M4 Mac Mini Monitor and switching between Mac and work windows PC

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M4 Mac Mini Monitor and switching between Mac and work windows PC

I've purchased an M4 Mac Mini with the Magic Keyboard and Mouse collecting around the 19th November.

I currently have a very old 34" Asus curved monitor so am looking to upgrade. My preference would be 2 x 27" as I work from home frequently.

Reading previous suggestions the Dell 27 4K UHD USB-C Monitor – S2722QC (as the primary with USB Hub to power my work laptop) and Dell 27 4K UHD Monitor – S2721QS (as secondary using daisy chain?) looks to be acceptable and reasonably priced at $592.01 for the two. Does anyone see any issue with these?

Regarding switching between work and home, I'm a little concerned with the magic keyboard and mouse as they are Bluetooth. Any suggestions on how this might work between a windows work laptop and mac mini homebase or should I return and find a wired keyboard and mouse using a KVM switch?

Posted on Nov 5, 2024 7:38 PM

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Answer 1

Nov 5, 2024 10:53 PM in response to witchy1007

Macs do not support DisplayPort MST daisy-chaining.

If you have a Mac that supports two or more USB-C or Thunderbolt displays, you can often use a Thunderbolt dock or hub to connect up to two displays, with resolutions of up to 4K @ 60 Hz each. The displays, themselves, do not need to speak Thunderbolt – they can be regular displays like the Dell S2722QC and S2721QS. But the Mac wants to see a "wide" Thunderbolt data highway, before it will be willing to send two signals. A plain USB-C (DisplayPort) connection (to that Dell USB-C monitor, or to a plain USB-C dock) won't convince it to do that.

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Answer 2

Nov 5, 2024 11:22 PM in response to witchy1007

Since this is a Mac desktop, I'm assuming that single-cable docking is not an issue – and that you can connect each of these monitors directly to your Mac mini. As far as I can tell, neither of these monitors has daisy-chaining ports – so you would not be able to daisy-chain them even on a Windows PC that supported it.

The Dell 27 4K UHD USB-C Monitor - S2722QC is a 4K monitor with a USB-C input and two HDMI inputs. Although you could hook it up using HDMI (using a HDMI cable, or a USB-C to HDMI adapter cable), a USB-C to USB-C cable would serve to connect both video and the downstream USB hub ports.

The Dell 27 4K UHD Monitor - S2721QS is a 4K monitor with HDMI and full-size DisplayPort inputs. You could hook this one up with a HDMI cable, a USB-C to DisplayPort adapter cable, or a USB-C to HDMI adapter cable.

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