so I've been getting a ton of comments both on Twitter as well as on YouTube of how you can use any iPad, your iPad Pro, your iPad Air, your iPad Mini even as a mobile display for your brand new M4 Mac Mini and in this video what I'm going to

do is walk you guys through two different ways of actually getting this done because one way you can do no matter what and the other way is probably a little bit more beneficial but there's a little bit of a caveat that you need to go with but without

further ado let's talk about how to make your iPad a portable display for your M4 Mac Mini because with the iPad the Mac Mini together you could pretty much take this anywhere and have an awesome mobile operating system let's get into [Music]

it so before we get into this live demo and how to actually set this up in both of these different ways I do want to mention that the setup process is going to be your one C that you're going to have to get through right one of these

ways will allow you to just use this even during the setup process so you don't have to worry about getting the setup first before using your iPad and you do need to add one additional piece of hardware which is about a $20 dongle which I'll leave a link down below and

I'll explain how that all works and the second version is going to be all through continuity which technically probably works a little bit better especially if you have a great Wi-Fi connection but you will not be able to run this continuity until you set up your Mac Mini and you cannot set up your

Mac Mini without a display, so that's what we're going to have to work around, which I'll show you guys in a second, but let's get into the first way of how to use your iPad Pro as a dummy display for your Mac Mini for an awesome portable

desk setup. So let's get started with the situation and like I mentioned first, we're going to be going through the continuity aspect of how to use this iPad Pro alongside the Mac Mini, which I have pulled out over here, and I am using my BenQ monitor up top, and that is what

my Mac Mini is connected to currently via USB-C. So I'll also put a screen recording up to make this a little bit easier to visualize, but what you're going to want to do first is on your actual Mac computer itself, you're going

to want to go into your system settings. And as you can see in my system settings right now, the only monitor that's recognized is going to be my BenQ PD 3225 U, which I do absolutely love, and I'll leave the link down below if you

guys want to check that out, but you're going to want to press this little plus button. But before we do that, make sure that your iPad Pro, or any iPad, cuz this will work across any iPad, is connected to the same Wi-Fi and you're

logged into the same Apple ID to both of these devices. So once you know that you have that set up, we're going to press this plus button, and then you're going to see 'Link Keyboard and Mouse to Fern's M4 iPad Pro,' or you're going to want to

actually use the mirror or extend to options so this links your keyboard and mouse, meaning that you can use your keyboard that's connected to your Mac Mini and your mouse that's connected to your Mac Mini and use it to control your iPad. We don't want that option, we want to

actually extend, so we're going to click on 'Fern's M4 iPad Pro.' You got to give it a second for it to connect to itself, and then voila, down here on my iPad Pro you're able to see that we're now running, quote unquote, Mac OS right

so if I'm using my mouse right here, the first thing I want to do is arrange this correctly. So now that it's all arranged how we want it to be arranged, if we move the mouse down here you can see that I am technically running, quote unquote, Mac

OS, so if I pull up, let's say one of my tabs, so let's open up the calendar, it's going to open up the calendar and I have my dock app here on the iPad, and then I have the calendar popping up here, but I can click and drag over here and this

works like any other screen or any secondary screen that you could use. So I can use this as an extended monitor if I wanted to. So that is how you use your M4 iPad Pro, and again, it works with any iPad as long as you're on the correct

Wi-Fi, if you're running the latest operating systems on both of these, and then of course if you have the same Apple ID connected there. So that is how you use the first version of using your iPad Pro alongside your Mac Mini, which I think is a great solution, especially if

you have a multiple desk setup or multiple monitor setup and I like to be able to use the Hub of the iPad Pro and then one thing I know that people are going to ask is will you be able to use the magic keyboard as a peripheral as an

input device for Mac OS because technically we're connected to the iPad and this is to control iPad OS but you can see here that I have my Satechi keyboard This is technically Bluetooth connected to my Mac Mini obviously we're going to type it out something does type

up in the search bar but now if I move this off to the side and then I use the keyboard on the iPad Pro if I type something in it still does work so you can use the keyboard normally one thing that you cannot use is the trackpad

which is kind of interesting and how Apple's implementing this but the trackpad doesn't work at all you can kind of see it popping up for a second but it's because it's trying to pop up the iPad OS Mouse because if I swipe up

then I have that Mouse but if you're in this mode the only way to actually control it is to control it with the external Mouse that's connected via Bluetooth to the Mac Mini but you can use the keyboard to type away so that is something that I know many people are

going to ask but now let's get into the second version which is when you purely use the iPad Pro as an external display for your Mac Mini so for this way of working your iPad Pro as a display for your Mac Mini you're going to need something

called an HDMI capture card and what this does is it's going to reverse the direction of the HDMI and you guys have maybe seen some of my videos talking about how to use this thing with game consoles and being able to use your iPad Pro as a

