

If you spend lots of time in heavy-duty apps such as Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom, or Premiere, or if you regularly edit several large spreadsheets or databases at a time, you may benefit from 16 GB aside from the Mac mini, any of our picks allow you to upgrade the RAM if you decide that you need more. Memory: We recommend at least 8 GB of RAM for browsing the web and handling basic productivity tasks.With the exception of our budget contenders and the Mac mini, all the mini PCs in our test group have a midrange 12th-generation Intel processor. Processor: A mini PC needs a processor powerful enough to handle basic web browsing, light photo editing, and any office programs you use.If someone has come up with a tenable, not horribly janky solution, I encourage you to prove me wrong. Trust me, I tried to get an old 30" Apple Cinema Display up and running on my 2016 MacBook Pro using just a USB-C to USB-A adapter and the Apple Dual Link DVI adapter I had laying around along with a Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adapter, but the TB3>TB2 adapter does not support DisplayPort signals, so you still have to get a dock in the middle to encapsulate the DP single over Thunderbolt and "sneak" then past the adapter. Someone may have come up with a solution and if you only need 1920X1080p resolution, you might find a cheaper solution, but it will eat up two Thunderbolt 3 port to do it and be a rat's next behind the Mac mini.

I would really cut my losses and either buy a 4K DisplayPort or USB-C or TB3 display or simply get a new iMac once an updated one ships. Some may dispute this, but you will spend $300-$400 for the active adapter and the Thunderbolt 3 dock that has a single DisplayPort input (OWC Thunderbolt 3 dock). Click to expand.That is a Dual-Link DVI-D connector and getting a proper active adapter that will support the full 2560x1600 resolution and actually connect to a Thunderbolt 3 port is not worth the time or money.
