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Q: Does the new Macbook Pro 15" (late 2013) supports 4K via Thunderbolt/Displayport?

I understand that the new Macbook Pro 15" (late 2013 with Nvidia) supports 4K screen resolutions via HDMI at low hertz. But does it support 4K via Thunderbolt/Displayport? I read on Intel's web that the NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M with 2GB memory in theory can support it. Would be important as a range of new 4K 32" monitors will come out over the next year. Would be great for photo, video editing etc.

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mavericks (10.9)

Posted on Oct 24, 2013 2:48 AM

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Q: Does the new Macbook Pro 15" (late 2013) supports 4K via Thunderbolt/Displayport?

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  • by jdiamond,

    jdiamond jdiamond Apr 8, 2014 1:42 PM in response to mg428
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Apr 8, 2014 1:42 PM in response to mg428

    > if 10.9.3 becomes final as is, then the only reason why Apple does not include such capability in Mavericks would be, IMO, to intentionally force customers to buy the high-end and most expensive Haswell rMBP.

     

    We all thought Apple would not support 4k@60Hz on the 2013 rMBP at all, because they wanted to save that as the selling point for the 2014 retina Macbook Pro*, yet they've already managed to enable it for the highest end Mac buyers.  As discussed, it'd be pretty bad politics to first enable it on the lowest end Macs.

     

    At this point, I'm willing to give Apple the benefit of the doubt:  Creating MST drivers is very hard - it took the GPU companies an average of 2 years to pull it off on their own (i.e. Windows 8) platforms, with Intel taking the longest.  First Apple got AMD/ATI drivers working.  Now they've got NVIDIA drivers working about 6 months later.  Hopefully at some point they'll get Intel HD drivers working.  And maybe that's why they haven't released a 4K Apple Monitor yet. 

     

    * Or maybe they no longer need to delay this feature because everyone will upgrade just to get USB 3.1 ports. 

  • by mg428,

    mg428 mg428 Apr 8, 2014 1:57 PM in response to johnniecache
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 8, 2014 1:57 PM in response to johnniecache

    johnnie and other people:

     

    How do you interpret this statement?

     

    "(In Bootcamp 13'' Haswell rMBP) shows the monitor as 2 monitors running in portrait.  Other than this, it works @ 60hz".
  • by johnniecache,

    johnniecache johnniecache Apr 8, 2014 2:21 PM in response to mg428
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Apr 8, 2014 2:21 PM in response to mg428

    To me this looks like its working as MST. Surprising he doesnt give more info, because normally MST must be selected on the display manually.

  • by mg428,

    mg428 mg428 Apr 9, 2014 6:00 AM in response to johnniecache
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 9, 2014 6:00 AM in response to johnniecache

    Dear forumites:

     

    As a non-tech savvy person and pehaps becuse of not being a native English speaker, I could not understand what that guy actually means with his statement "

    "(In Bootcamp 13'' Haswell rMBP) shows the monitor as 2 monitors running in portrait.  Other than this, it works @ 60hz".

     

    Please kindly comment on nuances of the 4k 60Hz output on bootcamp of the Haswell rMBP 15'' with Nvidia 750M and Haswell rMBP 13'' with Iris. I wonder whether the end result (what I would see on the monitor) be the same or not.

  • by mg428,

    mg428 mg428 Apr 9, 2014 1:56 PM in response to mg428
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 9, 2014 1:56 PM in response to mg428

    Guys,

     

    Apparently this "2 monitors running in portrait" thing has a negative implication:

     

    http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows8_1-desktop/4k-monitor-c onnected-through-displayport-12-and/f021d8e1-7c42-4705-ae84-0a1adcc3297f

     

    But I could not fully understand this and cannot visualize it.

     

    If you can grasp it, please kindly elaborate.

  • by nquery,

    nquery nquery Apr 9, 2014 2:14 PM in response to mg428
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 9, 2014 2:14 PM in response to mg428

    What this simply means is that Intel drivers for Windows don't support merging 2 MST tiles into 1. This is necessary for all MST based DP 1.2 monitors to create a single screen. This is akin to "eyefinity" for AMD drivers/control panels, or NVidia Surround. Apple's recent drivers simply have this automatically built in. If they had chose to they could have allowed MST monitors to display 2 tiles similar to what is described above. Note that all 4k monitors produced so far are MST and thus this has been a common low-level issue that has to be managed by the graphics driver.

     

    So the good news is that I would think that Apple/Intel could modify their drivers to merge the two tiles into 1 @ 60hz. If they choose to put the effort into it of course, and unless there is some low-level limitation in the intel GPU preventing this ... but again, this seems to be a driver issue based on recent history with AMD and NVidia. The driver needs to specifically merge the 2 tiles so that the user only sees 1.

  • by mg428,

    mg428 mg428 May 4, 2014 4:08 PM in response to nquery
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 4, 2014 4:08 PM in response to nquery

    Hope for 4k 60Hz on low-end 15'' rMBP?

