I recently purchased a new external monitor but am having an issue where the monitor switches between 1440p and 4K for no apparent reason. There is no way to revert back to 4K on the monitor or in Display settings when this happens. Any thoughts on how to ensure the laptop and monitor stick to 4K?
You said you were getting a ThunderBolt cable to connect computer to dock. ThunderBolt cables have twice the data pathways of the best USB-C cables, for twice the bandwidth.
Full-featured USB-C cables that implement USB 3.1 Gen 2 can handle up to 10 Gbit/s data rate at full duplex. They are marked with a SuperSpeed+ (SuperSpeed 10 Gbit/s) logo.
USB 3.1 cables are considered full-featured USB-C cables. They are electronically marked cables that contain a chip with an ID function based on the configuration channel and vendor-defined messages (VDM) from the USB Power Delivery 2.0 specification. Cable length should be ≤2 m for Gen 1 or ≤1 m for Gen 2.
from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB-C
Note that to handle the about 20 G bits/sec required to run a 4K display, the inbound conductors must be 'turned around' part of the time to run double outbound data pathways.
What if you connect direct from Mac to USB-C port on the display. Thunderbolt cable should work fine for this purpose.
Your cables seem backward. You need more bandwidth (and therefore the ThunderBolt cable) from Mac to Dock, and high, but lower-than-thunderbolt cable from Dock to display.
try swapping the jobs of each cable and see if it perks up.
that appear to the a $K display with inputs:
2 x HDMI 2.1 (support 4K 144Hz 4:4:4 @ DSC enabled or 4K 144Hz 4:2:0)
1 x Displayport 1.4
1 x USB Type-C (Alternate Mode; Upstream port; Power Delivery up to 18W)
what cables, adapters and docks are being used to connect?
please mention every item.
I guess I could've just included a link to the cable. Here it is: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08YS59V4K/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1
I am reading the resolution via the monitor OSD.
Caution.
"Scaled" is a really tricky subject, and apple's explanations have not been great.
as I understand it:
GRAPHICS are rendered at the full native resolution of the display.
Text is optionally rendered at higher resolution, then Scaled by a factor to make it more readable. This is only offered automatically when your displays are HiDPI displays (typically over 2K native resolution).
Sorry, here is the exact model with a link: https://www.amazon.com/OWC-Thunderbolt-Dock-Compatible-Equipped/dp/B097TVLB4F/ref=sr_1_3?hvadid=557590510442&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9028860&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=7236174005751830260&hvtargid=kwd-93316239134&hydadcr=18031_13447380&keywords=owc+thunderbolt+dock&qid=1681943295&sr=8-3&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.f5122f16-c3e8-4386-bf32-63e904010ad0
So glad to hear that is working better.
It is not surprising that the Dock maker shipped-in-the-box cable was adequate for some purposes, but not really the cable you needed for high-end use.
Often that shipped-in-the-box cable is just good enough to get you use the product immediately and not returning it.
Thanks Grant.
Is the Cable Matters cable or the cable provided in the box with the dock the higher bandwidth cable?
I ask since the issue is improved but the display occasionally still drops down to 1440p. Ultimately, I'm trying to understand where the bandwidth block is to buy the right cables to avoid the issue altogether.
Or should I be using different USB-C cables for the upstream and downstream connections instead?
Thanks again!
Hi Grant,
Thanks for the detailed reply and sorry for the delayed reply back.
Admittedly, I feel like the more I look into this, the more confused I get by the cable types. I thought I just needed two TB4 cables, one from the dock to the display and the other from the dock to the host computer.
Both cables I have (the one that same with the dock and the cable matters version I purchased) are labeled as TB4 with a lightning bolt on the connector point.
Are both the appropriate cables for a 4K display? If not, can you just share a link to the proper cables on Amazon and I'll buy those?
Thanks again!
digisound--
15 minutes of a talking head who waves his arms and can't sit still and does not put up graphics that show specifications? ?
I'll wait for you to summarize his findings, in 25 words or less, thanks.
So from this YTr's research on this website: https://bjango.com/articles/macexternaldisplays/
macos "is designed to work best at 110 PPI (non-Retina) or 220 PPI (Retina)." If you don't have those exact numbers in resolution, macos has to scale it with the GPU.
So conjecturally, a "downgrade" could perform better than an expensive high spec monitor, because the visual display result is better.
Hi Grant,
It's either a TB 3 or 4 cable from the monitor to the OWC TB dock, which connects to the host laptop via the USB-C cable provided with the dock.
Fwiw, restarting my laptop reverts back to 4K, but then back to 1440p eventually, with me not making any manual changes in the Display settings menu or monitor settings.
How long is that cable, and what source or maker?
how are you reading out the resolution?
Gigabyte M32UC Resolution on M1 Macbook Pro
