macbook pro retina 15" mid 2015 + external monitor advice?

[musiqzuki]

Hi I have a Macbook Pro Retina 15" from mid-2015
Link below.
https://support.apple.com/kb/sp719?locale=en_US

Currently I've been using an old external monitor which is at 92 PPI. It looks super pixelated compared to the retina display.

I want to upgrade to a 27"-ish monitor that displays like the Retina.

What I've been wanting to know is does Retina equal 4K? Or are there non-4K monitors that can display like the Retina.

I've been looking up 4K monitors and I'm worried that my Macbook Pro may only be able to run the display at 30Hz which seems laggy.

My general use case is for adobe tools, programming, and web surfing. Any advice would be appreciated!

Thanks.

 

[ZapNZs]

If you want retina-like appearance on a 27-inch display, 4k is probably going to be the way to go. Your system can drive a 4k display at 60hz. You would just have to use the Mini DisplayPort (Thunderbolt) port with a mDP-->DisplayPort cable, or a mDP-->HDMI 2.0 adapter (obviously, the display would have to support HDMI 2.0 as well for 60hz.)

 

[kohlson]

I have a Dell 24-in 1280x1024. When I bought it looked awesome. Then I got a late-2013 15-MBP. Then this external display looked less awesome. Almost a little fuzzy. Then I bought a Dell P2715Q, and it looks awesome.

Several co-workers have mentioned that their once-spectacular 24-in displays don't look as good compared to their retina displays.

But, the display may be a tiny bit laggy if your MBP doesn't have the oomph to drive it. My work system is a 2014 15-MBP, without discrete GPU, and there is some lagginess.

 

[musiqzuki]

My MacBook pro has a HDMI port by default but from the sounds of it I need to use a mDP to HDMI instead of an HDMI to HDMI to get it running at 60Hz.

I have the Intel Iris Pro 1536 Graphics Card running at 2.5 GHz Intel Core i7 and 16GB of ram.

"But, the display may be a tiny bit laggy if your MBP doesn't have the oomph to drive it."
Were you using a mini DisplayPort to HDMI for this setup?

 

[kohlson]

The Dell 2715 that I bought came with a mini displayport to displayport cable. I use that with both MBPs. I haven't tried the 2014 MBP with HDMI.

Your MBP is a bit newer, and a bit faster, than my 2014 MBP. That should help reduce any lag. The HDMI port may help it work better, too.

I think any lagginess may or may not affect you, depending on what you do. The lagginess is noticeable when moving or resizing some windows, especially MS Office 2016 windows. It shows up as poor refresh rates as the window is being moved. It isn't noticeable when working within a window. This system works with Camtasia, MS Office, Adobe CS6 (mostly Audition, Photoshop and Illustrator) and all three browsers. Little bit of iMovie and FCPX. Not really a big deal working within them. But the visual quality/real estate more than offsets the lagginess.

I should also point out that most of the time I set the monitor to 1440p. The 4K mode is too small for me, unless I need more things on the screen, or for some photo editing.

 

[musiqzuki]

Thanks for the expanding on the lagginess. Yeah, I'll probably be resizing windows every now and then and switching between tabs quickly.

I didn't know that 1440p and 4k mode are different, interesting.

 

[musiqzuki]

so I got the Dell U2718Q. Works great with the mDP to DP cable it came with. If I used HDMI to HDMI, I definitely notice the lag.

 

[trentr209]

I have a Samsung Q50R 32" 4K TV I'm using as an external monitor for my Mid-2015 MacBook Pro 2.2 GHz. I see people recommending the Thunderbolt/mDP if you want to hit the 4K 60Hz marks. My TV doesnt have a DP so HDMI 2.0 is my only option. Would using a TB/mDP to HDMI adapter allow me to achieve 4K 60Hz by tricking the MBP to think its using TB/mDP or would it still downgrade to 30Hz? If not, I'll probably just buy a license for SwitchResX.

 

[Amethyst1]

Would using a TB/mDP to HDMI adapter allow me to achieve 4K 60Hz by tricking the MBP to think its using TB/mDP

Get an active DisplayPort 1.2 to HDMI 2.0 adapter — this makes the MBP output a DisplayPort signal for the adapter to convert to HDMI 2.0.
A passive adapter makes the MBP output a HDMI 1.4 signal, which is limited to "4K" 30 Hz OOTB. This is the same as just using the MBP's HDMI 1.4 port.

 

[trentr209]

Get an active DisplayPort 1.2 to HDMI 2.0 adapter — this makes the MBP output a DisplayPort signal for the adapter to convert to HDMI 2.0.
A passive adapter makes the MBP output a HDMI 1.4 signal, which is limited to "4K" 30 Hz OOTB. This is the same as just using the MBP's HDMI 1.4 port.

So I just got my HDMI to mDP. Maybe it was my fault for going with an Amazon Basics one but it claimed to support 4K@60 compared to their cheaper one that was a passive 4K@30 but unfortunately according to TestUFO, its still only hitting 30fps. Maybe I got a jank one because the rest of the reviews and comments talk about how it works fine for even older MBPs.

 

[Amethyst1]

So I just got my HDMI to mDP.

I’ve had a look at your TV’s manual. In order to display “4K” at 60 Hz, a setting called “Input Signal Plus” must be enabled in the menu (see page 99 in the manual). Check if that is the case.