Need advice on the Mac Mini for my father

tampamarktampamark
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
My father is visually impaired and needs a new computer. He was checking out larger monitors at Compusa when they showed him the Mini and a 23" screen. He liked the built-in zoom feature with the Tiger OS.



I have been trying to find a less expensive 23" monitor, is the older 23" flat screen compatible with the Mini? I have seen some on fleabay for a decent price, but they have the older design with the front feet. It looks like they are DVI input and the Mini has the DVI port, so I would think they work together (I don't know much about Mac's.....)



If they are compatible are there any known problems with the older flat screens?



Thanks in advance for the help!

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 3
    chuckerchucker Posts: 5,089member
    The older design has ADC, not DVI. You would need a somewhat costly adapter.



    If you ask me, get a Dell 2405FPW instead. With various coupons, you can probably get its price down to about 800 dollars. It has the same basic internal hardware as the Apple does and doesn't look much worse. It has DVI and will work with the mini just fine.



    As for your father being visually-impaired, however: I'm not sure why you're getting him a high-resolution screen in that case. The pixel density is probably way too high on that screen for someone visually impaired (Apple's 23 inches at 1920x1200 resolution are 98.44 ppi; Dell's 24 inches at 1920x1200 resolution are still 94.34 ppi). You might want to get a 19-inch screen with 1280x1024 instead -- 86.27 ppi.
  • Reply 2 of 3
    tampamarktampamark Posts: 5member
    Hello Chucker,



    Thanks for the advice, I will take a look at the Dell model. The reason he liked the bigger screen is that he uses the Zoom function which makes everything on screen much bigger. So with the higher resolution in Zoom mode hopefully you get a clearer large image. Perhaps I may down scale the resolution mode of the monitor to make the characters bigger also. We are going to the Apple store here in Tampa tomorrow to play with this a bit.



    His current Gateway and 17" monitor just don't provide enough monitor room for him to navigate on screen. The program for PC's that provides the Zoom feature is $500 or more, so he feels it would be better to upgrade the computer (not to mention it is older with some problems).



    Thanks for the info regarding the ADC/DVI, so all the older 23" monitors have that ADC connector?
  • Reply 3 of 3
    chuckerchucker Posts: 5,089member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by tampamark

    Thanks for the info regarding the ADC/DVI, so all the older 23" monitors have that ADC connector?



    ADC means "Apple Display Connector", and, as such, is specific to Apple displays (though, for obvious reasons, many ATi and nVidia graphics cards used to ship with it). ADC is basically a combination of DVI with USB and power, delivering all three through a single cable. A convenient concept in theory; unfortunately, it means the need for custom cables, the limitation to one display brand (although maybe Formac had ADC displays too, not sure), etc. As a result, prices were much higher and the suggested customer benefit wasn't one. So Apple switched back to the standard DVI connector.



    So all previous-generation Apple displays (specifically, the ones with the "white/chrome bezel", as opposed to the current Aluminum bezel ones) had ADC for several years.
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