rMBP 13-inch Mid 2014 external monitor

[Attendance]

Hi!

I have a MacBookPro (Retina 13-inch) Mid 2014 with (two) Thunderbolt2 ports and would like to add an external display to it. Thunderbolt Display from Apple does not exist any more. A 4k Monitor via HDMI is NOT recommended because it would work only at 30 Hz. Would a 4k display work at 60 Hz refresh rate when connected via Thunderbolt2? If yes, which one?! There are rather confusing hints on the net.

Thanks for the answers!

Peter

 

[mj_]

No, it's not confusing. It's very simple: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206587

I really don't understand why this question keeps coming up every other day. Is it so hard to scroll down and check whether someone else might have asked that very question yesterday?

 

[Attendance]

Thanks! You are right, maybe I am too stupid to understand these items. But am I right if I realize that there were NO solution for my laptop at 60 Hz for 4k?!

Am I right that since Thunderbolt Display is finished, is there NO appropriate monitor for rMBP 13´ Mid2014?????

Once more many thanks for your answer.

Peter

 

[estabya]

Thanks! You are right, maybe I am too stupid to understand these items. But am I right if I realize that there were NO solution for my laptop at 60 Hz for 4k?!

Am I right that since Thunderbolt Display is finished, is there NO appropriate monitor for rMBP 13´ Mid2014?????

Once more many thanks for your answer.

Peter

LG offers a couple ultra wide monitors with Thunderbolt support. I have the 34UM95, and it works great.
[doublepost=1516286540][/doublepost]And you can use pretty much any sub-4K monitor at 60hz with either the HDMI output or Thunderbolt to DisplayPort.

 

[Attendance]

LG 34UM95 is unfortunately discontinued...
So you recommend to look for a sub-4K-monitor at 60 Hz rather than for a 4k at 30 Hz?

I would use it for creating sheet music with the software ´Sibelius´.

Thx Peter

 

[mj_]

Thanks! You are right, maybe I am too stupid to understand these items. But am I right if I realize that there were NO solution for my laptop at 60 Hz for 4k?!

Correct, that is exactly what this means. Your MacBook Pro is simply too old for 4K@60Hz - the graphic chips back in 2013/2014 were simply not capable of running a resolution that high at 60 Hz. In this cause Apple isn't to blame, it's Intel: their integrated GPUs only started supporting 4K@60Hz with Broadwell while your MacBook Pro is still equipped with Haswell. In other words: you're out of luck on this one. You can either go with a WQHD display and enjoy 60 Hz, or go with a 4K@30Hz display. Try it out first if you can, you may not even notice a difference. I was using a 27" LG 4K display at 30 Hz for quite a while and had no trouble at all.

And FYI: look for displays with DisplayPort input. Forget HDMI for anything higher than FHD (1920x1080) since it's not supported on your MBP either. However, both your Thunderbolt 2 ports carry a DisplayPort video signal as well and you can connect any DisplayPort monitor using a MiniDisplayPort to DisplayPort cable.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

Looks like 4k @ 30hz is "all you get" on a 2014 MacBook Pro 13".

If you want 60hz, I'd suggest either a 1080p or 1440p display.
Can be 24", 27", or even 32" (for 1440p).

Your best connection would be a minidisplayport (Mac end) to displayport or minidisplayport (display end) cable.

Possible "compromise":
Get a 27" 4k display.
Perhaps you could then set it up to run either:
- 4k @ 30 (HiDPI mode with a 1920x1080 display)
- 1080p (1920x1080, NOT in 4k mode)
Then... if you at some point got a new MBPro... you would have a display that was "4k ready"...

 

[Attendance]

Thank you very much for your helpful answers. I think I will get an LG BDM430UC and use it at HD solution, 60 Hz (or UHD at 30 Hz, lets see which is convenient). And once upon a time I will change my rMBP to a modern one .
I am not a computer-kid, I am a musician/composer who wants to keep his eyes healthy with a good quality display - that is why I asked you my silly questions. Many thanks indeed. Peter

 

[little George]

Hi,

coming back to the issue, it seems that there aren't many external monitors available to choose from, especially since many models are now discontinued by manufacturers and retailers.

On top of that it seems MBP Retina 13' mid 2014 is not an easy model to match up with an external display in the 4K- 5K era.

Anyways, could you guys suggest a particular external display above 27'? I'm currently using my Macbook Pro at the default display resolution (whatever that means) while my work requires working many hours during the day on long texts, usually having to open and work on 2 or 3 documents at the same time, while reading/writting multiple emails and using both safari and firefox browsers researching at the same time.

I would really appreciate all and any help I could get.

[PS: I was looking at these monitors that appleinsider was suggesting- any views- ideas?]

 

[kyepinn]

Hi there, I am using rMBP 13" 2014 too and I am facing similar issue.
I did not intend to use 4K on this old machine and only looking to run 60Hz above 1080P.
However, I have no luck and my machine only allows me to run 720P at 29.5Hz.

FYI, my external monitor is Dell U2720Q 4K 60Hz monitor and I am connecting the both of them via a mini dp - dp adaptor. I just could not understand why my HDMI cable could at least run it at 30hz but my dp can only run it at 29.5hz.
I tried someone else's 2015 mbp it could run 4K @ 60hz with no issues. why cant I run only 1440p or 1080p at 60hz?
That is unacceptable.

Anyone can provide some advice on this matter? my mbp internal display broke down and its suffering to use the 30hz external display.