4k at 60hz with Thunderbolt 2?

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Level 1

18 points

4k at 60hz with Thunderbolt 2?

Hey guys,

I have a 13 inch Late 2013 MacBook Pro with 2.4 GHz, 8 GB ram, Dual Core i5, Intel Iris 1536 MB integrated graphic, and Thunderbolt 2.0. It runs the latest version of OSX (at the time of writing this) - 10.11.5 (El Capitan).

The display on the screen itself is great, but I was looking for something to expand screen real estate, and some of the 4k monitors looked terrific. However, I read on an Apple Article that my mac can only support 4k (3840x2160) at 30 hz, which the internet tells me is horrible.

The monitor will be used for Video Editing, Web Browsing, Programming (Xcode etc), and Note Taking.

If I was to find a 4k display that had a Thunderbolt 2 port, could I then run 4k at 60hz or still no?

If not can I at least run WQHD (2560x1440) at 60hz through HDMI? Through Thunderbolt 2?

Thanks so much!

MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2013), OS X El Capitan (10.11.5), null

Posted on Jul 11, 2016 8:15 PM

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Answer 1

erin_b1

Community Specialist

Jul 12, 2016 11:47 AM in response to Vikrorious

Hi Vikrorious!

I understand you're looking into the compatibility of your MacBook Pro with 4K monitors, and are concerned about supported refresh rates. I can appreciate wanting more real estate for your display, and I'm happy to go over some information for you. The particular MacBook Pro model that you have does not appear to support 60hz refresh rates on 4K displays, and you can read more about this at the following link:

Using 4K displays and Ultra HD TVs with your Mac

Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.

Cheers!

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Answer 2

Vikrorious Author

Level 1

18 points

Jul 16, 2016 4:40 PM in response to erin_b1

Thank you. I accept that I cannot run 4k at 60 hz, however is it possible to do 2560x1440 at 60hz through hdmi? If not, can it be done through a thunderbolt 2 to display port or usb c, thunderbolt 3, anything?

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Answer 3

Sep 4, 2016 12:08 PM in response to Vikrorious

An HDMI from your 13" MBPr (Late 2013) only performs as follows:

1080p (HD) up to 60 Hz,

3840x2160 (UHD) @ 30 Hz, and

4096x2160 (4K) @ 24 Hz (http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook_pro/specs/macbook-pro-core-i5-2.4- 13-late-2013-retina-display-specs.html#m…).

The 13" MBPr (Late 2013) has been reported to get 3840x2160 (UHD) @ 60 Hz using Thunderbolt 2 to DisplayPort 1.2 (http://alex4d.com/notes/item/macbook-pros-run-4k-display-at-60hz).

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Answer 4

Sep 4, 2016 11:06 PM in response to clabarber

When is the driver going to be available?

I am using 13" MBPr (late 2013) with retina

but running 30 hertz only with Tbolt to DisplayPort using new LG UD58

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