Will the new Studio Display work better with a new M1 Mac Mini?

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Will the new Studio Display work better with a new M1 Mac Mini?

I have a 2018 Intel i3 mac mini, and have just bought a new 27" Studio display. I do like the display, though using Adobe CC, some of the screens/windows look a tiny bit blurred or fuzzy. I am thinking of upgrading to the new(ish) mac mini M1, and note that this supports resolutions of up to 6016×3384, whereas the older mini supports a maximum of 4096×2160. The studio display is 5120 × 2880, and therefore I would assume would appear sharper when paired with the new mac mini.

Will this be the case, does anyone know? Thanks in advance.

Posted on Apr 26, 2022 3:35 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Malcolm J. Rayfield

Level 7

23,095 points

Apr 26, 2022 6:26 AM in response to The Fella

The 2018 Mac mini will support a 5120 × 2880 display at full resolution.

Mac mini (2018) - Technical Specifications

"One display with 5120-by-2880 resolution at 60Hz connected via Thunderbolt 3 plus one display with 4096-by-2160 resolution at 60Hz connected via HDMI 2.0"

Make sure your cable is Thunderbolt 3, not just USB-C. Thunderbolt cables will have Lightning Bolt icons on the connectors.

https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MQ4H2AM/A/thunderbolt-3-usb%E2%80%91c-cable-08-m

Belkin Thunderbolt 3 5A Cable (2 m) - Apple

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Answer 2

Apr 26, 2022 5:04 AM in response to The Fella

What do you have the screen resolution set at?

If you set it to 4096x2160, it will end up being somewhat "blurry" since 4096 is not scaled up precisely to 5120 and pixels need to be interpolated. Try a resolution setting of 2560x1440 and it should appear crystal clear since it is an exact multiple of 5120. In PC parlance this is what is referred to as "HiDPI" and Apple tends to call it "Retina" mode.

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Answer 3

May 24, 2022 11:10 PM in response to The Fella

Have you tried holding down the Option key while you click on the Scaled radio button in System Preferences / Displays? For other combinations of computers and monitors this (for me) has brought up more resolution options than are shown by default.

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Answer 4

The Fella Author

Level 1

19 points

Apr 26, 2022 5:05 AM in response to woodmeister50

It is just set to 'default for display'. The preset is apple display, so it obviously recognises the display and has set the resolution at the optimal setting. However I note the mac mini I am using supports a maximum resolution of 4096×2160, whilst the studio monitor is higher. Hence me wondering if the newer mac, which support a higher resolution, would make a difference? In other words, is the resolution also affected by the graphics card in the mac, and not just what the monitor can show?

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Answer 5

The Fella Author

Level 1

19 points

Apr 26, 2022 10:00 AM in response to woodmeister50

Thanks for the help and suggestions, but there doesn't seem to be an option to change the resolution on the new studio display, just selecting one of the presets and customising by changing the white point, gamut, etc. Not the resolution?

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Answer 6

The Fella Author

Level 1

19 points

May 26, 2022 12:55 AM in response to Dan Suthers

Thanks for this suggestion - this did indeed bring up further options, that I have since tried. I am still not 100% sure as to which I should be using, however... At the moment I have 'Default for Display' selected, which I assume would be the correct setting?

However when I do as suggested, and hold down Option, it shows I have 2560x1440 selected, with two higher res choices above it coming up (2880x1620 and 5120x2880). If I select either of these, it just makes everything on my screen much smaller, rather than sharper! I thought resolution would affect the sharpness, not make all the icons and windows much smaller.

Sorry, I might be missing something, or my understanding of resolution might be limited - any thoughts or ideas on this?

Thanks!

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Answer 7

Jun 7, 2022 4:08 AM in response to The Fella

There is no "should be using": use the one that works best for your needs!

It is unfortunately the case that going to higher resolution also makes the text smaller. In my case, I want it to be easy to read text so I use lower resolutions so the text will be larger. (I see this as an accessibility design failure: one should be able to enlarge all the fonts in the underlying OS and all applications via one setting. That would probably require major design changes to make anything that displays fonts to reference a common resource.)

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Answer 8

hcsitas

Level 6

13,970 points

Apr 26, 2022 7:17 AM in response to The Fella

Be aware that a 2018 mini can’t be configured as an AirPlay receiver, which means your Display can’t be fully used with it. M1 = no problem.

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Will the new Studio Display work better with a new M1 Mac Mini?

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