No matter how delightfully small and incredibly powerful the new M4 Pro Mac mini may be, it’s helpless without an external display of some sort. Today’s Mac mini setup pairs the tiny beast with a gigantic pal — a curved ultra-wide display from Dell spanning 40 inches. And the mini shares the monitor and Logitech input devices with a Windows laptop.
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First-time Mac owner pairs M4 Pro Mac mini with Dell curved ultra-wide display
Dell's 40-inch curved ultra-wide WUHD LED display features 5K2K resolution and a 21:9 aspect ratio.
- Wide display area at 39.7 viewable inches
- Brilliant 5K2K resolution
- Broad connectivity
- Built-in KVM switch can be tricky to use
Germany-based Redditor FederalJob4644 (“FJ”) showcased the new Mac mini setup in a post entitled, “First Time Mac Owner.” A longtime Windows user, FJ recently added a new Mac paired with a 40-inch Dell UltraSharp curved ultra-wide external display (5K2K) and Logitech keyboard and mouse shared via Ugreen KVM switch with a Windows laptop. Last week I looked at the incredibly useful KVM switch. Today let’s look more closely at the Dell display.
“I work 100% in my home office (Windows laptop) and for my part-time studies I fulfilled a consumer wish from my childhood and bought a new Mac Mini with M4 Pro with 24GB RAM and 512GB SSD after my old Windows Tower PC, and I love it!” they gushed about the new M4 Pro Mac mini addition.
“I would like to get a backlight and a table plant and have also ordered a webcam (Logitech MX Brio),” they added. saying they switch between Windows and Mac with a Ugreen KVM switch. You can find all the gear in the links list below.
Dell curved ultra-wide external display
Photo: [email protected]
FJ elected to go with a 40-inch Dell UltraSharp U4025QW Curved 5K2K LED monitor as an external display for their Mac mini and Windows laptop, used along with shared Logitech keyboard and mouse via Ugreen KVM switch. No matter how much a large display dwarfs the computer is serves, the monitor still hooks up and works in the typical ways, and all that really matters is how good the content looks on the screen, including awesome graphics and text you can easily read.
“How’s the clarity?” asked a commenter. “And is it HDMI or Thunderbolt?”
“The clarity is top notch!” FJ replied. “Dell is advertising the monitor with a macOS native calibration and it works wonders. I really like it. I connected the monitor trough the KVM switch via DisplayPort cable. It’s 5K 120Hz.”
Display features:
- LED monitor with 5K2K resolution in WUHD (aka, wide, ultra high-definition).
- USB-C connectivity allows efficient transfer of data.
- 39.7-inch viewable screen size.
- 5ms response time suitable for action films, sports or gaming.
- 600nit brightness is easily viewing in brightly lit conditions.
M4 Pro Mac mini display specs
FJ’s M4 Pro Mac mini easily handles the big display. Here’s how Apple lists display specs for the powerful little desktop computer, including what it can run simultaneously:
- Up to three displays: three displays with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz over Thunderbolt or HDMI
- Up to two displays: one display with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz over Thunderbolt and one display with up to 8K resolution at 60Hz or 4K resolution at 240Hz over Thunderbolt or HDMI
- Thunderbolt 5 digital video output: Support for native DisplayPort 2.1 output over USB‑C.
- HDMI display video output: Support for one display with up to 8K resolution at 60Hz or 4K resolution at 240Hz (M4 and M4 Pro).
One possible downside
An alert commenter noticed FJ’s external display already has a KVM switch built in. So they wondered why FJ uses a separate Ugreen KVM switch.
“Didn‘t work for me with the USB connectors,” FJ said of the Dell display. “The hotkey for switching didn’t work reliably.”
So that seems like a downside to the Dell monitor, though FJ seems to love it otherwise.
And if you like the wallpaper showing on the display, you can get it from Basic Apple Guy.
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Dell's 40-inch curved ultra-wide WUHD LED display features 5K2K resolution and a 21:9 aspect ratio.
- Wide display area at 39.7 viewable inches
- Brilliant 5K2K resolution
- Broad connectivity
- Built-in KVM switch can be tricky to use
Display and light bar:
Computer, stand and KVM switch:
Input devices:
If you would like to see your setup featured on Cult of Mac, send some high-res pictures to [email protected] (iPhone pics usually suffice). Please provide a detailed list of your equipment. Tell us what you like or dislike about your setup, and fill us in on any special touches, challenges and plans for new additions.
