Does the 2012 Mac Mini Support Dual Thunderbolt Displays?

Until there's an official statement I think we can only make an educated guess at this point. As a data point, I use a 27" Thunderbolt Display with the 2011 Mac Mini 2.5Ghz with 6670M discrete graphics. It does "ok" for casual use, though it really struggles with full-screen HD video (there's a very noticeable choppiness), at least in Safari. It's passable with Firefox or Chrome, though even there the computer's fan revs up at times. Also, actions such as swiping Launchpad screens exhibits a noticable lag.

And this is with one Thunderbolt Display. I'd think adding a second would result in performance that would be less than ideal.

According to Apple Support - "the 2012 Mac Mini will support two displays, but one of them will need to be an HDMI display. It will not support 2 Thunderbolt displays."

This is really NOT an upgrade if it has this video limitation. HDMI is NOT a real display option and I am disappointed with Apple for this downgrade. All of the other upgraded components are not relevant if I cannot use Dual Thunderbolt displays.

Is there anyone already who can confirm this will work with the new Mac Mini ?

JeffN427 wrote:

Confirmed. I am running 2 Thunderbolt 27" displays from a 2012 Core i5 Mac Mini with Intel 4000 graphics.

How well is it working? Any lag issues? Redraw issues?

If I may ask, what sort of environment are you using in, i.e.

video editing, CAD, etc.

I have been running 2 thunderbolt display on my mini. Works fine no lag issues ata all

How about if you run full screen video (e.g. Hulu, using Safari). Does it run smoothly?

On my 2011 2.5Ghz Mini with 16GB, Thunderbolt Display, even with the discreet video card, I see jerkiness. And I see the 2012 model only has the Intel on-board GPU...

And how about if you view "Spaces" and swipe the screen of icons from side to side? On mine, the panel of icons scrolls partway, pauses, then scrolls the rest of the way. Does it scroll smoothly on the 2012? Not that this particular function is all that important, but it is symptomatic of the overall lag issue.

bheiser1 wrote:

How about if you run full screen video (e.g. Hulu, using Safari). Does it run smoothly?

With Hulu or any web video service, the issue probably has more to do

with Adobe Flash than it does with the display. I get jerkiness with Hulu

pretty much on any Mac I try to view it on, discrete or integrated graphics.

Hi Jeff:

Are there any additional adapters or cables necessary to install two Thunderbolt displays on the new mac mini? How do you install?

Jeff,

Do you mean that the thunderbolt displays have the power cord and the thunderbolt male cabe built into the back of the display? In that way the thunderboldt male cable would connect to the female port on the mac mini or a second thunderbot display. The magsafe cables would not be used with the mini, I assume