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szw-mapple fan

macrumors 68040
Jul 28, 2012
3,481
4,342
This is pretty embarrassing considering that the Sharp display is suggested as a companion to the Mac Pro during the configuration process. Slightly less embarrassing is that Apple didn't get a 4k display out with the introduction of the MP. But combine the two together, and Apple is presenting a very difficult situation for Mac Pro buyers wishing to take advantage of the much-promoted 4k support. Historically, Mac OS has always had best-in-class support and user experience for displays, and this is certainly a blemish on that record.

IMO this is a rare drop of the ball for Tim Cook, in addition to the extremely tight production constraints pushing nMP wait times into February.

I hope he is using the supply constraint period to sort this out.
 

JoeyCloverfield

macrumors regular
Sep 16, 2012
243
0
early adopters in the photo and video fields must be dissapointed.....:(....:eek: Hopefully Apple will be working in some kind of fix. Or even better, to release own 4k displays fully supported......:D



:):apple:

Yes, but I bet most aren't. At > $3000 a display it just makes more sense to buy two regular-resolutioned displays (2560-by-1600 or 1440) and wait out the high price.
 

yg17

macrumors Pentium
Aug 1, 2004
15,027
3,002
St. Louis, MO
Almost everything I plug into DP or DVI (or VGA) looks exactly like it should. Maybe HDMI is a ****** protocol or devices having only HDMI input aren't too smart.

Two things wrong with this post:

1. HDMI and DVI use the exact same signaling for video. HDMI adds audio. HDMI is basically DVI with audio.
2. I have a Dell monitor plugged into my rMBP's mDP/TB port and it looks like crap because OSX thinks it's a TV and not a monitor. This is a well documented issue that's existed since 10.8 at least and I had to use a hack to the display definition files to get it to look right. The display works fine on Windows without any OS hacks.
 

manu chao

macrumors 604
Jul 30, 2003
7,219
3,031
Two things wrong with this post:

1. HDMI and DVI use the exact same signaling for video. HDMI adds audio. HDMI is basically DVI with audio.
But have Macs treated monitors connected via DVI as TVs? I haven't heard of that.

2. I have a Dell monitor plugged into my rMBP's mDP/TB port and it looks like crap because OSX thinks it's a TV and not a monitor. This is a well documented issue that's existed since 10.8 at least and I had to use a hack to the display definition files to get it to look right. The display works fine on Windows without any OS hacks.
With using a (m)DP input port on the Dell?
 

sammich

macrumors 601
Sep 26, 2006
4,305
268
Sarcasmville.
Which is exactly why I said DP1.3.
And how does TB2 handle the bandwidth that DP1.3 should be providing? As a poster above pointed out, it allows for 33.6Gb/s, far above TB2's limits. Everything going through TB is data: DP is data, data is data. You can't just 'stuff' DP1.3 in just because DP is supported. The only reason DP1.2 could've been added was because TB2 and it's higher bandwidth was introduced.

Exactly, currently displays only handle at very specific clock intervals - which means you cannot always take full advantage of the entire bandwidth. Specifically, 30hz mode, which normally will be supported, would leave a significant chunk of capacity unused. But 30hz is not particularly stellar for motion.

The reason I mention it is because the existence of G-sync should encourage manufacturers to handle 'unusual' refresh rates better - which in turn would permit getting closer to the bandwidth capability. 50hz doesn't always play nice on current monitors, but you would be required to handle such a refresh rate with g-sync.

In almost all situations, you want 60Hz+ for general computing. So tell me: how does a pipe (in this case TB2) send 60Hz to a 2880p display if it can't actually carry that bandwidth?

I wouldn't even be sure that G-sync works the way you think it does. It paces screen updates when the GPU isn't fast enough. It's not to say, pace display updates when there isn't even enough bandwidth to update the display. And even before that, I'm pretty sure the drivers and/or hardware will have gone 'NOPE, CAN'T DO IT'.
 

Kenrik

macrumors 6502
Dec 21, 2004
332
49
My 39" 4k Sekei shows up as 4k as soon as you plug it in.. and looks great, no config needed. Not bad for $500, only drawback is the 30hz @ 4k.

Me thinks the issue is on Sharp's end on this one.
 

iChrist

macrumors 65816
Sep 7, 2011
1,479
432
3 countries for tax benefit
Surprise!

Another half-a$$, half-baked release from Apple. Gee, you think Mac Pro customers might be interested in a high res display? Maybe we should support it....

nah, why bother.

:(
 

AnalyzeThis

macrumors 6502
Sep 8, 2007
443
1
I have been saying this all along. Apple needs to support high ppi external displays same way they do with retina. Even current 27" 2560x1440 is a bit of a stretch to call it really comfortable. At least, it is raising concerns, hopefully Apple will listen.
 

AnalyzeThis

macrumors 6502
Sep 8, 2007
443
1
I don't think this is an issue at all. Of course Apple can't guarantee every monitor will support OS X Retina technologies but I'm sure the best displays will make a conscious effort to do so. With this in mind, it doesn't surprise me the Dell cannot do OS X Retina.

It has nothing to do with display support for retina. Display just displays pixels and should at least communicate back its resolution and other EDID info required for OS to understand how to use it and its capabilities. It is then up to OS to decide what to display and how. Apple has the technology, they just need to enable it on external high PPI monitors. Basically, the UI should stay same physical size independent of PPI or at least offer user a few options to scale UI size. We could enable hiDPI, but it is limited to 1/2 resolution for UI: 1080p or 720p, it makes text and UI to look really oversized. Retina has at least 6 steps in UI scaling.