     

    According to the below link which includes the release notes of the beta 10.9.3 13D57 build, 10.9.3 provides "improved 4K display support on .... MacBook Pro with 15-inch Retina display (Late 2013)".

     

    http://9to5mac.com/2014/05/01/os-x-mavericks-10-9-3-release-nears-with-bolstered -4k-display-support/

     

    As you would remember, the high-end 15'' late 2013 rMBP with Nvidia 750M can do 4k @ 60Hz on Mavericks by virtue of the 10.9.3. This release note gives some hope to the owners of low-end late 2013 15'' rMBP with Iris Pro because the release note seems to be written down in a way that it encompasses all late 2013 15'' rMBPs, i.e. both low-end and high-end models with integrated Iris Pro and discrete Nvidia 750M GPU. In short, low-end late 2013 15'' rMBP with Iris Pro may do 4k @ 60Hz once the 10.9.3 final version is released. At this point late 2013 13'' rMBP with Iris has not been provided with such support. In other words, no 4k @ 60Hz on Mavericks with late 2013 13'' rMBP for the time being. Hopefully some day, perhaps with the 10.9.4, it will do it. Because it has been proved that it can do it on Windows. Therefore it can do it on Mavericks as well with the necessary driver.

  • by jdiamond,

    jdiamond jdiamond May 15, 2014 12:33 PM in response to mg428
    Level 1 (4 points)
    May 15, 2014 12:33 PM in response to mg428

    AFAIK, the only difference between Iris and Iris Pro graphics are the levels of performance, not the driver API specifics.  If true, I don't see why the same drivers wouldn't work, even of they work at an unacceptibly low level of performance.  I'll investigate the driver issue and report back...

  • by jdiamond,

    jdiamond jdiamond May 16, 2014 6:55 AM in response to jdiamond
    Level 1 (4 points)
    May 16, 2014 6:55 AM in response to jdiamond

    OK, I was wrong.  I contacted some friends who do this for a living, and they said you do need a very different driver for Iris than Iris Pro.  So consider that yet another driver platform Apple needs to reach.

  • by John Mallery,

    John Mallery John Mallery May 16, 2014 10:58 AM in response to MacPlus87
    Level 1 (45 points)
    May 16, 2014 10:58 AM in response to MacPlus87

    Anybody tried the Samsubg U28D590D with the macbook pro 15" (late 2013) with the NVIDIA 750 graphics unit?

  • by jdiamond,

    jdiamond jdiamond May 16, 2014 1:24 PM in response to John Mallery
    Level 1 (4 points)
    May 16, 2014 1:24 PM in response to John Mallery

    FYI, the official 4K support page does not distinguish between 13" andd 15" Macbook Pros.

  • by John Mallery,

    John Mallery John Mallery May 16, 2014 2:57 PM in response to John Mallery
    Level 1 (45 points)
    May 16, 2014 2:57 PM in response to John Mallery

    The samsung U28D590D is not listed as a supported monitor on the suport page at:

     

    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT6008

     

    But, ths display is supposed support 4k resolution without need for the MST hack due to updated electronics.

     

    Hmmm, wonder if that means it works....

  • by John Mallery,

    John Mallery John Mallery May 17, 2014 3:25 AM in response to John Mallery
    Level 1 (45 points)
    May 17, 2014 3:25 AM in response to John Mallery

    The following article claims that the samsung U28D590D works with the MBP Retina with the NVIDIA 750 graphics unit, but has some issues with other computers and configurations. In particular, the displays’s use of a single-stream DisplayPort connection, compared to the multi-stream connection hack required by first generation 4K displays to reach 60Hz, seems to produce glitches under 10.9.3.

    -------

     

    A Look at the 4K Display Improvements, and Remaining Flaws, in OS X 10.9.3

     

    http://www.tekrevue.com/os-x-10-9-3-4k-displays/

  • by DavidErickson,

    DavidErickson DavidErickson May 21, 2014 5:50 PM in response to John Mallery
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 21, 2014 5:50 PM in response to John Mallery

    Has anyone with 10.9.3 had luck getting MST to work with MULTIPLE displays?  I have a rMBP <-> Dell U2713H <-> Dell U2713HM, the U2713H says it is getting a displayport 1.2 signal, but the U2713HM just displays a mirror, and I can't see any way in the OSX software to change it.

  • by johnniecache,

    johnniecache johnniecache May 21, 2014 10:26 PM in response to DavidErickson
    Level 1 (5 points)
    May 21, 2014 10:26 PM in response to DavidErickson

    But those are not 4k displays, right? So unless you daisy-chain them you wont need MST or DP1.2.

    If you connect an external display for the first time, os x will turn on mirroring. You will see a little icon with a triangle at the top, left of the WiFi icon. Try to turn this off, the setting will be saved.

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