Am I the only one who didn't know that Mac minis were still used often enough to warrant a new device? I think it's sort of ironic that it was first made to be an affordable Mac product but now it's going to be tailored to professionals - I have no doubt that will lead them to raise the price.
I can see how an app developer would find it useful. For the average person like myself, it seems like it does things I could do my using AirPlay on my AppleTV. Maybe I'm wrong though.
Do any of you use a Mac mini?
So, you’ve built the best rig that you can afford with all the bells and whistles like a beefy graphics card and a powerful processor. Whether it’s casual computing, gaming, or working, you’re basically ready for anything. But, there’s one thing missing – the monitor. It’s usually the last thing that pc builders consider in their build mostly because what drives the workload for the pc is are the CPU and GPU. The wrong choice in a monitor, however, can make or break your experience with your new PC in various ways.
Here are a few things you have to consider when buying a PC monitor.
Physical Dimensions
One of the first things people naturally consider when buying a monitor is the screen size. It’s a fairly subjective factor because how big you want your monitor relies heavily on your preference and on the size of your desk. While there are a variety of sizes to choose from, it’s best to go with monitors from 24 inches and above for widescreens and 34 inches for ultrawides. Anything lower and you may just as well have gotten a portable computer because you’d be wasting all the desktop-grade internals on what’s basically laptop-level screen size. One of the reasons you’re letting yourself get tethered to wall is because of the power and extra screen real estate
The main internal debate that you’re going to have with yourself when it comes to the physical dimensions of your monitor is the aspect ratio. The most common of which are widescreen 16:9 and ultrawide 21:9 monitors.
Widescreen (16:9)
For most people, widescreens should work perfectly. It’s the most common currently sold in shops across the world. Because of its prominence, current games and computer programs are designed specifically for this aspect ratio. In this format, most movies wouldn’t suffer from letterboxing, full-screen programs would be optimized, and multitasking with multiple programs open side by side would be acceptable too. On the gaming side of the equation, modern games should also have no problems with this aspect ratio as they ’re designed for it.
Ultrawide (21:9)
On the other hand, ultrawide monitors are starting to carve a niche market of its own. It’s perfect for people who want more data and information available at the ready. Having multiple windows side-by-side with all the necessary information displayed would look absolutely perfect because of the extra horizontal space. This makes it an excellent workstation monitor.
As for games and entertainment purposes, on the other hand, the ultrawide may not be the best choice if the games and movies that you play are not compatible with the aspect ratio. Letterboxing on the sides can be distracting which is a huge thing when it comes to high stakes video games. However, if your games do support 21:9 gameplay it’s one of the most immersive experiences. In games FPS games, this can give you the ultimate advantage. It can show you more of the field so you can act and react accordingly.
They’re often bigger in terms of screen size too so make sure you opt for 27 inches and above otherwise, the vertical space is going to be too small to compensate for the length of the sides.
Resolution
The resolution is probably one of the most important factors in a PC. It basically dictates how much pixelation there ’s going to be in the images from your computer. Most high definition laptops have a 1366 x 768 resolution but the small screen sizes make that fit just right in a smaller screen. For 24-inch monitors, that same resolution would not be optimal as it’ll have obvious pixelation in an effort to cover the whole screen with images.
For computer monitors larger than 17-inches, the best screen resolution would be at least Full HD at 1080p. This ensures that you’re going to have decent image quality for viewing photos, a nice detailed gaming experience, and a pleasant time reading text without being able to discern individual pixels on the screen.
Panel Technology
So far, things to look out for in a computer monitor have been fairly similar across all demographics. It’s in panel technology that is going to make gamers and artists separate. The most common panels in the market are TN and IPS panels. Gamers usually go for TN panels while artists go for IPS ones.
TN Panels
Gamers prefer their monitors to have high refresh rates and quick response times to enable them to act and react quickly in fast-paced games. TN panels offer both of these features as a standard. However, they tend to have terrible viewing angles and a not so stellar color accuracy.
These factors are observable in interactive moving images such as gaming so non-gamers don’t have to worry themselves with refresh rates and response times.
IPS Panels
On the other hand, IPS panels offer color accuracy and better viewing angles. Image quality, therefore, is its main feature. This makes IPS panels perfect for digital artists who require a spot on color accuracy and overall image quality.
However, some expensive IPS screens also offer high refresh rates and quick response times. Those screen panels offer the best of both worlds albeit at a premium price point.
Input Technologies
There are various types of PC to monitor connectors. The most common of which are display ports, HDMI, DVI, and VGA.
Display ports are the most modern PC to monitor connection solutions. They transfer the most amount of data in the shortest amount of time so you can make the most of your monitor’s in-built technology and your card’s graphics crunching capabilities. It can support 144Hz refresh rates in 1080p monitors and has data transfer speeds of up to 26Gbps. It also supports 4k, Nvidia’s G-sync and HDR. It also allows for daisy chaining if you intend to use multiple monitors.
Monitors with the capacity to live up to the capabilities of this connection standard are still quite rare and expensive. This means that this connection standard still hasn’t lived up to its full potential.