So we can maintain typography accurate to some degree:
wiki:The defined length of a point varied over time and location until the late 1980s and early 1990s, when the traditional point was supplanted by the desktop publishing point (also called the PostScript point), which was defined as 1⁄72 of an inch.

Printers are good example of this as font size is independent of printer resolution (DPI).
 
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WardC

macrumors 68030
Oct 17, 2007
2,727
215
Fort Worth, TX
I see the article is complaining about lack of Retina, but this display is not designed to be a Retina display, it is designed to deliver the image (with Desktop) at the full 4K resolution, which it does. The text and screen elements may seem unusably small...that is because this is a much higher ppi (and resolution) than even a 30" Cinema display...over 1.5 times the horizontal pixels. Things WILL seem tiny on this display, but the display was not designed to be your "General Purpose Use OS X" display....it was made to be a 4K editing workhorse, for use primarily with FinalCutPro editing 4K. In that program, the text size is increased for the 4K monitor so things are comfortable to work with.

But in Mac OS X, 10pt font will be a bastard on this display. For sure!
 

thekev

macrumors 604
Aug 5, 2010
7,005
3,343
I don't think this is an issue at all. Of course Apple can't guarantee every monitor will support OS X Retina technologies but I'm sure the best displays will make a conscious effort to do so. With this in mind, it doesn't surprise me the Dell cannot do OS X Retina.

You might want to refrain from such uninformed comments on topics you don't even remotely understand, because sometimes other uniformed individuals believe silly junk posts. There are some cases where a brand might need to test on Macs. Extensive testing is more common with display brands that ship accompanying software solutions. Even then they don't all update on day 1. Most have to wait for shipping hardware to make bug fixes. The same goes for NEC, Eizo, Quato, and Panasonic's broadcast displays. Even then there are cases where the issue is on Apple's end. In such cases it's typically posted as a known issue, however asking for such recognition on day 1 isn't reasonable. They would have no way of anticipating it.
 

Exhale

macrumors 6502a
Sep 20, 2011
512
145
And how does TB2 handle the bandwidth that DP1.3 should be providing?
Where did I say TB2 would provide it? Again, thats why i explicitly said that the connection which would drive x2880 displays would use DP1.3. And yes for Thunderbolt, that would mean a refreshed thunderbolt implementation, and yes that thunderbolt implementation would require a higher throughput.

Either via additional channels, or via the originally intended optical link, since otherwise you will fail to meet the requirements to qualify for DP1.3 - and if it did that it would not be DP1.3. But I would've assumed that to have fallen under 'obvious'.
The only reason DP1.2 could've been added was because TB2 and it's higher bandwidth was introduced.
No, DP1.2 required support for channel bonding, which TB1 did not support. The only thing TB2 introduced was channel bonding. Total throughput was not changed.
In almost all situations, you want 60Hz+ for general computing. So tell me: how does a pipe (in this case TB2) send 60Hz to a 2880p display if it can't actually carry that bandwidth?
I never said anything about 60hz+, i said supporting a refresh rate as close as possible to the maximum of what the link (and panel) can handle.

You seriously need to work on your reading comprehension.
 
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Quu

macrumors 68040
Apr 2, 2007
3,421
6,797
Early adopters always suffer problems like this. I've been an early adopter of many technologies and been bitten in a similar manner. NVIDIA's SLI comes to mind the first two generations of cards to support that were terrible and heck you couldn't run more than one display when SLI was activated until the 200 series from several years ago.

But I digress these kinds of issues have happened with everything. Ultra-High Resolution first came about in 2003 and you needed a GPU which had Dual-Link DVI to drive them. Those connectors took a few years to become ubiquitous and Display Port now has the same hurdle to overcome with DP 1.3 but this time for 4K and higher displays.

----------

Yes, but I bet most aren't. At > $3000 a display it just makes more sense to buy two regular-resolutioned displays (2560-by-1600 or 1440) and wait out the high price.

This is exactly what I'm doing. I already have three 2560x1600 30" panels. I'm in no rush to replace those.
 

dumastudetto

macrumors 603
Aug 28, 2013
5,020
7,148
Los Angeles, USA
You might want to refrain from such uninformed comments on topics you don't even remotely understand, because sometimes other uniformed individuals believe silly junk posts. There are some cases where a brand might need to test on Macs. Extensive testing is more common with display brands that ship accompanying software solutions. Even then they don't all update on day 1. Most have to wait for shipping hardware to make bug fixes. The same goes for NEC, Eizo, Quato, and Panasonic's broadcast displays. Even then there are cases where the issue is on Apple's end. In such cases it's typically posted as a known issue, however asking for such recognition on day 1 isn't reasonable. They would have no way of anticipating it.

I am a full-time web engineer and I understand these technologies intimately. But I must admit I don't understand the point you are trying to argue here. OS X Retina is a published spec. Dell et all have the choice whether to support that spec, or they can allow Sharp to gobble up all the market. At this stage, it appears they have gone with the second option of giving the market to Sharp.
 

WardC

macrumors 68030
Oct 17, 2007
2,727
215
Fort Worth, TX
What the article missed...this is a 4K display....you plug it in to your Mac Pro, and it displays everything at 4K resolution...it works.

It is not a Retina display, nor does it do Retina scaling, NOR was it even meant to.

It displays a 4K resolution picture, and workspace.

The display at this resolution may have tiny text and UI elements, but it was not meant to operate at any other resolution (as of now). You must learn to deal with this. I think that is what they are complaining about here...people have gotten extremely spoiled by Retina scaling, and this display is flat out HIRES, so the UI elements are small.

It does everything its advertised to do.

I think the article missed this.
 
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