Home theater and desktop

[svindal1]

Hi.

Are there any way, with the new thunder bolt, to buy a Mini, set it up under my TV(with optical audio and HDMI) and at the same time use it with an external screen? This without swapping cables etc. every time.

Want a new media computer, and want to be able to use it to text editing when not watching a movie or so.

Thanks!

 

[warvanov]

Yeah, I would think so. The current Mac mini has both Thunderbolt and HDMI ports on the back. I don't know if it would support both displays at once, but you should be able to select which display to use via the Displays panel in System Preferences and leave them both plugged in.

http://www.apple.com/macmini/specs.html

 

[AdrianK]

Yeah, I would think so. The current Mac mini has both Thunderbolt and HDMI ports on the back. I don't know if it would support both displays at once, but you should be able to select which display to use via the Displays panel in System Preferences and leave them both plugged in.

http://www.apple.com/macmini/specs.html

You can use both at the same time. HDMI is limited to 1920*1200 and the Thunderbolt port 2560*1600.

 

[GGJstudios]

Are there any way, with the new thunder bolt, to buy a Mini, set it up under my TV(with optical audio and HDMI) and at the same time use it with an external screen? This without swapping cables etc. every time.

Want a new media computer, and want to be able to use it to text editing when not watching a movie or so.

I have this setup with a 2010 mini. I use a HDMI-HDMI cable to connect to the HDTV and use a MDP-DVI cable for the computer display. I run Plex to manage my movies and TV shows from the mini to the TV, while still being able to work on the mini while a movie is playing. It works quite well.

 

[svindal1]

I have this setup with a 2010 mini. I use a HDMI-HDMI cable to connect to the HDTV and use a MDP-DVI cable for the computer display. I run Plex to manage my movies and TV shows from the mini to the TV, while still being able to work on the mini while a movie is playing. It works quite well.

Great! Just saved me the expense of buying two machines. But instead of MDP I can just use a long thunderbolt-cabel and connect it on a screen with dvi?

Thanks!

 

[DustinT]

Great! Just saved me the expense of buying two machines. But instead of MDP I can just use a long thunderbolt-cabel and connect it on a screen with dvi?

Thanks!

Considering the costs involved, you probably would be much better off with a long MDP cable. Check Monoprice for the best options on cables. I bought a 15' cable MDP-DVI for about $10 + shipping.