The connector type also works well for the display port as the current generation supports a tiny USB Type C connector to accomplish all of these features. Other connector types are clunky and can be cumbersome. However, mainstream monitors haven’t adapted to these standards yet so finding one that has a USB Type C port is still a bit difficult.
HDMI is the next best thing as it’s present in most modern monitors and televisions. It’s just starting to gain a wide adoption with some gaming monitors only offering just this connection standard. Some gaming monitors, for example, are so confident in HDMI that it’s the only port they have.
It largely matches the capabilities of the display port minus the G-Sync support. Its wide adoption in the PC market works well for it.
DVI and VGA are dying technologies in the monitor connection world. They’ve served their purpose in last year’s high-end PCs but their capabilities have peaked and have been eclipsed by newer better technologies. They still experience high adoption numbers but it’s expected to drop with each passing year.
You just ran an anti-virus program for several hours and the scan came up with one or two trojans. You opt to quarantine the affected files and cross your fingers as you reboot your system hoping that it would run smoothly again. But, as that log-in page comes up, you notice right away that the cursor has a bit of an input lag when you move your mouse. It begins to sink into your mind that your laptop is just outdated which is why it’s slow. It was never the virus’ fault that it was lagging.
But, you fight that logic and run the disk defragmenter tool for several more hours. Denial, after all, is the first in the five stages of grief. When that doesn’t work, you wipe the hard drive clean and reformat. When that also fails, there’s nothing left to do but cry.
It’s never easy to admit when we finally need to discard our old laptop and pony up to buy a new one. Aside from the obvious financial damage that modern laptops would make on our budget, some of us may have attachment issues with our old one. It’s especially difficult to get rid of a notebook that has gotten us through tough times. Aside from these, there are also environmental considerations. Some of the components in your laptop may become poisonous when mixed with other substances in the trash.
We don’t really need to completely rid ourselves of our old laptop just because we’re getting a new one. If you love your laptop enough to keep it for more than a few years, it wouldn’t have much resale value anyway. Here are some ways that we can give breathe new life into our outdated laptops:
Upgrade and turn it into a desktop
Some laptops, especially, high-end ones wouldn’t get too slow that to the point that it’s unusable by modern standards. Most of the time, it’s the battery that’s going to give up first. From the excellent 8 hours of battery power per charge cycle of a when it’s new, it can easily come down to a measly 30 mins after a few years of heavy use. At that point, what’s the point of having a laptop that you can’t use away from a socket?
Batteries can cost a lot and buying one to put into an old machine might be impractical. At this point, turning your laptop into a desktop might be a good idea. It allows you utilize the computing power that it’s still got left.
To do this, you need an external monitor and new external input devices such as a mouse and keyboard. Sure, you can just keep the unit plugged in and use it as it is at home but since you’re not going to move it around much it’s best that you just turn use an external monitor anyway. The ergonomics of a desktop set up can literally save your neck and back. Some people even go through great lengths disassembling and transferring their laptop’s components into a makeshift desktop enclosure just so it would look like a true desktop.
If the CPU still functions properly, you can even pair it with a desktop-grade graphics card. This is where an eGPU comes into the picture. With a nice monitor, spacious desk, and enhanced graphics capacity, your laptop can become a beast of a gaming or productivity rig at home.
Turn it into a home theatre system
Old laptops could make for an extremely powerful home theatre system that can play more video formats than regular home theatre systems. Attaching it to a decently sized television through either a VGA or HDMI cable is easy and cheap enough to do. Just set up some speakers and some wireless input devices such as a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse and you’re good to go.
If you want to go the extra mile, you can also detach your old laptop’s monitor so you can have just the basics on board. Without the monitor, your laptop becomes slim and light enough to mount it behind your flatscreen television for a seamless home theatre experience.
Or if that’s not your cup of tea, you can always just use it as a small entertainment system in your bedroom. Others even glue their old laptops to the ceiling making their old laptops their default media consumption device before going to sleep.
Gut it for parts
Sometimes we’re just left with no choice but to give up trying to repurpose our laptop because it’s just too slow to do anything. It can be so underpowered by modern standards that it wouldn’t even support some newer video formats. In this case, there’s almost nothing else left to do but to accept the fact that it no longer serves a purpose in our lives.
This is in no way ideal but gutting it for parts may be the only way we can take the cherished memories of our old laptops with us to the next stage of our lives. The RAM stick and hard drives are the most commonly salvaged parts. You can easily purchase an external hard drive enclosure for the hard drive to turn it into an external HDD for your new notebook. The RAM, on the other hand, can still be used in new laptops provided that it’s compatible. This way, it’s still with us in some way in either powering your multitasking or storage needs.
Key Takeaway
Laptops are excellent mobile productivity tools that can help us a lot in everyday tasks. When they fail to be mobile and productive, however, it may be time to move on from them and buy a new modern notebook.
But, if you’re willing to apply some elbow grease and get to work, there are still ways that you can incorporate them into our lives moving forward. These three steps show that we don’t need to completely part ways with our beloved machines just because they’re old.