Old VGA monitors with Mac mini?

[gavspen]

Will they work? Can you run 2 of them? I saw a review of this...

https://www.amazon.com/UGREEN-Gold-Plat ... 8d2c448c70

...which says "yes", but does anyone have practical experience? Also, the article suggests that power is optional. How can that be? It needs power, or it doesnt, no? There's also this...

https://www.apple.com/shop/product/HJUZ ... -HJUZ2ZM/A

....which doesnt seem to need power either.

Anyone doing this?
Gavin

[gavspen]

To half answer my own question I just realised that a USB port supplies power. Duh! So that answers the USB-C to VGA question. Anyone know about the HDMI convertion?

[mikehalloran]

Not enough info. Please explain exactly what you are trying to accomplish. Lots of different Minis over the years.

Your question about power is especially confusing. Please be specific.

[gavspen]

Hi Mike, welcome back.

I want to hook up two old VGA monitors to a new M1 Mac mini. It seems you hook up one to the HDMI output, and the other to one of the USB-C outputs, but obviously some sort of converter/adapter is needed. This one....

https://www.amazon.com/UGREEN-Gold-Plat ... 8d2c448c70

...would seem to do for HDMI to VGA, but it's unclear from the article I read if it works off the power from the HDMI output (they have 5v in them, like USB, I believe) or if it needs an external power source, and this one...

https://www.apple.com/shop/product/HJUZ ... -HJUZ2ZM/A

....is at Apple's site, and would do for the USB-C to VGA conversion, one assumes.

I had thought that the digital to analog converters/adapters might need external power, but looking at my current set up I see that I have adapters without external power connecting the DVI outs of my Mac to the old VGAs with no problem.

I hope that's clearer.
Gavin

[mikehalloran]

Got ya now. I presume you've seen this from Apple Support:

Connect a display to Mac mini
The Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports the Thunderbolt icon and the HDMI 2.0 port both support video output, so you can connect an external display, a projector, or an HDTV.

For Mac mini with M1 chip, you can connect one external display up to 6K using a Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) port, and one external display up to 4K using the HDMI 2.0 port.

So the HDMI to VGA will work—no problem there.

For the other, this should do the trick.
https://www.amazon.com/Adapter-Thunderb ... 076X2XS9R/

Remember that USB-C is just a port that supports many protocols (up to TB4 on the latest Mini).

With the amount of power that old VGA monitors draw (even the LCD flat screens), I question why anyone would still want to use them — the newer stuff is brighter, cool to the touch (energy efficient) and look better. That, however, not my call.

If either of these don't work, post back. There's another solution but you shouldn't need it unless attempting to connect a third display.


I recently sent a small box of Mac to VGA adapters to eWaste recycling. Remember those for the pre-DVI PPCs? You had to set the pin-outs with click wheels and could cause damage if you got it wrong. I do not miss that one bit.

[gavspen]

So to sum up, it oughta work?

I'm sure newer ones are better Mike, it's just that I have these and they still work. Not sure about the "cooler to the touch" thing, these are barely warm at all. This wont be for a while, I dont even have the Mac mini yet, but I'll let you know how it goes.

Gavin

[mikehalloran]

So to sum up, it oughta work?

I'm sure newer ones are better Mike, it's just that I have these and they still work. Not sure about the "cooler to the touch" thing, these are barely warm at all. This wont be for a while, I dont even have the Mac mini yet, but I'll let you know how it goes.

Gavin

That's good. The ones I had wouldn't burn your fingers but got pretty warm.

Nowadays, if you stop by a Best Buy or such and put your hands on top of the latest monitors, they're actually same temp as the room. Monitors have gotten that energy efficient.

[aymgoa]

Thank you very much

AYM https://yogateachertraininggoa.com/200- ... goa-india/