A warning: Do not buy a Mac Mini unless you have a high resolution (4K+) display.

[crowe-t]

I experienced this issue first-hand. The problem appeared to be with a firmware update that was done during an update to Mojave. When booting a display hooked up to the HDMI port, it would fail to display anything on screen. You had to unplug the monitor cable from the HDMI port, then plug it back in for it to work normally.

I had a 2005FPW Dell monitor, which used the same panel as the 20-inch Cinema Display, that I used with my 2018 Mac mini, using an Apple DVI-to-HDMI adapter. There was nothing wrong with the adapter itself. I then switched to a DVI-to-USB-C cable from that I got off of Amazon, which resolved the issue.

Apple support confirmed the problem, was aware of it, but they didn't consider it worthy of engineering effort to fix, according to the poster who originally discovered the problem, after having spent considerable personal time to work with Apple on a potential fix. I can't speak to the issues that other models may be having, but this was very specific to the HDMI port on the 2018 Mac mini and a certain Mojave update.

I've since moved to a 21.5-inch UltraFine, due to macOS being optimized for high-PPI displays, but do recall the troubles caused by this, because I spent months dealing with it.

Which(brand) DVI to USB-C cable did you get from Amazon?

 

[Dutch60]

I might sell my 2019 27" Intel iMac and keep my 25660x1440p Eizo whenever a Mac mini M2 pro arrives. Going from 2 to 1 screen then.
On the other hand, I like that 5k also....so maybe a successor of the 27" iMac...or maybe even a successor of the 24" iMac could do as well.
Not sure yet. Eizo stays...that' s for sure

 

[crowe-t]

So since the newest Mac OS has the removal of subpixel antialising, even if the display is set to "looks like" 2560x1440, they still require at least a 4K display? Using an actual 2560x1440 display(not a 4K display) the text won't look as sharp. Is this correct?

 

[Boyd01]

I don't know about the "newest" MacOS, but I am using Monterey with a 32 inch 2560x1440 display at native resolution on my 2018 Mini. Text looks absolutely fine to me. But there are other participants in this discussion that don't seem to agree.

 

[EugW]

I don't know about the "newest" MacOS, but I am using Monterey with a 32 inch 2560x1440 display at native resolution on my 2018 Mini. Text looks absolutely fine to me. But there are other participants in this discussion that don't seem to agree.

I have a 2017 iMac 27" 5120x2880 and an M1 Mac mini with 30" 2560x1600 Apple Cinema HD Display side by side.

The text on the 27" is clearly much crisper, but the ACD is fine too, and actually I prefer the default font sizing on the latter, because it's bigger. The 27" is 218 ppi which corresponds to 109 ppi in non-Retina terms, whereas the ACD is about 101 ppi.

I would love to get a 200 ppi Retina screen, but they don't exist.

 

[heavyarms2112]

I don't know about the "newest" MacOS, but I am using Monterey with a 32 inch 2560x1440 display at native resolution on my 2018 Mini. Text looks absolutely fine to me. But there are other participants in this discussion that don't seem to agree.

if you're using native resolution then it would be relatively clear. Try changing resolution on the 32" display from display preferences and you'd see the difference.

 

[Boyd01]

What would be the point of that? I specifically chose the BenQ monitor with a ~96ppi screen to use at native resolution. I had previously used a 23" Apple Cinema Display (1920x1200, 100ppi) for many years and liked it, so I wanted to stay close to the same pixel density. And there's lots of discussion here of issues using the 2018 Mini at scaled resolutions due to the weak integrated GPU. I didn't want any part of that.

I've been completely satisfied with this setup for two and a half years now. It might be the wrong solution for others however (the M1 Mini has a different GPU for example), so everyone needs to do their own "due diligence".

 

[heavyarms2112]

What would be the point of that? I specifically chose the BenQ monitor with a ~96ppi screen to use at native resolution. I had previously used a 23" Apple Cinema Display (1920x1200, 100ppi) for many years and liked it, so I wanted to stay close to the same pixel density. And there's lots of discussion here of issues using the 2018 Mini at scaled resolutions due to the weak integrated GPU. I didn't want any part of that.

I've been completely satisfied with this setup for two and a half years now. It might be the wrong solution for others however (the M1 Mini has a different GPU for example), so everyone needs to do their own "due diligence".

The point is the DPI scaling doesn't work when you change resolution and the purpose was to validate it not that you've to use it

 

[crowe-t]

This all gets a bit confusing. With Mac OS removal of subpixel antialising will a 4K or higher resolution monitor work better on a 2018 Mac Mini or M1 Mac Mini running a current Mac OS that's scaled to 2560x1440? As opposed to using a native 2560x1440 monitor?

 

[Boyd01]

Personally I would not use scaling on the 2018 Mini, there was considerable discussion of the problems here in 2018-2020. IIRC, there were multiple reports of "lag" when scaling 4k to QHD and one theory was that it caused the Mini to run hot and throttle. I know there were definitely problems with 4k screens if you only had 8gb of memory too.

Anyway, I was convinced it was a bad idea and wanted to avoid the whole issue. For me, the issue had nothing to do what what "looks better", but with how it affects the performance of the 2018 Mini. And my screen "looks fine" at native resolution.

 

[heavyarms2112]

For anyone who still wants to have DPI scaling enabled on different displays. Try this out. It worked on mine 32" QHD HP X32.

GitHub - waydabber/BetterDisplay: Unlock your displays on your Mac! Flexible HiDPI scaling, XDR/HDR extra brightness, virtual screens, DDC control, extra dimming, PIP/streaming, EDID override and lots more!

