality and reliability issues people have had. The 5K monitor gets a 2-star rating on Apple's website and many of those complaints are recent.

Granted these are people using these monitors with a laptop, and even I've had issues with my MBP hooking up to a TV. Maybe it works better with a computer that does not have its own display, but I don't know.
 
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Mac Pro 2010 connected to a 24" LED Cinema Display looks fine with Mojave at 1920 x 1200.
 
I'm running Mojave on a 2014 Mac mini with a 1080p monitor and I have no complaints with how it looks. I know it would look better on a 4k display, but it's also perfectly acceptable on a 1080p as well.
 
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This is the issue with Mojave sub pixel anti-aliasing. I noticed it the first time I booted into Mojave with non-Retina screens. I found it quite jarring. However, I don't notice any problem at all on my Retina Macs.

https://arstechnica.com/features/2018/09/macos-10-14-mojave-the-ars-technica-review/12/

Screen-Shot-2018-09-16-at-5.13.27-PM-980x551.png
 
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Sorry OP, but i will. Because games run much better on 1440p than 4K.

Then why don't buy 4K, and downscale to 1440p while you're gaming, you might ask? One big NO to that. 1440p look disgusting on 4K, just like 720p does on 1080p.

And text looks fine to me, when I turn the RGB subpixel antialiasing back as it was in High Sierra and before. Otherwise, yes, it looks bad.
 
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