iPad Pro as sole display/input for Mac mini

I received the Astropad Luna Display USB-C dongle. It works as advertised. A bit expensive at $90 but worth it to me.

Original set up was not too hard for a tech challenged person like me, took under 10 minutes including downloads and I got it right the first time. You could do it even faster.

You do need a separate monitor only for the first time set up, but not after that.

I have mine connected peer to peer wirelessly. I tried wired with a Thunderbolt 4 cable and it makes a minimal difference as the wireless is rather good. Need to experiment with this further. And the iPad magic keyboard does work, as does the touchpad and and the touchscreen on the iPad.

My only nit to pick is you do need a separate keyboard to enter your Mac’s password as the iPad magic keyboard is still not connected. No problem as I have a regular and a palm sized bluetooth keyboard and my password is easy enough to do without seeing it. After the password is entered, it takes maybe 15-30 seconds to fully connect. Perhaps there is a setting in the Mac to connect even on the lock/startup screen? Maybe the wired connection?

Switching between the Mac and iPad on my iPad is just a mouse click.

Would I buy it again? Yes!

I would recommend the larger iPad for the extra real estate, but still running my MacMini on my 10” iPad is great!

Photos are compressed to fit so quality is degraded a bit. I do get my full iPad screen resolution.

I just bought the Luna Display plug thing. It needs a separate monitor only once for initial setup, then the two can connect by peer to peer or with a thunderbolt cable. And this gives me an option for another display if my main monitor crashes, or I need to take the mini with me. And it seems least techy as I am tech challenged.

My hobby is astrophotography and I am looking for a Mac alternative to a windows mini PC. So I need much time experimenting, which I will have in the evenings when I travel. Hence I need to take the Mac Mini.

Will report back on the results after I try it.

I do appreciate you taking the time and offering work arounds and alternatives.

Thank you.

I have a new loaded M5 MBPro for truly mobile work. But I have many, many hours of work on my Mac Mini and would like to do it while on the road over the next several months. And I don’t want another item to pack i.e. another monitor, or another item that will not be used after a few months, so want to use my iPad as described. When all that is done, the Mini will go back to being a desktop.

There is a way, but I just do not know how.

Much of the work is setting up apps, processes and more in the mac mini. And I have copied what I can to my MBPro.

I appreciate what you both are saying, but it is a second choice alternative.

Just a solution to make this work please.