Two 5K displays on Mac Mini

The standard Mac mini M2 only supports one display on the USB-C/Thunderbolt port and one display on the HDMI port.

You need to purchase the Mac mini M2 Pro in order to use 2 displays from the USB-C/ThunderBolt ports.

see > Mac mini (2023) - Technical Specifications

Also have a look at > Connect a display to Mac mini - Apple Support

What I am saying, is that there are three different Mac Mini M2 models and that only the Mac mini M2 Pro model supports two displays on the USB-C/ThunderBolt ports.

see > Mac mini - Technical Specifications - Apple

den.thed wrote:

What I am saying, is that there are three different Mac Mini M2 models and that only the Mac mini M2 Pro model supports two displays on the USB-C/ThunderBolt ports.

see > Mac mini - Technical Specifications - Apple

I believe that you are in error. There are three Mac minis that use Apple Silicon processors:

• M1 Mac mini
• M2 Mac mini
• M2 Pro Mac mini

The M1 and M2 Mac mini both have a limit of two monitors. There is an easily-overlooked but crucial difference between them. On the M1 Mac mini, the only way to attach two monitors was to

• Attach one monitor using USB-C or Thunderbolt 3
• Attach the other using HDMI

For the M2 Mac mini, Apple says that one of the options is

• Connect one display with up to 6K resolution at 60 Hz and one display with up to 5K resolution at 60 Hz using the Thunderbolt ports

So you can drive two 5K Thunderbolt monitors – if you are willing to tie up both of the valuable Thunderbolt ports, and not use the HDMI port. (I'd recommend going to a M2 Pro Mac mini or M2 Max Mac Studio if you're going to spend that sort of money on monitors, so you'd still have some free TB4 ports afterwards. But that's just me.)

den.thed wrote:

I was only referring to just the M2 Mac mini's and you are just repeating the same thing I said in different words.

I am not "repeating the same thing [you] said in different words." You said:

"You need to purchase the Mac mini M2 Pro in order to use 2 displays from the USB-C/ThunderBolt ports."

Apple's Technical Specifications say (emphasis mine):

"Apple M2 chip

Simultaneously supports up to two displays:

One display with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz over Thunderbolt and one display with up to 5K resolution at 60Hz over Thunderbolt or 4K resolution at 60Hz over HDMI"

This says that you can attach two 5K displays via Thunderbolt to a M2 Mac mini, if you are willing to sacrifice both of the Thunderbolt ports.

Servant of Cats wrote:

I believe that you are in error. There are three Mac minis that use Apple Silicon processors:

M1 Mac mini

• M2 Mac mini

• M2 Pro Mac mini

•

The M1 and M2 Mac mini both have a limit of two monitors. There is an easily-overlooked but crucial difference between them. On the M1 Mac mini, the only way to attach two monitors was to

Attach one monitor using USB-C or Thunderbolt 3

• Attach the other using HDMI

•

For the M2 Mac mini, Apple says that one of the options is

Connect one display with up to 6K resolution at 60 Hz and one display with up to 5K resolution at 60 Hz using the Thunderbolt ports

So you can drive two 5K Thunderbolt monitors – if you are willing to tie up both of the valuable Thunderbolt ports, and not use the HDMI port. (I'd recommend going to a M2 Pro Mac mini or M2 Max Mac Studio if you're going to spend that sort of money on monitors, so you'd still have some free TB4 ports afterwards. But that's just me.)

I was only referring to just the M2 Mac mini's and you are just repeating the same thing I said in different words.

Lawrence Hammer wrote:

On the specifications for the Mac mini M2, it reads:

"Simultaneously supports up to two displays:

One display with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz over Thunderbolt and one display with up to 5K resolution at 60Hz over Thunderbolt or 4K resolution at 60Hz over HDMI"

That adds up to two displays.

That is true, but that does not mean that you can connect two displays to the USB-C/Thunderbolt ports of an M2 Mac mini.

If you want to connect two displays to the USB-C/Thunderbolt ports, then you will need to buy the M2 Pro Mac mini.

den.thed wrote:

Lawrence Hammer wrote:

On the specifications for the Mac mini M2, it reads:

"Simultaneously supports up to two displays:

One display with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz over Thunderbolt and one display with up to 5K resolution at 60Hz over Thunderbolt or 4K resolution at 60Hz over HDMI"

That adds up to two displays.

That is true, but that does not mean that you can connect two displays to the USB-C/Thunderbolt ports of an M2 Mac mini.

It does, according to the Technical Specifications that Lawrence Hammer quoted. Doesn't mean that the Mini would let you daisy-chain a 6K and 5K display from a single Thunderbolt port. (Indeed, I don't believe that the Apple monitors even have daisy-chaining ports.). But if you want to use up both of the Mac's ports, have at it.

Presumably it would also be possible to attach two displays through a single USB-C / Thunderbolt port if

• Both displays had resolutions./ refresh rates of 4K @ 60 Hz, or less.
• The device directly attached to the Mac's USB-C / Thunderbolt port was a Thunderbolt device of some sort. Macs don't support daisy-chaining of USB-C (DisplayPort) displays.

Lawrence Hammer wrote:

The Apple Studio Display is a USB-C hub. I am hoping that I can daisy chain from that to the second monitor.

You cannot daisy-chain two 27" 5K Apple Studio Displays from one Thunderbolt port. These displays don't have Thunderbolt daisy-chaining ports.

I'm surprised to see that OWC thinks it is possible to connect two 5K displays to one of their Thunderbolt hubs IF you have a 'Pro' or 'Max' chip. 5K video uses up a LOT of bandwidth, and just one 5K display by itself is going to be using up a considerable amount of what's available on a Thunderbolt port.

https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/owc-thunderbolt-hub

Of course, the base M2 Mac mini doesn't have a 'Pro' or Max' chip. If you bought a M2 Pro Mac mini – or a Mac Studio – that did have such a chip, then you'd also have more Thunderbolt ports, and less of an immediate need for some sort of Thunderbolt "splitter" dock or hub.

Lawrence.

If an M2 Mac mini works out in the configuration that you originally asked about, then that would be awesome.

If not, then you can always return the M2 Mac mini with-in the 14 day return period and purchase either an M2 Pro Mac mini or Mac Studio.