rMBP 15" Late 2013 External Monitor

[darkdante]

Hello there,

I guess you've seen this post many times in the forum but all I found is about different models.

I'm looking for an external monitor for my rMBP with the same resolution of my mac (I don't want to sacrifice resolution). In the about my mac display section, it says 15.4-inch (2880 x 1800) Intel Iris Pro 1536 MB.

what is your recommendation? 4K @ 60Hz, 24" or 27" (27" is better/preferred)?

thanks a million in advance.

 

[Mike in Kansas]

I'm not sure if the 2013's with integrated graphics can support an external monitor greater than 2560X1600. Although that's close to the same resolution as your retina display (2880X1800), the pixel density of your display is 220 ppi while on say a 25" 2560X1440 the density is 117 ppi. Even a 4K 27" 3840X2160 only has a pixel density of 163 ppi.

Having said that, your MBP is probably running in scaled resolution of 1440X900, so the 2560X1440 will have higher resolution but not be as sharp due to lower pixel density.

I just received a 4K Dell 27" monitor yesterday and am using with my 2015 15" MBP with dGPU. I run it at 1920X1080 and it's almost as sharp as the retina display. I have to put my face close to it to see the difference.

You should probably read this to determine if you can run a 4K display with your MBP: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202856

 

[darkdante]

You should probably read this to determine if you can run a 4K display with your MBP: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202856

for the moment, I found P2715Q 27-Inch.

For the support and based on Apple's article:

You can use 4K displays and Ultra HD TVs with these Mac computers (special adapters might be required):

• MacBook Pro (Retina, Late 2013 and later)

so for this one my rMBP does support 4K.

talking about 60Hz, my rMBP falls only in the MST

Multi-Stream Transport (MST) Displays
These Mac computers automatically detect and support MST-enabled displays at 60 Hz:

• MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013 and later)

but for this section Apple says" If you use a 60Hz MST display with the MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013) or iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014), only one additional Thunderbolt display is supported." here, I don't understand. Does it mean that "in addition" to the previously mentioned monitors, also Apple Thunderbolt display is supported, or it's the only supported one?

 

[snaky69]

for the moment, I found P2715Q 27-Inch.

For the support and based on Apple's article:

You can use 4K displays and Ultra HD TVs with these Mac computers (special adapters might be required):

• MacBook Pro (Retina, Late 2013 and later)

so for this one my rMBP does support 4K.

talking about 60Hz, my rMBP falls only in the MST

Multi-Stream Transport (MST) Displays
These Mac computers automatically detect and support MST-enabled displays at 60 Hz:

• MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013 and later)

but for this section Apple says" If you use a 60Hz MST display with the MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013) or iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014), only one additional Thunderbolt display is supported." here, I don't understand. Does it mean that "in addition" to the previously mentioned monitors, also Apple Thunderbolt display is supported, or it's the only supported one?

I'd say the sentence is pretty clear. Read it again.

If you use a 4K display, you can only add one more TB display. Simple as that.