I noticed there are 2 display connectors, one is mini DVI and the other one is Mini DisplayPort.
So I want to know does the new Mac Mini support dual displays? Either use one DVI and one DP, or use mini DisplayPort to Dual DVI adaptor.
I just got home from a 16 hour day so I haven't tested the MDP-DVI adapter i got on Thursday extensively.
I did notice the black screen problem on the MDP-VGA adapter today on an entirely different monitor when I set up my mini at the Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis. The monitor is a Westinghouse pos TV with a vga port. It was what I had, so I used it, but noticed one time the output from the mini dropped to black for a few seconds then returned to normal. It was in the middle of internet work in Firefox I believe. When setting it up, I tried to make sure the connections were solid this time, after not being sure last time it happened. Still some more testing might find a pattern...so more to come.
I've got some editing to do tomorrow so I'll try to test the MDP-DVI adapter too.
I am writing this on my new Mini with dual display. It works beautifully! My displays support 1440x900 resolution. Does anyone know if the Mini can support 2 displays at higher resolutions of 1900x1200?
Thanks for all the useful info everybody! I'm looking to do the same thing with a new mini but I have 2 VGA monitors. Anyone know if connecting one to the Mini DisplayPort & one to the Mini DVI port using the following adapters would work?
Even if someone knew if it should theoretically work, that'd be good enough for me. My old faithful PowerMac has become too much a pain in the neck to continue being my primary machine. The sales guy in the Apple store seemed to think so but he wasn't one of the Geniuses & while they're very helpful & friendly, I'm not sure how much knowledge they actually have. No offense to any Apple Store employees, I just don't know.
I am planning to buy a Mini this weekend and had a few questions. First, I've owned the older Mini and a 24" iMac so I'm not new to Macs, but this will be the first one I run with dual monitors. So, do both the 2.26Ghz and 2.53Ghz support dual monitors?
When I buy my mini, what adapters do I need to get with it to run these two together? I'm confused as to what comes with it and what I need to make sure I buy.
this is all great info and exactly what i was looking for. i have a question for the panel though ... I've currently got my 2009 mini connected to a 24" dell through the displayport/dvi adaptor and a 21.5" samsung through the mini-dvi/dvi adaptor. when i check the resolution for the second display, in this case the samsung, the options are television options like 1080p, which just seems weird, and no option for say 1920x1080. the reason i ask is because the resolution on the samsung seems to lack some sharpness. does anyone know what i'm talking about? thanks! should i increase the ram? will that improve video quality?
It works ... but not well. I have the 2010 mac mini running 2 1920x1200 displays. The 2009 models were better suited. Here's my personal experience:
At work:
2009 Mac Mini (bought spring of 2010) -- basic specs
2 monitors (1920x1200 ea)
At home:
2010 Mac Mini (bought sept 2010) -- basic specs
Same 2 monitors (1920x1200 ea)
So that its clear I'm comparing apples to apples here (no pun intended), I bought my mini so that I could replicate my work setup exactly when I work from home (nights/weekends). I've noticed the video playback lag issue, but I don't watch videos at work, so thats perhaps not a fair comparison (although from an 'objective usability' standpoint the video playback is atrocious).
The things that I do on both machines (my workflows):
-both have 6 spaces (instead of the default which is 4)
-I do lots of web development, so I have many (usually ~12) browser windows open, several terminal windows, and emacs (aquamacs)
-I'm a developer, so I love me my keyboard shortcuts, and frequently switch between spaces with keyboard shortcuts
The discrepancies:
The 2010 mac mini performs horribly. In every way I can measure.
When i switch between spaces, the screen lags quite a bit (sometimes so much so that it appears that the keystroke hasn't registered at all -- then I hit it again, and I skip 2 spaces quickly), often around 3-4 seconds (sometimes up to 7-8).
The browsers always take forever to load. This is not an internet speed issue. I have better throughput at home than at the office. Additionally, as a web developer, I know the difference between request time and rendering time. The new mini is lagging on render time. This can be seen in almost any window type -- just creating new terminal windows is laggy -- why?
I did the openGL recent update and these issues are still happening. Maybe this is a driver issue / gfx card issue. I don't know. I wish there was a cure, but I very much doubt that installing more memory is going to fix the problem, when the 2009 model has the same amount and works just fine.
Very disappointed to see this, I was hoping my experience was isolated and a fix might be available in an upcoming OSX upgrade. Admittedly Im pushing my Mini to the max.... (three 1080p Samsungs) but it looks like I'll be dialing it back to just one display and hoping then I haven't wasted $700 on my HTPC.
For fun, we also loaded an 8GB/1TB MacMini server with the standard Snow Leopard installation and hooked it up to the big screens. At first it was blazingly fast, but after about 30 minutes it too began to crawl when painting the screen and had to be shut down altogether at times. It was slower than the 13" Macbook Pro we were using as a comparison, which isn't surprising considering they use the same integrated GPU.
I was hoping for improvement though, especially considering the highly suggestive inclusion of a direct HDMI out on the latest MacMini seemed to indicate that Apple expected these to be used in home theatre setups.
In the end, my client has decided to go with either a 15" Macbook Pro or a quad-core Mac Pro, either of which should do the job admirably, albeit with a bit of overkill.
