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I have a Mac Mini and want to connect it to my Lenovo L2230 monitor. I've read instructions about connecting a MacBook Air to a VGA monitor but I can't translate it to my situation. At present the monitor is connected to a pc running Joli OS.

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Can you clarify "I've been reading your reply to the person..." by providing a link to the other question or person you are referring to, other wise it might be a good idea to remove that sentence. – MrDaniel Feb 24 '12 at 19:28
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Also please add details about what type of connectors are involved - it isn't really clear what problem you're actually having. Can you not connect the hardware? Do you connect that hardware, but the Mac fails to output anything to the monitor? Etc. – Dan J Feb 24 '12 at 19:42
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What Mac Mini are you running? See here to help figure out which one you have: support.apple.com/kb/HT3476 – MrDaniel Feb 24 '12 at 19:49
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The Lenovo L2230 only has an analog VGA input - hence the two possibilities that I noted in my answer below (either DVI to VGA or MiniDisplay to VGA). – JW8 Feb 24 '12 at 19:57
    
Do you want to connected both computer to the Lenovo Monitor at the same time? – MrDaniel Feb 24 '12 at 21:07
up vote 6 down vote

It depends on which version of the Mac Mini you have. According to this Apple Support KB article, older Mac Minis can connect with a normal DVI port, which you can buy a DVI-VGA adapter for.

While the generation after that offered Mini DVI and Mini DisplayPort outputs, both of which can be adapted to VGA output.

Then immediatly after that there was a generation that offered HDMI and Mini DisplayPort output options, only the Mini DisplayPort could be adapted to VGA output.

The current Mac Mini uses HDMI or Thunderbolt(which is compatible with Mini DisplayPort) for output. Only the Mini DisplayPort / Thunderbolt output can be adpated to VGA output

Why no VGA on HDMI that is found here KB article:

Can the HDMI port drive analog displays (VGA displays for example) using adapters?

No. The HDMI port will drive digital connections—such as DVI—using the adapter that came with the Mac mini, but cannot be used for analog displays such as VGA. You can purchase a Mini DisplayPort to VGA adapter separately to drive analog displays.

For Mac Minis with the Thunderbolt or Mini DisplayPort, the Mini DisplayPort to VGA adapter would be the same as that used by MacBooks.

Third party adapters are also be available and at a lower price usually. A good low price source for compatible cables and adapters is MonoPrice.com

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Good addition by @MrDaniel to add in the info about third party adapters. – JW8 Feb 24 '12 at 19:31
    
So, no way to connect 2 VGA displays to a Mac Mini with Thunderbolt and HDMI? Can I use a DVI display then? Or only the ones with hdmi input? – kender Nov 14 '12 at 9:27
up vote 2 down vote

There is a solution to have both computers hooked up to the one display and that is getting a KVM . In your described situation a 2 port USB-VGA-KVM would allow you to share your keyboard, mouse and display between your Mac Mini and your PC.

Additionally you would need to obtain the necessary VGA adapters for your Mac Mini as mentioned in JWO1's answer as well.

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