Unlock your displays on your Mac! Flexible HiDPI scaling, XDR/HDR extra brightness, virtual screens, DDC control, extra dimming, PIP/streaming, EDID override and lots more! - waydabber/BetterDisplay

github.com

 

[EugW]

For anyone who still wants to have DPI scaling enabled on different displays. Try this out. It worked on mine 32" QHD HP X32.

GitHub - waydabber/BetterDisplay: Unlock your displays on your Mac! Flexible HiDPI scaling, XDR/HDR extra brightness, virtual screens, DDC control, extra dimming, PIP/streaming, EDID override and lots more!

Unlock your displays on your Mac! Flexible HiDPI scaling, XDR/HDR extra brightness, virtual screens, DDC control, extra dimming, PIP/streaming, EDID override and lots more! - waydabber/BetterDisplay

github.com

So is that monitor 1440p? What resolution are you using?

 

[heavyarms2112]

So is that monitor 1440p? What resolution are you using?

I'm not using an mac mini. I've a macbook pro with M1 chip and was facing the same issue in font smoothing/scaling.
Yes it's a 1440p monitor (Native). However, for my viewing distance I wanted to use DPI scaling. At native resolution, things were small for me.

 

[crowe-t]

Personally I would not use scaling on the 2018 Mini, there was considerable discussion of the problems here in 2018-2020. IIRC, there were multiple reports of "lag" when scaling 4k to QHD and one theory was that it caused the Mini to run hot and throttle. I know there were definitely problems with 4k screens if you only had 8gb of memory too.

Anyway, I was convinced it was a bad idea and wanted to avoid the whole issue. For me, the issue had nothing to do what what "looks better", but with how it affects the performance of the 2018 Mini. And my screen "looks fine" at native resolution.

What resolution is your monitor that you use use with the 2018 Mini?

 

[Boyd01]

QHD - 2560x1440

 

[olavsu1]

nevermind

 

[EugW]

And there's lots of discussion here of issues using the 2018 Mini at scaled resolutions due to the weak integrated GPU. I didn't want any part of that.

I wonder how bad it is. Is it just with certain applications or is it slow overall?

On my M1 Mac mini I'm running this 4K+ 3840x2560 Huawei Mateview at 2304x1536, which means everything is scaled up to 4608x3072 before being scaled back down to 3840x2560. It's super fast. However, I'm not running any GPU heavy applications.

My 2017 m3 MacBook struggles though, but it seems much of that is due to the CPU.

 

[now i see it]

MacOS looking like crap on most monitors is my experience as well.
Maybe there’s hope on the horizon —

Gurman: Apple Working on New Monitors, Including Updated Pro Display XDR

Apple is working on multiple new external monitors, including an updated version of the high-end Pro Display XDR that launched alongside the Mac Pro...

www.macrumors.com

 

[FreakinEurekan]

I'm just not seeing it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I have an LG 27" 5k display, and an Acer 23.8" 2560x1440 hooked up to my M1 mini with macOS 13.1. Unless you're doing everything at the 10 point level or below, both are quite readable to me. Obviously the 5k looks "Better" - which I'd certainly expect. But both are usable.

 

[ignatius345]

I'm just not seeing it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I have an LG 27" 5k display, and an Acer 23.8" 2560x1440 hooked up to my M1 mini with macOS 13.1. Unless you're doing everything at the 10 point level or below, both are quite readable to me. Obviously the 5k looks "Better" - which I'd certainly expect. But both are usable.

I guess technically anything you can read text on is "usable" but the photo you uploaded clearly shows how much worse text looks on that Acer looks compared to the 218ppi of your 5K display.

 

[EugW]

I'm just not seeing it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I have an LG 27" 5k display, and an Acer 23.8" 2560x1440 hooked up to my M1 mini with macOS 13.1. Unless you're doing everything at the 10 point level or below, both are quite readable to me. Obviously the 5k looks "Better" - which I'd certainly expect. But both are usable.

Yes, that looks usable, but not great either. What resolution are you running on the 23.8" 1440p monitor? Something like 2304x1296?

 

[FreakinEurekan]

The difference is more noticeable in the photo than in a live view - the photo of course can be enlarged to make the difference more stark. I’m running native 2560x1440 on the Acer, and I often move things to either display and have no difficulty reading text on either one of them. Obviously it looks “Better” on the 5k, if I concentrate on the characters I can see that it’s smoother on that display. Well, duh, it has 4x the resolution so I guess it’d better be smoother 🤣 but the OP’s assertion that it’s a “World of pain” and “Blurry and pixelated” is hyperbole.

 

[madmalkav]

Just saw how horrible MacOS renders text on my Lenovo P44W-10 monitor. I'm not replacing a $1500 monitor to fit a $500 Mac Mini.

 

[phrehdd]

Just saw how horrible MacOS renders text on my Lenovo P44W-10 monitor. I'm not replacing a $1500 monitor to fit a $500 Mac Mini.

Rather sad commentary about Apple when something as obvious as a standard monitor may or may not work with an M1 series Mac. I had my own woes as well when a BenQ 4k monitor worked 'as expected' with my 2015 MBP and yet failed to simply work with my M1 Mini. Within a month of release of the M1 Mini, some lists were being generated by users of the monitors that were problematic. It is hard to believe Apple would release a Mac without knowing this problem existed. This speaks volumes to Apple's lack of consideration for the consumer.

 

[gah5037]

I've recently purchased a bunch of 1080p monitors that I've been testing with the m2 Mac mini. Basically the results are 24" is acceptable but once you hit 27" at 1080p it's TERRIBLE! You wouldn't think a few inches would be so different but it is. Plugged in my Windows PC to the 27" and it's not as nearly as bad as the Mac is at displaying text.