Mac Mini question.

[chebby]

Will a 21.5" or 24" (1920 x 1080) monitor connected to a Mac Mini with HDMI (at both ends) function fully in all respects as a monitor, or is it just for connection to AV devices?

With my (Windows) laptops and PCs I have only ever used VGA for monitors so I am not sure about this.

Thanks

 

[Dave_]

Will a 21.5" or 24" (1920 x 1080) monitor connected to a Mac Mini with HDMI (at both ends) function fully in all respects as a monitor,

Yes

 

[tinkywinkydipsylalapo]

Will a 21.5" or 24" (1920 x 1080) monitor connected to a Mac Mini with HDMI (at both ends) function fully in all respects as a monitor

Absolutely it will. Now can we start the 'Which HDMI cable for a Mac mini and monitor?' thread?

 

[chebby]

Will a 21.5" or 24" (1920 x 1080) monitor connected to a Mac Mini with HDMI (at both ends) function fully in all respects as a monitor

Absolutely it will. Now can we start the 'Which HDMI cable for a Mac mini and monitor?' thread?

Thanks. Just ordered it from amazon. Belkin 1m High Speed, non-retail, HDMI cable for £6.99. (Nickel plated.)

 

[chebby]

Thanks daveh75 too.

 

[chebby]

Just got lucky on my Mac Mini order today.

Yesterday (when I had planned to order it) the John Lewis 3-year extended warranty and accident cover was £85.

However, I didn't get around to ordering it. Just forgot.

Logged in to order it today and the extra cover is now only £20 and the standard guarantee is extended to 3 years as well.

 

[chebby]

🙂

 

[chebby]

Got new Mac Mini installed yesterday (with HDMI connected Acer 24") with no problems except 5 minutes getting bluetooth pairing to work with old Apple wireless keyboard.

Going to move iTunes library over to new machine later and shop around for USB 3.0 external drive. (At last I can rid ourselves of big old WD MyBook firewire backup HD which hummed very loudly when in use.)

I can now get the latest version of Photoshop Elements (wouldn't work under Snow Leopard on old iMac).

Mac Mini also has handy SDXC slot so no more card readers.

I will upgrade the RAM to 16GB one day but it's pretty nippy as standard and silent and, even after a whole evening, barely warm to the touch. (If at all, it was so hard to tell.)

 

[Overdose]

Not cheap per se, but excellent value as a universal media sever/player when compared to hifi streamers.

Works superbly with other Apple devices and can be headlessly controlled with Splashtop.

Not sure why I'm telling you that though.

 

[chebby]

Not cheap per se ...

I spent some of the previous week pricing up quite a few options (all of which had to be available from organisations that I trust and have excellent extended guarantees / cover agreements between 3 -5 years) and the choices were, apart from the Mac Mini, a bit dismal - albeit superbly well covered - unless I wanted to raise my budget to much nearer £1000.

I didn't want another 'tower' system and my few portable needs are covered by an iPad Mini and/or my iPhone, so compactness dictated either a small laptop (that would have it's lid permanently closed and a monitor plugged in), or another iMac (too expensive alas).

It's also nice to have one Windows-free computer in the house to relax with. (Our PC and laptops are all Windows 7 Pro and they are still very 'needy' - in comparison to a Mac - but two of our machines are necessary for home-working so they have to be Windows 7 Pro.) Maybe I just associate Windows with work and it's all psychological 🙂

 

[Overdose]

Don't forget Splashtop.

 

[chebby]

Don't forget Splashtop.

$60 per year. Maybe not.

 

[Overdose]

Not for local network use, that's free.

Actually, I think it cost me £2.99

yep, Splashtop 2 Personal.

 

[chebby]

Ah right. Thanks.

 

[chebby]

Just tried Splash top. It's ok although I didn't like the way it shrank my 24" 1920 x 1080 display to the same resolution as my iPad Mini.

(Either that or the Mac Mini screen on the iPad Mini ends up being almost unusably small.)

Probably better with full-sized iPads (with Retina).

I'll keep the app anyway but it's less of a faff to walk over to the Mac Mini and set something playing via AirPlay. (Remember I don't do 'track hopping' and most of the stuff I play is drama / documentary / comedy in nature.)

I have apps on my iPhone and iPad for internet radio and iPlayer radio.

I will be looking into getting Bit Perfect though. (Purely for plaback of lossless content from the Mac Mini.) But that will probably wait until a Naim UnitiQute comes along 🙂

 

[MajorFubar]

I use RDM Desktop. I'd love to recommend it but it's skanky over-priced rubbish. It wasn't originally rubbish but its developers haven't updated it for years and now it's not fully happy with any of the recent OSX or iOS releases.

 

[Overdose]

The app can do odd things with the screens, but I use it for purposes other than media playback control. Usually for controlling updates or downloading files for example.

For media playback I either use the Mac as a server and its library, or I control iTunes with the Remote app.

 

[chebby]

I'll stick with the Remote app. It also doesn't interfere with what the other person is doing on the Mac (if iTunes is minimised). The SplashTop thing would create 'merry hell' if my wife was on the Mac at the same time!

 

[John Duncan]

My word, it's a frustrating experience posting on mobile...

You might consider Pixelmator as a cheap, yet remarkably functional, alternative to Photoshop (of any hue)

 

[John Duncan]

My word, it's a frustrating experience posting on mobile...

You might consider Pixelmator as a cheap, yet remarkably functional, alternative to Photoshop (of any hue)

 

I wanted to add "There is a 30 day free trial.", but it wouldn't let me.

 

[chebby]

My word, it's a frustrating experience posting on mobile...

You might consider Pixelmator as a cheap, yet remarkably functional, alternative to Photoshop (of any hue)

Thanks. After using PS and PSE since I first started digital photography, I am rather set in my ways. Besides, i've just downloaded Scott Kelby's latest PSE guide onto Kindle*.

(*It was my old PSE 'bible' but I can't find it now and it's quite a few releases out-of-date. I learnt a lot of good stuff from him.)