HP Z27q (5K monitor) experiences

rkuo · May 7, 2015

I have not been able to test this with a Mac Pro, but I do have a Macbook Pro.

No apparent way to drive the monitor at 5K with dual displayport cables from a Macbook Pro. This is expected per the support documents. However, I'm pretty sure the Macbook Pro itself can handle a 5K desktop (it is possible to have a scaled 5K desktop output to a lower true resolution, so the graphics card is capable of it).

It is possible to output at 4K and have the monitor scale it internally, so that's good. And it looks OK. What's not good is that the Mac seems to think the monitor's native resolution is 2560x1440. There is no combination of SwitchResX or built in support that will allow me to output at 4K with an effective scaled resolution of 2560x1440 in HiDPI, for instance. I have to output at 4K native, and as a result everything looks super tiny.

Hopefully Apple will get their stuff together on this. In the mean time, I've been running it at 2560x1440, which is no better than my old Thunderbolt monitor.

innominato5090 · May 7, 2015

The two thunderbolt ports on your MacBook Pro share the same PCI lanes, so they have not enough bandwidth to drive a 5K monitor.

There is no way for Apple to fix it via software. That's why the display is listed as not supported. If you are still in the return window, you might want to think about shipping it back.

rkuo · May 7, 2015

innominato5090 said:
The two thunderbolt ports on your MacBook Pro share the same PCI lanes, so they have not enough bandwidth to drive a 5K monitor.

There is no way for Apple to fix it via software. That's why the display is listed as not supported. If you are still in the return window, you might want to think about shipping it back.

They could at least support 4k in scaled HiDPI 2560x1440. Right now they are trying to be too clever about detecting the native resolution of the monitor and it just doesn't work right. If I could just specify the true output resolution directly, it would work well enough.

I expect at some point Mac hardware will catch up, so I'm not too worried about it right now.

MrJandali · May 8, 2015

Anyone here working with this monitor yet ?

My second UP2715k had a black spot and I had to send it back. Since the color uniformity on that specific unit was quite bad I got unsure to get this monitor again. Right now the only alternative is the Z27q which is available now for a very similar price.

If anyone has to tell something about the Z27q - especially when it comes to compatibility and picture quality (color uniformity) - please let us know !!!!

The only difference I can see right now is the z27q has an anti glare coating while the UP2715k has not, it´s very reflective but has a very brilliant color intensity.

Thanks for any comments.

btw: Anyone here ever attached 2x 5k monitors to the nMP at once ? Does it work ?

MCAsan · May 8, 2015

With luck at WWED next month Apple will announce the migration to Skylake processors and chipsets. Those introduce TB3 which should support 5k @ 60 over a single cable.

theSeb · May 8, 2015

MCAsan said:
With luck at WWED next month Apple will announce the migration to Skylake processors and chipsets. Those introduce TB3 which should support 5k @ 60 over a single cable.

It's all in Intel's hands. I am not holding my breath considering the mess that Broadwell has been.

rkuo · May 8, 2015

MrJandali said:
Anyone here working with this monitor yet ?

My second UP2715k had a black spot and I had to send it back. Since the color uniformity on that specific unit was quite bad I got unsure to get this monitor again. Right now the only alternative is the Z27q which is available now for a very similar price.

If anyone has to tell something about the Z27q - especially when it comes to compatibility and picture quality (color uniformity) - please let us know !!!!

The only difference I can see right now is the z27q has an anti glare coating while the UP2715k has not, it´s very reflective but has a very brilliant color intensity.

Thanks for any comments.

btw: Anyone here ever attached 2x 5k monitors to the nMP at once ? Does it work ?

I've gotten Z27q two monitors from HP and both of them have smudges under the screen. The first had quite a visible spot, hence the exchange. The second had a couple of dead pixels or dirt near the corner and still some non-uniformity or very light smudging under the panel in areas. They are sending me a third one but I think that something is wrong in the manufacturing process.

andy89 · May 30, 2015

innominato5090 said:
The two thunderbolt ports on your MacBook Pro share the same PCI lanes, so they have not enough bandwidth to drive a 5K monitor.

