Intel Mac Mini with 2011 iMac as monitor?

[linb1234]

Costco has the Intel Mac Mini on sale for $549 right now. I have a 2011 iMac 21.5" running High Sierra. First, is it possible to use the iMac as just a display? It has one thunderbolt port, which currently has an SSD drive I boot from, but I should be able to plug that into the Mini. Second, any drawbacks to the Intel rather than the M1 - which means I'd need a new display? I use it for media watching, web browsing, and email. No gaming. No video editing. But as you can see I do hold on to my tech for a long time before replacing. Would the Intel Mac likely last me a long time or will the M1 mean it will stop being supported? The sale is time limited so any advice would be appreciated by this Senior on a fixed income.

 

[KennyJr]

I bought a "Luna Display" dongle for my Mac mini M1. With it I can use either of my iMacs as a display. When I place my 2020 iMac in M1 mode everything happens quicker - the display looks the same in either mode. Also, remember that Apple didn't start putting the Retina display on the iMac until the 2014. I even more appreciate the 2020's retina display when I use the M1 on my 2010 iMac (not so retina-ish). At any rate, the Luna Display places my M1 Big Sur OS on both of those iMacs - and - on my 2018 12.9" iPad Pro. It should be noted that the advantages of the Mac mini M1 are very apparent. I thought about going with the Intel Mac mini, but now that I've seen the clear advantages of the M1, I'm glad I made the decision to not go with the Intel.

 

[linb1234]

I bought a "Luna Display" dongle for my Mac mini M1. With it I can use either of my iMacs as a display. When I place my 2020 iMac in M1 mode everything happens quicker - the display looks the same in either mode. Also, remember that Apple didn't start putting the Retina display on the iMac until the 2014. I even more appreciate the 2020's retina display when I use the M1 on my 2010 iMac (not so retina-ish). At any rate, the Luna Display places my M1 Big Sur OS on both of those iMacs - and - on my 2018 12.9" iPad Pro. It should be noted that the advantages of the Mac mini M1 are very apparent. I thought about going with the Intel Mac mini, but now that I've seen the clear advantages of the M1, I'm glad I made the decision to not go with the Intel.

Thanks. Given the display on my mid-2011 not being Retina, it maybe makes sense to get the M1 for $699 and a stand alone monitor. LG makes a couple MAC specific but they are very expensive (and in crazy demand). Any reason a regular LG monitor would not work? I'd plug my speakers into the Mini to control sound, so would just need to have display. 24" inch 4k is what I'm thinking...as anything bigger would give me text I couldn't read at all (old eyes). I've seen a few of those for around $200 on sale.

 

[KennyJr]

There's a thread discussing the Mac mini M1 monitor options. It's worth checking out. Getting the right monitor for these gets a bit tricky. My old Samsung monitor worked but there was no pleasure in my attempt at appreciating what I saw on it.

P.S. Apple gives 10% off for veterans. When you said "old eyes" it reminded me that there was a military draft that most of us had to respond to in one way or the other back when. So this note is just in case you ended up being one of us.