Using a Mac Mini on Dell U4919DW Ultrawide Monitor.

(A part of this was posted in another forum but it is more relevant here).

I just purchased a Mac Mini 2018 and Dell U4919DW Ultrawide Monitor. I should be able to get 5120x1440 Resolution out of this setup, but at best I can get 3840x1080.

I am connected via the Dell-included USB-C cable. I tried with the included HDMI cable but it too did not work.

Connecting the monitor to my PC via Display Port Cables DID work - I was able to get full 5120x1440 resolution at full 60hz. Just not on my new Mac Mini.

I called Dell, and their technical support was a complete joke. The lady on the phone basically said "If it works on a PC, it works", without much else to offer.

I called Apple and the tech, David, tried alot harder, easily spending about 20 minutes with me trying to find the problem. (Apple tech support is why they always win my business). He was not able to solve the problem but has created a case # and escalated this to Apple Engineers. By Apple and Dell's own documentation, I should be able to get 1440 lines of resolution in my setup.

Has anyone here experienced anything similar? Any suggestions are appreciated.

Mac mini 2018 or later

Posted on Jan 11, 2019 10:56 AM

Top-ranking reply

Waldorfer

Level 1

4 points

Posted on May 24, 2019 4:28 AM

Got it working with the USBC-C cable that came with the monitor and the Moshi USB-C to DisplayPort cable I purchased today. I use the sound from the Mac mini (as it stands beneath my Philips monitor). I had to use SwitchResX to enforce these resolutions. Without it I can't pick the 1560x1440 for both 'screens'. Anyway, happy for now but I hope Apple would release a fix soon.

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112 replies

wolf879

Level 1

8 points

Oct 8, 2019 11:43 AM in response to Thomas1101

Yeah I second that.. me neither :(

Oct 8, 2019 10:31 PM in response to MrWolfX

I'm having the Dell U4919DW and still trouble. Which kind of cable do you use to hook it up?

wolf879

Level 1

8 points

Oct 10, 2019 10:30 AM in response to Thomas1101

He is saying it DOESNT work, no matter what cable lol

etcook

Level 1

9 points

Oct 24, 2019 10:30 AM in response to AxelBigDog

The eGPU works, even without Catalina.

Oct 30, 2019 7:58 AM in response to wolf879

Hi Wolf879,

Please see my original post about the problem located at https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250079605 as it contains all of the technical details.

Oct 30, 2019 2:50 PM in response to Mark from 2Much

Are you using a 13” MBP or Mac mini!??

etcook

Level 1

9 points

Nov 1, 2019 9:58 AM in response to Mark from 2Much

Are you certain this is actually at its “native resolution?” I’m not aware of anyone else that has successfully gotten this to work “out of the box.”

Nov 1, 2019 10:33 AM in response to darenjacobs

I'm using a Mac mini 2018

Nov 1, 2019 10:33 AM in response to darenjacobs

Sorry I don't know anything about the MacBook Pro. My problem was with the Mac mini 2018.

wolf879

Level 1

8 points

Nov 1, 2019 10:40 AM in response to darenjacobs

Neither for Mac mini w/ Samsung cr90.

So, yeah, ‘thanks’ Apple for NOT fixing anything for almost a year now lol

wolf879

Level 1

8 points

Nov 1, 2019 10:53 AM in response to AxelBigDog

Exactly. So can we all stop the BS here? Unless you got some actual fix with proof; not some weird message where you praise Apple and literally give no evidence lol

Nov 4, 2019 2:42 PM in response to Mark from 2Much

I almost thought I would have to eat my words re: Apple’s apathy towards their customers. Apparently I won’t.

Nov 26, 2019 10:56 AM in response to BennetS

I'm sure. The new 16" should work just as well.

May 24, 2019 6:08 AM in response to Mark from 2Much

Currently you have to use 2 cables+ HDMI and the USBC, and treat your monitor as 2 separate models. I know it sounds inelegant, and the extra cable is ugly, but it works really well. And for me personally I do a lot of Skype calls where I have to share my screen. Since Skype doesn't support sharing only a part of the screen, sharing my entire 5000+ pixel wide monitor as a single screen would be useless. So in my case, "fake dual monitors" on my Ultrawide suits me perfectly.

Try it out and share your experiences here. I'm pretty sure Apple is paying attention to this thread and will issue a fix in the next OS update if they haven't already done so. Good luck!

etcook

Level 1

9 points

Aug 21, 2019 8:00 AM in response to marius134

It's audacious to request someone spend the better part of a day installing a beta version of the OS and then reverting back if necessary, just to test a monitor on your behalf, but to do so without even a please or thank you is incomprehensible.

Regardless, I had it already installed so I unplugged everything to test it for you.

Although the resolutions are listed, they look terrible. It seems like 1/2 resolution. I tried it with both HDMI and USB-C and got the same results. The only way to use this monitor is to PBP it as described by others.

To be frank, I regret purchasing this monitor. Not having retina resolution after coming from 2 4k retina monitors really showcased to me how much retina makes a difference. I just didn't want the "seam" in the middle since I work in dual screen mode. A huge price to pay, literally, for a reduction in what I got (imho).

Below is the resolution selection screen - it's the same for both usb-c and hdmi.

As a note, even if it did work, I'm not sure I would have relied on my experiences. Some of this is likely hardware dependent. It works wonderfully when I use my eGPU at full resolution even in 10.14, so the outcome of this test, even if successful, should not have been treated as definitive.

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Using a Mac Mini on Dell U4919DW Ultrawide Monitor.