There is no way for Apple to fix it via software. That's why the display is listed as not supported. If you are still in the return window, you might want to think about shipping it back.

I don't think this is right. The display uses DP and not Thunderbolt. All it needs is two DP streams which I think the ports on a Macbook will provide (all Thunderbolt ports provide one DP stream). Whether or not the ports can provide half the DP bandwidth needed for 5K is a different question and more to do with GPU performance.

rkuo · May 31, 2015

It WORKS!

http://www.iclarified.com/entry/index.php?enid=49265

My Mid-2014 Macbook Pro drives the HP Z27q at 5k! And yes that other guy was full of it.

JTToft · May 31, 2015

rkuo said:
It WORKS!

http://www.iclarified.com/entry/index.php?enid=49265

My Mid-2014 Macbook Pro drives the HP Z27q at 5k! And yes that other guy was full of it.

- Really? On your MacBook Pro, and at 5120x2880 at 60Hz? Would you mind posting a screenshot from System Information?

rkuo · May 31, 2015

JTToft said:
- Really? On your MacBook Pro, and at 5120x2880 at 60Hz? Would you mind posting a screenshot from System Information?

Here you go. Note that the monitor says Dell because presumably the iclarified guys used the DELL EDID to help the HP Z27q work.

And yes it looks like 60Hz. Tested on testufo.com.

JTToft · May 31, 2015

rkuo said:
Here you go. Note that the monitor says Dell because presumably the iclarified guys used the DELL EDID to help the HP Z27q work.

And yes it looks like 60Hz. Tested on testufo.com.

- That looks fantastic. Would you mind posting a screenshot from the "Graphics/Display" section of System Information (click "More Information" in About This Mac)?

sniderbr · May 31, 2015

EDIT: I just summarized everything from below (including the 3 linked thread postings) on a new thread, to give this more exposure:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/dell-up2715k-mid-2014-rmbp-5k-success.1888212/

--

I have a Dell UP2715K 5K monitor working just fine at 5K/60Hz (even with 1 of the 2 mDP cables connected through an OWC TB2 dock!) with a maxed mid-2014 MBP with GT750M. See my posts in a related thread, no one really seemed to care in that thread, perhaps people on this 5K monitor thread will care more:

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...dells-5k-display.1887256/page-3#post-21368723

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...dells-5k-display.1887256/page-5#post-21378015

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...dells-5k-display.1887256/page-5#post-21382003

There are a few screenshots showing the display's HUD with resolution/refresh rate as well as System Information with the video card/display info.

I think it's interesting that it works perfectly, as hinted at by the Dell support page (linked in my first post above), but conveniently omitted from the Apple support page about 4K/5K monitors. Trying to drive sales of the 2015 model I suppose?

rkuo · May 31, 2015

sniderbr said:
EDIT: I just summarized everything from below (including the 3 linked thread postings) on a new thread, to give this more exposure:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/dell-up2715k-mid-2014-rmbp-5k-success.1888212/

--

I have a Dell UP2715K 5K monitor working just fine at 5K/60Hz (even with 1 of the 2 mDP cables connected through an OWC TB2 dock!) with a maxed mid-2014 MBP with GT750M. See my posts in a related thread, no one really seemed to care in that thread, perhaps people on this 5K monitor thread will care more:

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...dells-5k-display.1887256/page-3#post-21368723

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...dells-5k-display.1887256/page-5#post-21378015

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...dells-5k-display.1887256/page-5#post-21382003

There are a few screenshots showing the display's HUD with resolution/refresh rate as well as System Information with the video card/display info.

I think it's interesting that it works perfectly, as hinted at by the Dell support page (linked in my first post above), but conveniently omitted from the Apple support page about 4K/5K monitors. Trying to drive sales of the 2015 model I suppose?

My experience with it right now isn't perfect. I think it's more the HP monitor than the Mac tho. I sometimes have to restart the monitor or unplug cables to get things back. but I was also having to do that before in 1440p mode as well.

josh5k · Jun 6, 2015

Has anyone had success getting the HP z27q monitor to work with the retina iMac? I have tried following the iClarified instructions repeatedly but just cannot get the computer to recognize the monitor as a 5k screen.

