HDMI vs DisplayPort

[Giuanniello]

I have to stretch my old 2014 Mini (i7 16GB 1TB SSD) which is showing signs of failure, I can tell signs of fatigue when I use photo editing software, nothing grand but even with 24MP camera files it struggles and I have the feeling it is getting, for some unknown to me reason, worse, maybe programmed obsolescence or whatever, this is not the point now.

I connect the Mini to my 27" Benq display via HDMI but even tho in the pref panel I don't allow the computer to go to sleep, to awake it is a hit and miss process, wondering if I connect it through the DisplayPort what are the pros and cons vs the HDMI input

Any clue?

Grazie

p.s. idea was an M2 Mini with 16GB 500GB but I might wait a little more and head to a Studio, in the meantime 9 years old Mini has to keep delivering

 

[MBAir2010]

I just purchased/received a 25" 2K BenQ monitor for the Mac mini M1 yesterday,
and there is no difference between either connections.
what was nice about BenQ was the HDMI cable they provided is much better than my elder one!
some benQ have a Mac mode were the dial can be set at Mac, but men does not have that feature, and really not needed since the visual experience is great.

there is a way to control the monitor for auto shut on, off sleep etc but that needs programing which I might look into.

my Mac mini from 2012 stopped working last year and now is being picked apart by  recycling.
that was a great computer!

I hoped this message helped in some way.....

 

[Giuanniello]

I hope there was a Mac app or extension to setup the screen, what a pain with the buttons... by they way nice screens for the money, I bought mine refurbished and was a great deal even tho I wanted to get the photographer's one but too expensive even on the refurb store

 

[bradman83]

HDMI and DisplayPort cables effectively do the same thing just with different protocols and connectors. Which you use should be irrelevant to performance.

Have you been upgrading your photography software? Computers don't slow down with age, but as you upgrade software and have more demanding tasks for it then that will cause performance to feel slower as your existing hardware tries to keep pace with more demanding software. You can also try looking at what you might have running in the background to see if there are background processes that have been added over the years which are eating up resources.

 

[BanjoDudeAhoy]

Not sure how relevant that is for your mini, but I recently gained some insight into HDMI vs Display Port here.
This was essentially about resolutions available on my M1 mini via HDMI and Display Port.

 

[Boyd01]

I have a 32" BenQ QHD screen for my 2018 Mini. I used it with a displayport to USB-C cable initially but later moved it to the HDMI port because I needed the USB for another external SSD. This also works, but there is now a 1-pixel wide green line at the right edge of the screen. Barely noticeable, so I just ignore it.

The interesting thing is, the Mini boots much faster with the screen plugged into the HDMI port. I have three 2tb Samsung T7 SSD's connected to the USB ports all the time, so I assume it's related to that but really don't know. Of course, that is an issue specific to the 2018 Mini. Also have a couple 2014 Minis and have used them with both displayport and HDMI in the past with 1080p screens, never noticed any difference.

 

[caioferrari]

On my 2018 Mini, I get weird colors (like an over compressed jpeg) on HDMI. It gets way better on DP.
I never knew why.