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USB Display Recommendations

A

AnthonyCM

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 17, 2007
202
7
My new (refurb) Mini is on the way. I'm retiring the old one, which has been hooked up to my television.

But I don't want the old one to just go to waste. It's either a 2009 or 2010 model (2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo - 4GB RAM). I think I might move it into the kitchen. Can anyone recommend a cheap USB display that might work with it? Don't need anything fancy. Maybe 15" or so. Just something I can screw around with iTunes, recipes, and the like with. Basically to save me the trouble of having to bring my iPad into the kitchen when needed (yes, yes, first world problems).

Thanks,
anthony
 
AnthonyCM said:
My new (refurb) Mini is on the way. I'm retiring the old one, which has been hooked up to my television.

But I don't want the old one to just go to waste. It's either a 2009 or 2010 model (2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo - 4GB RAM). I think I might move it into the kitchen. Can anyone recommend a cheap USB display that might work with it? Don't need anything fancy. Maybe 15" or so. Just something I can screw around with iTunes, recipes, and the like with. Basically to save me the trouble of having to bring my iPad into the kitchen when needed (yes, yes, first world problems).

Thanks,
anthony
Click to expand...

Why would you want to go USB? Your Mini has USB 2.0 which is going to be an awful experience. You'd be better off just going with a small LCD display that connects to the Mini Display port. You can buy small monitors at Newegg starting at like $44....
 
paulrbeers said:
Why would you want to go USB? Your Mini has USB 2.0 which is going to be an awful experience. You'd be better off just going with a small LCD display that connects to the Mini Display port. You can buy small monitors at Newegg starting at like $44....
Click to expand...

I was only looking at USB in order to cut down on the amount of wires.
 
AnthonyCM said:
I was only looking at USB in order to cut down on the amount of wires.
Click to expand...
?
You would still need the same number of wires - they would just use different connections.
USB is never well-supported on Macs and OS X. You already have two different video out, mini-DVI, and Mini DisplayPort.
Get a cheap display, which might have a VGA connector. You can then get a single cable that has the connectors that you need. Here is a sample Mini DisplayPort to VGA cable: http://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=6002
You would need power, too. So, two wires for the display.
Same as always (A USB connection would still need power for the display :D )
 
Thanks for the info. I'm looking at the AOC monitors, which are USB powered.
 
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