Thinking of getting the Mac Mini M1 and a 34” Superwide LG monitor resolution of 3440 x 1440 with HDMI and DisplayPort. Reading the problems with connectivity and supported resolutions of the M1 - can anyone tell me whether the combination will work properly?
I am having a handful of issues with my Mini M1 connecting via USB-C to Displayport to my Xiaomi 34" Ultrawide. Granted it is a budget ultrawide meant for the Chinese market (and not the US), but surprisingly, it connects and displays an image fine and it works at the 144Hz refresh rate over DP, which I could not get most linux distos to even be able to do. The problem I am having with it though, is that every time the mac goes into sleep mode for a period of less than a couple hours, it kernel panics upon waking the system and reboots. MacOS comes back up fine and I haven't lost any data yet but it is a major annoyance to be sure.
I am pretty sure the problem is due to a bad handshake happening between the monitor and the Mac when it wakes from sleep and is probably specifically related to the fact that it is Xiaomi brand.
I don’t know much about this, but I read that the M1 will only use refresh rates up to 75Hz - maybe the 144Hz refresh rate is causing a problem. It will be 2 weeks before my Mac Mini arrives. I have bought an LG Superwide 34” with a 60Hz refresh rate because of what I read. I’m not a gamer, so the 100/144Hz refresh is not something I require.
Refresh rate and resolution are somewhat tied together. That's why as the resolution goes up, the max supported refresh rate usually goes down. HDMI tops out at 100Hz on this monitor and DisplayPort/Thunderbolt goes much higher. A 4k display has over 3 million more pixels it has to push compared to a 1440p ultra wide. That 3 million pixel headroom allows for a higher refresh rate at a lower resolution. My monitor is receiving a 3440x1440 signal at 144 Hz just fine from my M1 mac mini over the USB-C to DisplayPort adapter I am using, It's just having issues when waking from sleep, so I went into system prefs today and told it not to sleep when the display is off. It may be a flaky adapter too, who knows.
Once you use a 120Hz+ display for anything, it is hard to go back to 60Hz, gaming or not. Unless you are doing work that needs extreme color accuracy, then the high refresh rate monitors tend to be less accurate there.
Reading all of the issues with DisplayPort monitors, I would look at the LG Thunderbolt monitors. I'm hoping to pick one up either when they go on sale, or after January.
@bradymt
Can I ask which monitor are you using (make and model)? Thanks!
LG 34WN80C 😊
It's the Xiaomi Mi Curved Gaming Monitor 34"
Model Number is XMMNTWQ34
https://www.displayspecifications.com/en/model/259c1bb0
Mac Mini M1 and superwide 34” monitor
