freevito
Level 2
(303 points)
Q: Connecting a VGA monitor to new Mac Mini?
I have a perfectly good LCD monitor that has a VGA connector on its input cable. I'm currently using it with an old iMac G4 (Gumdrop) via a mini-display to VGA adapter cable.
I'm replacing the old iMac with a new Mac Mini, which has only Thunderbolt and HDMI connectors available. The Mac Mini comes with an "HDMI to DVI adapter" (Apple's description), but I can't find any other information about that adapter on the Mac Mini description pages, nor can I find any photos of the adapter. I assume that the DVI side of the adapter is a standard DVI (F) female connector, which will accept a standard DVI (M) male connector.
Unless I'm missing something (definitely possible), it would seem that the most direct method of connecting the monitor would be to use a DVI (M) to VGA (F) adapter; plug the DVI side into the Apple-supplied HDMI to DVI adapter, and then use the VGA side of the adapter to connect the monitor.
I've read that some folks have had difficulty connecting VGA monitors to the Mac Mini — something about the HDMI signal not accurately translating to VGA with passive adapters. I don't know enough about it to say whether it's workable, but something doesn't add up. If Apple's HDMI to DVI adapter works then it should just provide DVI at the DVI end of the adapter. And if DVI converts to VGA (which it does...I've done it many times), how can the [HDMI to DVI] + [DVI to VGA] path not work?
Are there "different kinds" of DVI signals — namely, the kind that can be converted to VGA, and another kind that can't be converted to VGA?
Thanks in advance.
MPQuad-Core2.8GHz,32GB,23"CinemaHD, Mac OS X (10.6.8), MacBook Pro 17"; 10.6.8; 2GB RAM
freevito
Level 2
(303 points)
Oops...never mind; I found my answer.
First, The Solution:
In case anyone else has the same question, the solution doesn't lie with the HDMI port at all. Rather, the Thunderbolt port is the way to go if you need to connect a VGA monitor. Thunderbolt is backwards-compatible with Mini DisplayPort. Apple's Mini DisplayPort to VGA adapter is all that's necessary to connect a VGA monitor to the Mac Mini via the Thunderbolt port:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB572Z/A?fnode=MTY1NDA3Ng&mco=MTA4NDU0NjA
Next, Why HDMI Won't Work With VGA:
As it turns out, there really ARE different kinds of DVI. The kind of DVI signal that you get on the end of the Apple-supplied HDMI to DVI adapter is DVI-D (digital only). It's compatible with DVI displays, but it lacks the analog VGA signals, which are absent from the HDMI connector.
The "standard" kind of DVI (in the sense that it's the kind used on Apple's DVI connectors in the past) is called DVI-I (integrated), meaning it integrates both digital and analog signals. That's why a passive DVI to VGA adapter worked in the past.
Alas, HDMI is fully digital; it has no analog signal. So, while the Apple-supplied HDMI to DVI adapter will drive a DVI monitor, it doesn't carry any of the analog signal necessary to drive a VGA monitor, because the HDMI connector is lacking that signal in the first place.
