https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...mac-mini-2018-4k-monitor-dream.2155175/page-5
There seems to be panic all around
Im getting the mini presumably next week, but display is gonna take time so i wont be able to return it if it works bad
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Mac mini 2018 bad UI-performance with LG 5K-Display
- Thread starter johnscully
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There seems to be panic all around
Im getting the mini presumably next week, but display is gonna take time so i wont be able to return it if it works bad
I think that would depend on what you consider mostly OK. One of the factors that lured me into trying the BlackMagic eGPU earlier was that my 2016 MBP couldn't effectively drive both the LG 5K and the native screen at the same time. One or both would stutter. Even in clamshell mode, I still get occasional mini-stutters on the 5K. I can't imagine even trying to power a 5K display without a dGPU. That's a lot of pixels!
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These two definitely are where the stress will be - but it's definitely possible, just maybe not 'perfect' for what you want.
I am running 2x 4K, both at "looks like 2560x1440" from a 2018 MM with i7 and 64GB. It's fine for my purposes - I don't regret this display choice at all. But as I've said multiple times - my workflow is a lot of text. I don't do anything 'visual' like photo editing, design, or video work (well except Photos.app for my personal photos), and I don't do much with windows dragging around or animating. I use most apps in full screen mode, so the most 'stressing' action is likely to be switching to a different fullscreen space. Occasionally it glitches on this. Definitely not enough to bother me.
Will I buy a Mac Pro when its time to replace this machine? Quite possibly. But if its a choice between no dGPU and a few Spaces glitches (in this/newer Mini) or a massively overkill minimum dGPU and $2K extra cost (in a Mac Pro), I'll probably stick with the Spaces glitches.
Or just add an eGPU down the line when the products mature a little.
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Yeah. The worst macOS animation is going into and out of Launchpad (I never actually use this). On a 4K iMac at default resolution settings, it is fairly smooth, but if you push it up to 3360x1890@2x retinas scaling - effectively rendering at over 6K resolution - the Launchpad animation drops to 1 frame per second at best. This is an Intel Iris GPU on the 4K iMac.
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Running HD4000 on 2012 rMBP right now (Borrowed it from gf for the sake trying this) on Mojave, and at 1920x1200@2x animation is... ""20fps"" if i could gauge by my eyes alone. not choppy enough to bother me. But apparently smoother when using 1920*1200@1x.
Also, its apparently smoother on GT650M.
I guess this is the choppiness i can expect on Ultrafine 4k...
I'll survive
Too bad they didn't stick a little better GPU chip inside - just enough so you don't have to buy an eGPU for smoothness.
So effectively your Mini is rendering two 5K streams. I wonder if this means you can actually use it with two LG Ultrafine 5K Displays at 5K resolution. I get that not all animations would be smooth, but if it atleast works that would be awesome. Besides I won't be using it for graphically intense jobs either. mainly for music production.
Right, I meant more in terms of when the machine needs to be replaced, would I get another similar mini or jump to a pro, but that’s an option too.
If I could find a decent expansion case that would allow for a mid-range gpu and one or two cards for eg a heap of usb3 / esata ports that’d be ideal.
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Good question. I assumed that was to do with how many pixels it can push over the ports not how many it can render?
Or maybe Apple doesn't officially support it because the performance would be too laggy thus not Apple-like? or are the TB3 ports daisychained internally, where as on the iMac Pro they're independant from each other?
Mac Mini has 2 tb controllers, like MacBook Pro 15" and iMac Pro. (two pairs on two controllers)
(mm even has newer chip supporting DP1.4, vs iMac Pro supporting only DP1.2)
I use both and it's great when the computer is on. It holds a connection and no lag. There's one issue. When the computer is asleep and I try to wake the computer by pressing the keys on the keyboard or clicking on the track pad, wake from sleep is super slow... I find this quite annoying and not sure why it's happening. It's a little bit faster in terms of wake speed if I have the USB connected from the keyboard to the Mac mini. Hope they address this with a software fix...
Nothing to do with your display wake up time? With the LG monitor I use, I was able to type in my password on my keyboard and unlock before the screen fully woke up. With the MM it unlocks using my watch before the screen has even come on.
How long has it been sleeping? It may have gone into a deeper hibernation state after a certain number of minutes to save power.
I just got an ultrafine 5K and a Mac Mini 2018 and when I bootup my the LG 5K will light up at first giving me the apple symbol and then it goes to black for 7 seconds before giving me my full desktop view. Is this normal??
It also lags quite severely when I go to fullscreen, use launchpad, and even when switching spaces and the satality view in Maps is horrible. Try zooming in and out on the Alps in 3d..
The dock and exposé strangely enough work smooth.(enough)
Not sure if all of this is because I have a faulty mac mini or if this is normal..
It also lags quite severely when I go to fullscreen, use launchpad, and even when switching spaces and the satality view in Maps is horrible. Try zooming in and out on the Alps in 3d..
The dock and exposé strangely enough work smooth.(enough)
Not sure if all of this is because I have a faulty mac mini or if this is normal..
I haven't tested this. Maybe this is why. I'll give it a shot! Thanks!
