I have the above monitor connected to a 2020 M1 Mac Mini via HDMI. Some research indicates that the monitor is capable of running at 60hz at 1920 x 1080, but I cannot get any higher than 30 unless I reduce screen resolution to (unusable, for me )1280 x 720. Will it make a difference if I use a display cable with a display to USB-C adapter? Any other method?
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
Mac mini (M1, 2020)
Looks like a limitation with your monitor.
It is a 28" 3840x2160 pixel monitor. My guess is that when you selected "1920x1080" mode on your M1 Mac mini, you were selecting Retina "looks like 1920x1080" mode, in which
What this arrangement does is to give you a much sharper picture than if you were actually driving the monitor at a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels.
However, now the limits of your monitor come to play. If the Reddit thread is to be believed, Dell "cheaped out" on the selection of one of the chips used to drive the display. The panel is capable of 3840x2160 @ 60 Hz, but since the data has to go through that chip, the monitor is not.
I'm guessing that the Mac, seeing that your monitor was capable of 3840x2160 pixel resolution, chose it over the other options. But along with that came a 30 Hz cap on the refresh rate.
The only things I can think of are
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"Do you remember the Dell P2815Q? …
Yes. That P2815Q. The 4K monitor that released in 2014, that could only display 30Hz at max resolution. The same P2815Q that had over 100ms input lag.
Everyone and their dog were ******* on this monitor, because it was effectively E-waste and not suited for any kind of use case whatsoever – rightfully so."
Dell – Dell P2815Q User's Guide
Page 23:
Maximum preset resolution: DP/Mini-DP/HDMI: 3840x2160 at 30 Hz.
MHL: 1920x1080 at 60 Hz
Page 24:
The only line mentioning 3840x2160 shows a refresh rate of 30 Hz.
Great response. Thanks for taking the time. The explanation confirms what I had planned to do--find a low frequency use for Dell, and I have one: Managing my kids' music (they are 8 and 10) inherited from their deceased mother. I had since replaced the 2020 M1 mini with the newer mini, so the older one was sitting around doing nothing. I decided to replace the Dell monitor with an LG, which now doubles with an identical LG in my two-monitor music production workstation. When I am feeling flush, I will probably junk the Dell too. As a 40-year (yes, since 1985) Apple user, it's tough to go back to such a terrible screen lag.
Can my Dell P2815Q monitor get 60Hz with a display to USB-C adapter?
