M4 MacBook Air vs M4 Mac Mini support for external monitor

[EddieT]

I have an M4 MacBook Air that I'm very pleased with. One small quibble is it lags a bit when connected to a Dell external monitor at a very high resolution. Not a major problem, but I was wondering if an M4 Mac Mini would do better. I mean, one would think so, as the Mini supports a larger number of external monitors than the MBA. Seems it would then support one monitor at a higher resolution. Just thought I'd ask here to be sure. Thanks in advance.

 

[Bigwaff]

I was wondering if an M4 Mac Mini would do better.

Mac mini M4 have 16GB RAM and 10 core GPU. Your MBA M4 have… ?

 

[EddieT]

Mac mini M4 have 16GB RAM and 10 core GPU. Your MBA M4 have… ?

Thanks for your reply. My MBA has the same GPU and RAM.

 

[Fishrrman]

My off-the-cuff prediction is that an m4 Mini will do somewhat better.

If you get one, I would recommend that you DON'T buy just "the base model"
Get one properly equipped for future "growth" (both yours and the OS).
32gb of RAM and a 1tb SSD would be a good choice. Or... at least a 512gb SSD...

KEEP the MBair.
There's nothing that beats having a good desktop for "desktop things" AND a good laptop for "laptop things"...

 

[Bigwaff]

MBA M4
Display Support: Up to two external displays with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz

mini M4
Display Support: Up to three displays: Two displays with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz over Thunderbolt and one display with up to 5K resolution at 60Hz over Thunderbolt or 4K resolution at 60Hz over HDMI, Up to two displays: One display with up to 5K resolution at 60Hz over Thunderbolt and one display with up to 8K resolution at 60Hz or 4K resolution at 240Hz over Thunderbolt or HDMI (M4)

mini M4 Pro
Simultaneously supports up to three displays: Up to three displays: Three displays with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz over Thunderbolt or HDMI, Up to two displays: One display with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz over Thunderbolt and one display with up to 8K resolution at 60Hz or 4K resolution at 240Hz over Thunderbolt or HDMI (M4 Pro)

 

[goldmac2006]

Thanks for your reply. My MBA has the same GPU and RAM.

And is the external display connected thru thunderbolt or hdmi?

MacBook Air has no hdmi ports so using it for external display may have issues when using docks/hubs vs directly connecting it to your MacBook Pro

 

[Alameda]

And is the external display connected thru thunderbolt or hdmi?

MacBook Air has no hdmi ports so using it for external display may have issues when using docks/hubs vs directly connecting it to your MacBook Pro

No, I doubt that the lag has to do with the video interface they're using. It's probably just that the computer's got more windows open and it's doing more.

The large screen uses up some System memory, but not very much, so I doubt it's that, either.

It may be as simple as too many apps open and they need to close a few.

 

[goldmac2006]

No, I doubt that the lag has to do with the video interface they're using. It's probably just that the computer's got more windows open and it's doing more.

The large screen uses up some System memory, but not very much, so I doubt it's that, either.

It may be as simple as too many apps open and they need to close a few.

Given that you have 16GB RAM on that MacBook Air, can you quit any unnecessary apps that are slowing while using the external display?

I would highly recommend the Thunderbolt displays if you’re not comfortable with hdmi.

 

[Alameda]

Given that you have 16GB RAM on that MacBook Air, can you quit any unnecessary apps that are slowing while using the external display?

I would highly recommend the Thunderbolt displays if you’re not comfortable with hdmi.

Using Thunderbolt or DisplayPort instead of HDMI will impact performance. The only exception I can think of is if the very high resolution is dropping the HDMI to 30 Hz, which would cause slow scrolling and windows would kind of stutter as moved about. But the computer performance is not affected.