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Maybe? But I felt like MacBook Pros wake up pretty quickly from hibernation state when I press a key on the keyboard. But maybe this is it? I don't really know.
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What is your mac mini specs? I've read a lot where people are saying more RAM is helping.
i never had problems with my mac mini 2018 in combination with the LG 5k Ultrafine. Everything is working fine without any lag since day one. It was working fine without eGPU, but noticiable better with eGPU plugged in. It was working fine with 8gb RAM too until i upgraded it myself to 64gb RAM. For me its the perfect Combo!
I don't have a Mac Mini so I can't say if it's normal, but I have the LG 5K Ultrafine with a maxed 2016 15" MBP. The LG 5K can be difficult to drive even with a dGPU so it wouldn't be surprising to hear Mac Mini owners having problems. People who have 13" MBPs and LG 5Ks have also reported a lot of performance issues. The 13" MBP doesn't have a dGPU.
That's weird. Mine is graphically laggy as hell, even exposé is slow when using certain apps. What are your Mac mini's specs?i never had problems with my mac mini 2018 in combination with the LG 5k Ultrafine. Everything is working fine without any lag since day one. It was working fine without eGPU, but noticiable better with eGPU plugged in. It was working fine with 8gb RAM too until i upgraded it myself to 64gb RAM. For me its the perfect Combo!
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6 Core i5, 8GB ram. This shouldn't even be an issue because the Intel UHD Graphics 630 is using 1536 MB..
i have a full spect out mac mini. i7, 2tb ssd, 64gb RAM, but the main issue should be the gpu and we all have the same gpu on all mac minis. Its really strange u are having this issues. I never had any lag till now even without eGPU and 8gb RAM installed at the beginning.. but i noticed a big performance jump while using an eGPU.
GPU in i7 is slightly faster than i5, and there are a few reports clearly stating that moving up from 8GB RAM makes a big difference - but this may also depend on what other programs are in use.
Personally, I'm not surprised the UHD630 cannot smoothly drive a 5K display. The HD3000 in the 2011 mini couldn't drive a 2560x1440 smoothly back in 2011 either.
UHD630 & 5K is more or less equivalent to HD3000 & 2.5K.
But if you add in scaling the UHD630 will suffer even more.
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You might have a defective Mac mini. You have return period until end of Jan 2019 I think. Zero problems with LG UF 5k on my end.
I think you are right. I made a screen capture of the laggy graphical performance in MacOS. How well is your Mac mini performing compared to mine? Because if it's only marginally better, I'm considering not getting another Mac mini at all..
That looks pretty bad...have you tried other resolutions to see if it is a GPU issue?
If you go to system preferences, displays, then click Scaled whilst holding down the Option key. Then check the button that appears underneath that says something like 'Enable low resolution settings'.
In the window above, you can now select low definition (non retina) 2560x1440 (along with many other scaled 1x and 2x resolutions).
See how the animations and things are as a test using that and other lower stress options.
I would add, that certainly the launchpad animations are the worst. I just tried them on a 4K display (mimicking a 5K output, I.e. scaled to 2560x1440) and it is 1 frame per second or so.
But other stuff are fine.
How much RAM do you have. With all those heavy apps I wonder if the GPU is getting starved. From my brief use I am already getting beach balls with 8GB. I will order 32GB and install myself.
Also. Have you checked activity monitor? There isn't a process running in the background like a Dropbox is there?
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Where did you get the 64GB from?
that doesn't look right
I'm typing on a 2012 rMBP right now, and while on Intel HD4000 which is much worse than the 630 and the largest scale possible (looks like 1920x1200@2x), the UI is smooth, also running Mojave.
The HD630 is about 100% better than the HD4000, and the 5K is roughly 50% more pixels to render (+ its scaling)
How can it be so bad? It doesn't make sense.... judging by the 2012 rMBP, it just doesnt make sense. seems like a software issue, its impossible hardware would perform that bad.
that doesn't look right
I'm typing on a 2012 rMBP right now, and while on Intel HD4000 which is much worse than the 630 and the largest scale possible (looks like 1920x1200@2x), the UI is smooth, also running Mojave.
The HD630 is about 100% better than the HD4000, and the 5K is roughly 50% more pixels to render (+ its scaling)
How can it be so bad? It doesn't make sense.... judging by the 2012 rMBP, it just doesnt make sense. seems like a software issue, its impossible hardware would perform that bad.
exactly. I have a 2012 Mac mini with Intel HD4000 too and on 4K (looks like 1920x1200) the UI is also smooth. From what I've read is that the UHD 630 is supposed to be 3 times as fast as the HD4000. So on a 5K screen it would be at least 1,5 times as fast.
What's even worse, is that whenever I do something UI related like pressing the fullscreen button or simply switching desktops in mission control it actually affects CPU performance too! so if I'm running a project in Logic Pro at the same time the audio will actually stutter.. which is ridiculous! I can live with crappy UI animations but not with a CPU that's severely affected when I do something simple like maximizing/minimizing. This by far the worst Mac experience I've had in 9 years..
I hear that Apple has a 14 day return policy. Indeed, I hear tell that at the moment it runs until January, although this being "by far" your worst experience in nine years, I would imagine that you'll return the computer tomorrow.
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