Do we need to get a new monitor with a Mac Mini?

scrabblequeen wrote:
I ordered an apple mini to vga display adapter. Is this the correct one?

Or so I need the apple mini display port to vga adapter?

Mac mini - MC815S/A

Apple Cinema HD Display 23" - M8537ZM/A

What kind of Adapter I need look after?

gMany thanks.

Assuming it is a VGA monitor, you can use it, but Apple didn't make it very easy.

First - The HDMI port and HDMI to DVI adapter that comes with it lead you to believe that all you need is a DVI to analog adapter and you are set. It is a red herring. From what I have read, the HDMI/DVI on the Mac Mini/10.7 is not compatible with VGA. It must be true because if there is a functional adapter from DVI to VGA, I have not found it.

Second - The better path, one that Apple doesn't seem interested in advertising, is to go from the Thunderbolt port to a VGA adapter, then to your VGA monitor. Special hint here, the Thunderbolt Port is backwards compatible to Mini Display Port (MDP) which works fine with VGA. This would be cool if it hadn't taken me a week to find it. And, again, Apple makes no mention of it.

Caveat - The solution in the last paragraph seems to be a workable solution, with one irritating exception. Mac Mini/OSX 10.7 (Lion) doesn't seem to understånd wide ratio monitors (16x9), at least not my Soyo. It only works at the 4x3 ratio. Depending on your monitor, you may be able to switch display ratios with the monitor's control panel.

Minor Rant - This is especially irritating in that my 9 year old Power PC G4 running OSX 10.4.11 drives the monitor just fine, but the high zoot 2011 Mini with 10.7 does not. It is also irritating because one of Apple's main selling points about the Mini is that, why bother buying a machine with keyboard and monitor when you can just plug it into your existing peripherals? Good concept, if only it were as smooth as the ad.

Cam,

bxtrclrk makes a good point when he/she says that the mini should be plug and play. The original sales pitch for the mini was that you could unplug the mouse, keyboard, monitor and speakers from your PC and plug them right into the back of the mac mini. That was back in the days that Apple was still burdened by the misguided notion that everyone in the world should use a macintosh computer. ITunes only worked on a Mac and an iPod only interfaced with a Mac. Once Apple realized that their focus is one of user interface first, computer user interface second, they gave up on forcing everyone to a Mac. Ironically, they have sold more macs since emphasising other products.

So, the whole idea of the Mac Mini is plug and play, all you have to do is find the right adapter. It is the salesperson's job to get you set up. And do not be convinced that the adapter has to be an Apple brand adapter.

JI~m

Previously I said, "Caveat - The solution in the last paragraph seems to be a workable solution, with one irritating exception. Mac Mini/OSX 10.7 (Lion) doesn't seem to understånd wide ratio monitors (16x9), at least not my Soyo. It only works at the 4x3 ratio. Depending on your monitor, you may be able to switch display ratios with the monitor's control panel."

What I forgot to add is that, on my monitor at least, setting it to the 4x3 raio corrects the aspect ratio of images but leaves about 2 inches of unused black border on both sides of the monitor screen, effectively turning a 22 in wide screen monitor into an 18 inch conventional monitor. It works. But it is a long way from the way it should work.

Dear Apple: Please fix Lion'sMonitor Drivers.