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

Currently, the most affordable yet highest ppi 4k monitor is Dell UP2414Q. This monitor has one regular display port, one mini display port and one HDMI. It also has the Picture by Picture mode (PBP) whereby two input sources can be displayed simultaneously. The Asus, larger Dell UP3214Q and Sharp probably has similar configurations.

For some users, one option for current rMBPs may be to take advantage of the two halves of the display and use the DisplayPort and Mini DisplayPort ports of the monitor simultaneously as two inputs and display two 1920x2160 screens side by side at 60Hz as independent desktops (two independent desktops are somewhat better though many won't like it.

But the question is whether the above configuration is possible so that we can start using 4k immediately with this dual desktop solution until true 4K 60Hz driver support comes.

Can anyone test this and confirm?

Correct. All current prosumer 4K monitors (at least as far as I know) achieve 4K @ 60HZ by using MST, which, as you stated, is basically a hack -- two 1080p 30Hz streams joined together; but this "hack" works just fine on Windows, and the refresh rate, color depth, etc. are all great. I'm betting Apple will update the drivers in 10.9.2 as I said, but let's wait and see. Either way, for current mac owners, at least there is SOME solution (windows).

If you are really interested in a 4K monitor and want it to be future proof, I suggest you wait until the monitor manufacturers start producting monitors that support HDMI 2.0 -- with HDMI 2.0 it will not be a "hack" -- but again, it will require a new video card, and of course, a new mac that actually supports HDMI 2.0 (none do thus far, not even the "new" mac pro).

I highly suggest checking out CES 2014 -- it will be the year of HDMI 2.0 and true 4K support.

TomInIowa please read the specs on the Dell P2815Q. It was made to be only 30hz in 4K and is 30hz on any operating system under any condition, this is widely known. In my honest opinion you should take it back. Get either the Dell 4K Ultrasharp 24 inch UP2414Q for $1299, which is 60hz and has 99% color gamut or get the (just announced) 4K 60hz Asus PB287Q coming out in the second half of this year for $800.

aron77 wrote:

still 30Hz and no HiDPI option for me (dell up2414q + late 2013 macbook pro retina 15'' with 750m gfx).

Super sad indeed. There must be a way of forcing the retina display setting. Its probably some parameter in the EDID. Cant somebody do a script similar to the one posted here: http://embdev.net/topic/284710

it must say Retina: -> Yes

NiqueXyZ wrote:

Intel Demo'd Iris and yes, it can do 4K @ 60Hz.

Anand Tech did an article about it, IIRC.

NiqueXyZ,

I believe your post is the only one in this thread indicating that Iris -standard- can do 4k @ 60Hz.

Would you mind referring to a source? Because, according to Intel's specs sheet, such output is not possible for Iris, but for Iris Pro.

Please see the below link in this regard:

http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/quick-reference-guide-to-intel-processo r-graphics

Thanks!

This sounds promising:

http://anandtech.com/show/7847/improving-the-state-of-4k-display-support-under-o s-x

I will try the 10.9.3 beta later today and let you guys know if it works on my mac (haswell mbp15 w/ 750m + dell up2414q).

mg428 wrote:

I guess 11.3 was a typo?? Did you mean the Haswell 13.3, if so which particular model?

11,3 is the 11th Generation MacBook Pro 15" late 2013, afaik with Iris Pro and GT 750M.

11,1 is the 13" Iris model:

.

Btw i could not find anything solid confirming the 4k 60Hz capability of the 13" MBPr. Considering the intel spec sheet its not looking good i guess. (i own a 13" as well and would buy a 4k display only if 60Hz support is confirmed)

But very nice that apple will make this possible for the 15" MBPr. And of course the HiDPI modes for those desparate Dell 24" owners.

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.

Its about driver support (which is currently missing in Mac OX X)

Should work without modifications on a normal windows installation.

You need to enable MST on the monitor itself to get 60 hz

@jonniecache:

yes it works on bootcamp with some caveats. please read the link i posted to rene's site where i explain the quirks. it does NOT yet work @ 60hz under Mavericks.

Correct. Look up the HDMI spec on wikipedia.

The Max output spec with 1.4x is 24Hz or 30Hz at 4K.

GPUS *can* output 4K @ 60Hz but NOT over HDMI!

They do it with multi-stream displayport!

And they've been doing it since 2009 / 2010.

The "Adapter" is not an adapter as you think.

Thunderbolt is PCIe combined with displayport -- the "adapter" part of it would be a PCIe GPU inside of a box that connects to the host via thunderbolt and probably cost at least 500 dollars.

DisplayPort 1.2 can do 60Hz at 4K using multi stream......there is no display port to HDMI adapter that goes higher than 1080p.

It works on Windows because the 750M and Iris pro drivers support it.

On OS X Mavericks, the drivers don't support it, or there is something else in the OS that supports it.

""there is no display port to HDMI adapter that goes higher than 1080p." - but it should not be impossible to build one, right? Displayport does 4K@60Hz and HDMI2 does 4K@60Hz."

I guess, but it's probably going to be very expensive.

I don't know, can't speak on such matters as HDMI 2.0 products are not shipping and won't for at least a few months.

Well, I guess the goal is determined by the title of the thread, which is "Does the new Macbook Pro 15" (late 2013) supports 4K via Thunderbolt/Displayport?" I assume the creater of the thread must have meant "full" support of 4K in the title. i.e. 4K @ 60Hz, which the discussion revolves around in the entire thread.

Therefore, any means and adapters in this context that would lead to outputting 4K @ 60 Hz is IMO greatly relevant. Especially if we go through the worst case scenerio where Apple won't update the drives for Mavericks (which is quite possible given Apple's statement on the Sharp 4K monitor), then such adapter is the only way to output 4K @ 60 Hz with Mavericks. Even if Apple updates the drivers, such adapter would still be great because HDMI is ubiquitous and Mac users would prefer connecting from the Mac OS instead of Windows. This will also obviate the need for installing Windows for the people who will be installing it just to connect their Mac to a 4K display.

Regarding MST and full DP 1.2 support on Mavericks, of course that is ideal, but it does not constitute the "core" of this thread.