dummy display but what this essentially does is that it HDMI outs from let's say something like a Mac Mini and allows you to HDMI in to your iPad Pro because if you were to use a regular USB-C to HDMI dongle it would actually try to send the

video out from the iPad to whatever device you're plugging into this little capture card which I believe is around $19 or $20 or $21 at the max will allow you to reverse that so I definitely recommend getting one of these because without this this is not going to be

able to be used and then of course you're going to need an HDMI cable and then lastly you're going to need to have a free app called Orion there is a paid or in-app purchase for it as well to give you some 4K scaling but this is

essentially what's going to allow you to turn this into a dummy display as you can see it kind of has that same vibe as an old school TV again that's not what it's going to look like once it's plugged in but that's what essentially

this is doing it's turning this into a TV or a monitor that you can then HDMI into and in this version you're actually able to set up your Mac Mini through this version because technically what you're doing what I keep mentioning is that you're turning your iPad Pro into a

display because normally when you set up your Mac Mini, you need to plug into a monitor in order to connect peripherals in order to then use those setting menus that I mentioned earlier. Because without those, then you're not going to be able to actually use anything outside of that.

With this version of using your iPad Pro as a secondary display, you're able to do that now. So if we grab this capture card, grab any old HDMI cable and to show you how well this works, I will be unplugging my monitor. So as you can see, my monitor

is completely disconnected. I do have the Mac Mini still turned on, so what we're going to do here is plug this in. We're going to go to the back, so the HDMI is plugged in and all we have to do is plug this in here and then it should

recognize it. If you do give it a second and then voila, you are running your Mac OS computer on this Mac Mini. So as you can see here, there's multiple ways to actually do this from a resolution standpoint. By default, it was at 720p, but

right now I put it at 1080p and you can see that it is kind of squished down with the black bars on the bottom and the top, but again, you still get the ability to use your Mac Mini with your iPad Pro with zero issues whatsoever, as

you can see I'm running it like normal. There is a little bit of latency as you can see with that little wiggle, but again, it still works normally. You don't need to have an external monitor plugged into it. This can be your one and only

external monitor and if you want to just click on here and use it normally it will work normally again. This will allow you to use your Mac Mini on the go with a very easy setup. So all you have to do is bring your iPad Pro, your Mac Mini, a

mouse and a keyboard and you're good to go. But now the question is can you use a trackpad or the mouse similar to the other situation we had before? The trackpad of course does not work because this is an iPad app so it thinks you are

in the iPad OS system still. And if you want to type something out will this work? Unfortunately it will not, so you do need to have a secondary keyboard, which I have right here, and use this to type away and then that'll work normally. So you're essentially using

your iPad Pro as a dummy display for your Mac Mini and that is how you set up and use your iPad Pro. And again this works with any iPad that has USB-C. So as long as it has a USB-C port on the bottom of it, it'll work. So the iPad 10th

generation, the new iPad Minis, the new iPad Airs, iPad Pro since 2018, this will all work perfectly with these iPads. And I think technically you can even use your iPhone with the app and use Mac OS on your iPhone, which would be a funny

one to do, but that is how you set this up. Now let's finish up the video, so that was just about do it for this video everybody, as you saw in my opinion the best way to do this especially if you're working on this in a true mobile fashion

and your only monitor is going to be your iPad, you're going to have to go through the HDMI capture card route and using the Orion application in order to do this because you do have to rely on things like Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connectivity and all those different

factors when you are using it in continuity mode. Being able to use it in continuity mode is probably the best way to do this, but it only really works if you have a great and stable Wi-Fi connection. And most people, if you are truly using this as a mobile setup, they

probably don't have a Wi-Fi connection on the ready. Yes, you can hotspot your phone, yes, you can kind of connect to slower Wi-Fi, but it will get a little bit choppy and the latency will kind of hit there versus with Orion. At the end of

the day, you will be able to use it and use it how it's intended to be used because again, you're only using your iPad Pro as a dummy display and nothing else is happening. So anything that has an HDMI out will be able to use this way

of using your iPad Pro as an external display. So think, you know, game consoles, think your Steam Deck, think a Switch, think a MacBook Pro, think a Windows PC, anything that has an HDMI out will be able to use your iPad Pro or any iPad for that matter as a display, but that'll

do it for this video. Everybody, if you did make it to the end, leave a little dolphin in the comments down below so I know you made it to the end. Let me know if you are actually going to be running a setup like this. I do have a travel

Setup video coming up, how I'm using my M4 Mac Mini on the go because there's a bunch of different ways to do this. With the iPad Pro, with a portable display, and everything in between, so definitely stay subscribed and stay tuned cuz that's

definitely a fun one, but that'll do it everybody. If you do want to watch more videos like this one, definitely check out one of these videos right here. YouTube thinks you're going to like this one and I personally think you're going to like the one below, but that'll do it.

Until next time, I'm Fernando. Peace everybody.

Use Your iPad As A Display For Your Mac! Here's How!

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