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

No one tried it? At least no one has an idea?

I don't have your answer, but you are discussing orthogonal issues. The 10x improvement in graphics is how fast the computer can draw to the screen buffer. The 4K 60Hz issue is how fast the port protocol allows the finished screen to be transferred to the device. The main hope of the 10x is that IF your computer can support a 4K display, then it will also be usable at that resolution - for example, you won't see lagging window drags, window scrolls, etc.

As an example, all our 2010 Macs support 2,560 displays, but the GPUs aren't really up to it. Only in the best circumstances can we, say, watch a video at that resolution, and I often have to drop it down to 1,280 x 800 depending on what I'm doing.

Thank you, jdiamond. The thing is, the computers subject to my questions can theoretically do 4k 60Hz, but Apple does not allow it on OS X, hence my question is they would enable it in El Capitan. Let me elaborate:

The 13'' Haswell (late 2013 and mid-2014) rMBPs which have Iris 5100 GPU can do 4k 60Hz on Windows. However they cannot do it on OS X. The fact that 4k 60 Hz is possible on Windows means that OS X can theoretically do it as well. Perhaps Apple thought that 4k 60Hz would not perform well on these computers and hence opted out this feature on OS X. Now with this 10x performance improvement in graphics I thought that Apple may enable this feature in El Capitan.

What do you think?

Guys,

Has there been a change with the final release of El Capitan? Can the Iris 5100 of 13'' Haswell rMBPs can now do 4k 60Hz?

The Metal engine of this El Capitan may have enabled 60Hz refresh rate with 4K resolution due to its performance bump. For example, Arstechnica tested some GPUs including Iris Pro 5200 which saw a 53% performance boost. While he did not test non-Pro Iris 5100, its boost may be sufficient for Apple to now tweak its software to enable 4k 60Hz.

http://arstechnica.com/apple/2015/10/metal-performance-in-os-x-el-capitan-someti mes-great-often-mixed/

I will really appreciate if a late 2013 or mid-2014 13'' Haswell rMBP owner who happen to own a 4k 60Hz gives a try.

Hi Guys,

I was following this conversation for quite a while. After purchasing a 4k monitor now, I can confirm:

Macbook Pro 15" (Late 2013) with NVIDIA 750m running the latest El Capitan is working at 3840 x 2160 @ 60Hz with my Asus PB279 Monitor through Mini DisplayPort.

And HiDPI scaling works as well in the OS Settings. Jay!

@FaisalZ How did you get it to output 4k @ 6Hz?

I have the Dell P2715Q connected from the mDP on my late 2013 rMBP to full DP port on the monitor with cable supplied with the monitor and it only outputs 30Hz to a single screen in Mac OS X El Capitan.

And even with SwitchResX, the best resolution that appears to be supported is 3840 x 2160, 30Hz.

The HiDPI scaling works great, though, but the refresh rate is so horrible, I'm finding myself wanting to use the main laptop screen!

Also worth noting, the second monitor downstream won't display at all, but when I connect a Lenovo laptop running Windows 10 it works fine. The main display is still only running at 30Hz, though, even in Windows.

Hi,

the two things I needed to do are:

1.
Get a decent mDP to mDP cable that supports Multistream (MST) and DP 1.2 (the Asus PB279 has a mDP port)

I got mine from "Cable Matters" on Amazon

(BTW an original Apple Thunderbolt cable did not give me any image)

2.

I needed to set the "DisplayPort Stream" in the monitor settings to "1.2".

Then it worked fluently.

Does your rMBP have the Nvidia 750m inside?

Yes it has the GT 750M 2Gb card inside. So you connected via a mDP-mDP cable instead of a mDP-DP cable. I find it hard to believe that would make a difference, but maybe I'll try that.

I don't think that it makes any difference, but who knows...

And for me it was really essential to change the Display Port setting in the Monitor OSD.

I think I just figured out my problem!

I bought the P2715Q from Amazon warehouse deals, but the monitor in the box was a P2815Q!

The differences between the 2 displays:

P2715Q: 60Hz refresh rate; IPS panel

P2815Q: 30Hz refresh rate; TN panel

Hi there!

Thanks for sharing all of your experiences. I have read the whole thread before buying my new monitor and I can confirm that the Dell P2715Q monitor is working perfectly on my MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013) with Intel Iris Pro 1536 MB graphics. It is displaying at a resolution of 3840 x 2160 at 60 Hz. It is connected with the supplied cable DP to mDP inserted in one of the Thunderbolt 2 ports.

Thanks!

I can't speak for certain on the 13" MacBook Pro, but I have the 15" MacBook Pro Retina (late 2013).

I now have 2 Dell P2715Q 4k monitors and they both run in full 4k resolution at 60hz when connected to my MacBook Pro. I didn't notice the fans coming on any more than normal with the monitors plugged in. The fans still come on normally and frequently when using Parallels, though.

They are fantastic monitors! To make it work, I have to make sure that each monitor has MST mode turned off. And I have to connect them both directly to the display ports. So I have no more display ports available, since the MacBook only comes with two.

I tried to daisy chain them, but it isn't possible from the Mac. As an aside, I do have them daisy chained when connected to a Lenovo ThinkPad w540 that only has one DP port. To get 4k resolution that way, I have to run them both at 30hz which is awful for daily use. So instead, I run them both at 2560x1440 @ 60hz. The Dell monitors actually look very good at that resolution -- just a little soft, but definitely acceptable.

I'm stuck in 30Hz laggy land...

How do you enable 4K @ 60Hz on a Late 2013 Retina Macbook Pro, running El Capitan?

I'm getting the full 2160p resolution and everything is nice and sharp, but I'm stuck at 30Hz, so things don't have that nice smooth motion we all love on our Macs.

I saw a MiniDisplayPort 1.2 to HDMI 2.0 active adapter from Club 3D... do those work, or is there some software workaround?

Mac:
MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013)
2.3 GHz Intel Core i7
16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 2048 MB

Screen:
4K Vizio M43-C1
(using input 5, which does 4K @ 60Hz)

I have the same MBP model as you and when I plugged in my Samsung U28E590D with an HDMI cable I only got 30Hz. I ordered the Mini DisplayPort cable from Amazon and when I used that it ran at 60Hz. I could be mistaken but I don't think you can get 60Hz on the Mac via HDMI.

Hi Stacy, that's interesting. Can you please paste a link to the adapter you purchased? I'm currently using a Mini DisplayPort to HDMI adapter and getting only 30Hz.