*** The official late 2020 Mac mini thread (it has the M1 chip and everything!) ***

HACO

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Squink said:
I've been eyeing up new monitors because I really think I could get on well with MacOS, and a 5k model is tempting. The trouble is, a 27" monitor (nor the UW equivalent) isn't quite large enough for me. I work primarily in Word and I like to view a single entire page at a certain size. On a 34" UW on Windows I can just manage it by auto-hiding the ribbon. MacOS Word for some reason doesn't have an option to hide the ribbon, making the document a little smaller than I want it. Since this is my. job I can afford to be fussy over the details.
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I think you can turn off the ribbon, but not autohide it like it is in Windows.

I'm in the same boat regarding 27" monitors, I feel like it's small but I love 32" screens, the problem is that they're still low res (32" 4K is only 137ppi). 32" 6-8K would be 200+ ppi which is very good but there are only two of them in the world (Apple XDR and Dell UP3218K), and both cost £3500 or more. I'll immediately buy one of these if they get to £2000.

GMac11 said:
I'd also love to get a high PPI monitor for my Macbook, especially since I have switched over from my PC full time now. The only exception is I still use the PC for Sim Racing and to that end I cannot give up my Predator 35 inch 120hz 1440 monitor. There's also no chance I would 'add' a monitor to my setup as I like a relatively minimalist workspace plus there's no way I could clear the added cost with the accountant (read Mrs :p).
Ideally an UW or even a standard 32inch 16:9 4k monitor would be the ticket but it would also need to be capable of playing games @1440/120hz(min).
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I honestly wouldn't call a 32" 4K screen high PPI. It will add up to only 137 ppi, similar to a 27" 1440p. It's not poor, but not high either.
 

Feek

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Not related to the Mac mini but I'm looking at a 28" 4K monitor to use as a second screen on my 27" 5K iMac. That should look OK shouldn't it? I'm currently using a 24" 1080p monitor as a second screen on the iMac.
 

HACO

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Feek said:
Not related to the Mac mini but I'm looking at a 28" 4K monitor to use as a second screen on my 27" 5K iMac. That should look OK shouldn't it? I'm currently using a 24" 1080p monitor as a second screen on the iMac.
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It will be much much better than the 1080p one :D but I recommend getting the 27" LG Ultrafine 5K one if it's within your budget. It will look just as good as the iMac screen (calibration isn't as good though, but not noticeable). 28" 4K is still ~160ppi which is noticeably lower than all Apple screens. It will be by no means bad, just not as sharp as the iMac next to it.

With these LGs usually out of stock these days (you can still find them if you search around though) there are also rumours that Apple will be releasing their own 27 to 32 inch monitors that are more affordable than the XDR. And the rumours come from Mark Gurman of Bloomberg, who usually publishes Apple's controlled leaks. We just don't know when (I'm guessing this year).
 

Squink

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My Mac Mini is going back to Apple. I liked MacOS and could see myself using it over Windows once I'd become accustomed to it, but, for my use case, the Mini is no faster than the other hardware I have available. In fact, it boots slower than the HP Envy x360 I already owned and am now using. The need to buy a new 4k monitor to get rid of the blurred fonts would have made the switch to MacOS a £1500 luxury which I can admittedly afford but can't justify. Yes I could buy a £300 monitor but if I was going to swap, I'd want something comparable in quality to my Alienware UW.

And before anyone suggests I should have done some research first, I did plenty and all the reviews suggest the M1 chips have a more far-reaching influence on the day-to-day speed of the machines than they actually do. In addition, all the integration with other Apple devices, while handy, wasn't much use since my iPhone is always on my desk within easy reach, so I don't need messages popping up on screen, nor a computer to play music.

Anyway, none of this is meant as negative, only observational for people who may not have a use case that requires the grunt of an M1 chip.
 

HACO

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Squink said:
My Mac Mini is going back to Apple. I liked MacOS and could see myself using it over Windows once I'd become accustomed to it, but, for my use case, the Mini is no faster than the other hardware I have available. In fact, it boots slower than the HP Envy x360 I already owned and am now using. The need to buy a new 4k monitor to get rid of the blurred fonts would have made the switch to MacOS a £1500 luxury which I can admittedly afford but can't justify. Yes I could buy a £300 monitor but if I was going to swap, I'd want something comparable in quality to my Alienware UW.

And before anyone suggests I should have done some research first, I did plenty and all the reviews suggest the M1 chips have a more far-reaching influence on the day-to-day speed of the machines than they actually do. In addition, all the integration with other Apple devices, while handy, wasn't much use since my iPhone is always on my desk within easy reach, so I don't need messages popping up on screen, nor a computer to play music.

Anyway, none of this is meant as negative, only observational for people who may not have a use case that requires the grunt of an M1 chip.
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Sounds reasonable, it definitely isn't for everyone. And the Mac Mini has less of an appeal as most of the benefits (for now) come for laptops, with excellent battery life and silent operations while having top level performance and a high resolution bright IPS display, makes it seem like you don't need to trade off between those things and you can have it all. That's usually where the excitement is. With the Mini battery life isn't relevant & you need your own screen, so not as exciting as the laptops.
 

shiver

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Feek said:
Not related to the Mac mini but I'm looking at a 28" 4K monitor to use as a second screen on my 27" 5K iMac. That should look OK shouldn't it? I'm currently using a 24" 1080p monitor as a second screen on the iMac.
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I currently have 27" 4K next to 27" 5K iMac...it's ok really. I notice the difference in colour quality way more than the slightly different scale.
 

Zeebedy

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How is the Bluetooth on the m1 MM guys? I hear some stories of BT connection?

I’m going to be connecting my Beats S3 headphones anD the magic keyboard 2, will they be OK compatibility wise as they are official Apple accessories?
 

ChrisD.

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I'm also tempted, but I don't really need a desktop, I need a smaller laptop hence I want an Air. But I'm at the point now whereas I might as well wait until M2 or whatever it's going to be called.
 

Zeebedy

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Monkian said:
Which one did you order? the basic spec mac mini has just dropped to £551 with delivery tomorrow on the other big retailer that begins with A.
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I customised to the 16gb ram, with 256gb storage.

man am I glad I sent my base model back (still sealed) to Amazon, as I was paying £648, that current offer is amazing!!
 
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