mac mini 1600 by 1200 and 2560 by 1440

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Level 1

17 points

mac mini 1600 by 1200 and 2560 by 1440

I have a question regards to mac mini mid 2011

Currently i have a formac monitor 1600 by 1200 if i were to upgrade to the apple 27 inch or any other monitor with 2560 by 1440 is the mac mini mid 2011 going to have to work harder to display this ?

Currently use the mac mini for drawing in art rage

Before any one says you need thunder bolt for the display 2560 1440 i understand this

I am after data rather than it works as I understand it would be compatible with mac mini and thunderbolt

Last question is the apple monitor 27 inch still usb 2 ? as i am told it is and not the current usb 3

regards Rob

Posted on Jul 20, 2015 6:35 AM

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Answer 1

lllaass

Level 10

210,411 points

Jul 20, 2015 8:17 AM in response to asahiart

The 2011 Mini support:

Thunderbolt port with support for up to 2560-by-1600 resolution.
Yes, the Apple 27" Thunderbolt monitor will work. That monitor only has:

Ports

Three powered USB 2.0 ports
Firewire 800
Gigabit Ethernet port
Kensington lock slot
Thunderbolt.

It may work the Mini more but it depends upon if you have the 2.3 GHz Mini or a higher GHz Mini. The 2.3 GHz one uses graphics integrated with the CPU

Intel HD Graphics 3000 processor with 288MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory3

while the other uses

AMD Radeon HD 6630M graphics processor with 256MB of GDDR5 memory

I myself would get a less expensive 2560x1600 (or a little less) monitor that has a mini displayport or display port input. Just as good but less expensive.

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Answer 2

asahiart Author

Level 1

17 points

Jul 20, 2015 9:28 AM in response to lllaass

Hello Illaass,

Yes the mini a 2.5 i5 x 2 processor and a 256mb of graphic card.

Do you have an actual experience with use of a mac mini as above specs with a monitor of say low spec and then increase in spec of monitor and find any difference in work load ?

Other possible monitor is dell u2515h 2560 x 1440, it has an adjustable stand up down back tilt etc and usb 3.

Spoke with tech apple on the areas i am asking but they unable to answer my question so apple suggested to ask here, plus i'm been informed the monitor 27 in apple still produce with usb 2 !

Seems odd as i thought apple would have removed and replaced the usb2 with usb 3 on all monitors

regards rob

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Answer 3

lllaass

Level 10

210,411 points

Jul 20, 2015 10:06 AM in response to asahiart

With in discrete graphics chip the CPU should not work any harder.

Your Mac only has USB 2 so a Monitor with a USB 3 hub will only operate at USB 2 speeds.

I have a late 2103 Mac Pro and have a dell 24" 4K monitor an HP and Asus 1080p monitors.

I would got to stores and look at the monitors and get the one that looks best to you.

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Answer 4

Jul 21, 2015 3:23 AM in response to asahiart

FWIW, I had been using a 2011 Mini Server with a Thunderbolt monitor for

3 years without any problems at all. Worked very well as a matter of fact.

During that time, I was using the combo pretty much as an engineering workstation,

quite often running Windows virtual machines, some times 2 at once.

"Seems odd as i thought apple would have removed and replaced the usb2 with usb 3 on all monitors"

The Thunderbolt monitor has not been updated since its introduction. For one item, it is a good

thing it hasn't as it still has a Firewire 800 ports which has disappeared on all the Macs and will

likely disappear on this if it is updated/replaced.

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