Q: Have Mac Compatability Issues Been Resolved for Philips Brilliance 298X4QJAB 29-Inch Screen LCD Monitor
I'm having the same issues as this reviewer. I cannot get native resolution with HMDI or DVI or DVI with DVI to thunderbolt adatper on a Mac Mini. I have not had a chance to try MacBook Air or MacBook Pro Retina (my main computer) and I haven't bought the cable he recommends yet. I won't be able to test on the other two computers any time soon, one is with girlfriend and the other is perpetually in the shop, 30 days plus (but that's another story).
Mac users take note: I had some compatibility issues with this display and my Macbook Pro Retina. Specifically the Mac's video driver thinks it's a television and although I was able to get the full 2560x1080 resolution, text sharpness and overall video quality was very poor. I was unable to resolve the problem and Philips' website didn't have any guidance. It did, however, work fine when plugged into my non-retina Macbook Air.
I also needed to purchase an additional cable, Cable Matters Gold Plated Mini DisplayPort | Thunderbolt to DisplayPort Cable in White 6 Feet, to get it to work with my Macbooks. It wasn't that expensive but I found it was the only cable that would allow the display to work at its native resolution. HDMI and DVI did not get me above 1920x1080.
Mac issues aside, this is a very nice super widescreen display. It's not as narrow as it appears and two web pages are very useable two-up on this super wide display.
The picture-in-picture option isn't anything to get excited about. I found it squished my computer output in its side-by-side mode. Another mode will display the output of a second port in a small window.
Colors and sharpness are good. Pixel density is ok, but it's certainly not a 4K display.
Overall this is a good display and especially interesting for developers and power users. The Mac compatibility issue was very disappointing and I hope Philips can help retina Macbook owners find a solution.
http://www.amazon.com/Philips-Brilliance-298X4QJAB-29-Inch-Monitor/dp/B00CCY8AMC
Has anyone resolved this issue for Macs? What about MacBook Pro Retina? I'm OK with having to buy a special cable, it's annoying but liveable. But I don't want to have to run a bunch of "scripts" or whatever he's talking about. This is a real shame if nobody has fixed this yet.
Thanks.
Mac mini, OS X Mavericks (10.9)
Posted on Dec 4, 2013 6:15 AM