I think that the iClarified monitor override file is not getting read properly because my monitor is indeed listed with its correct model name rather than the Dell's.

josh5k · Jun 7, 2015

rkuo said:
Here you go. Note that the monitor says Dell because presumably the iclarified guys used the DELL EDID to help the HP Z27q work.

And yes it looks like 60Hz. Tested on testufo.com.

I'm so jealous that you got that to work. I have been unsuccessful. I copied the override plist file into place but my monitor continues to come up as an HP monitor rather than the 5k dell---for some reason the override plist file is not getting processed correctly.

Any tips?

rkuo · Jun 20, 2015

Even better news now ... I was successfully driving a second monitor at 1920x1200 from the HDMI port, but I changed that to a high speed HDMI cable going to a DELL 30" at 2560x1600 and it works too! The specs on this laptop are definitely understated and perhaps OS X has caught up at this point.

edanuff · Jun 20, 2015

Pretty cool. Looks like a lot of assumptions about how the GPU's DP lines work with the TB ports might have to be revisited. Someone on the Mac Pro forum posted they were able to run two Dell 5K displays @60Hz on the nMP.

Rocket 442 · Aug 14, 2015

I just got a z27q a couple days ago, and I can't seem to get it to act right.

I have a Mac Pro (2013 model), and have followed the iClarified instructions exactly. It worked at glorious 5k for about an hour. Then for some reason my Logitech MX Performance Mouse started to freeze for a few seconds at a time (but only on the z27q screen - I also have a Dell 1980px that it acted fine on).

So I restarted the computer, and the monitor said its inputs weren't connected. So I disconnected the left mini display port from Port 1, Bus 1, and left only the connection on in Port 2, Bus 2. At that point it'd start up, but only in a 4k resolution, and with a slightly-too-tall aspect ratio.

I tried restarting, deleting and re-adding the VendorID folder in the Overrides. No matter what I seem to do, it never seems to get it to ever go back into 5k, and now even at 4k I can't get the mouse to agree with the screen.

Anyone else run into an issue like this, or even have some possible solutions? I'm at my wits end on trying to sort it out.

rkuo · Aug 14, 2015

everything works best on my system if I have my macbook on but sleeping with the lid closed, plug in the secondary display port cable, and then plug in the primary. It sounds like you have the primary cable plugged in first. It may also help to try swapping the buses that the ports are on. I had a lot of split screen issues before settling on the exact bus and order of cable insertion.

Rocket 442 · Aug 14, 2015

rkuo said:
everything works best on my system if I have my macbook on but sleeping with the lid closed, plug in the secondary display port cable, and then plug in the primary. It sounds like you have the primary cable plugged in first. It may also help to try swapping the buses that the ports are on. I had a lot of split screen issues before settling on the exact bus and order of cable insertion.

Thanks for the tip. I tried plugging the second cable in when sleeping, but no change.

I ended up on a long shot trying to reset my SMC and then my NVRAM. That has allowed me to plug back in at 5K. I will update if it disables again after turning it back on or off. Hopefully it was just a one-time fluke.

---

EDIT: To add to this a bit more, and hopefully it helps others who may run into something similar, or someone who already has.

I think the problem came down to me using the z27q, as well as two 24" Dell 2k Displays. The Mac Pro seems to really not like one of the displays when 3 are in use. Bummer for me but not sure how to fix it. Before I reset my SMC and NVRAM the z27q was the monitor that was making my mouse janky and slow when it was within its boundaries. Even when the other displays were disconnected, the affected one would still act odd. Now after resetting the SMC and NVRAM, using the z27 first, one of my Dell 2K's does the same thing. No idea on how to remedy that though, or if its even possible to fix. I'd prefer that to the 5K being the odd display out.

rkuo · Aug 14, 2015

Rocket 442 said:
Thanks for the tip. I tried plugging the second cable in when sleeping, but no change.

I ended up on a long shot trying to reset my SMC and then my NVRAM. That has allowed me to plug back in at 5K. I will update if it disables again after turning it back on or off. Hopefully it was just a one-time fluke.

---

EDIT: To add to this a bit more, and hopefully it helps others who may run into something similar, or someone who already has.

I think the problem came down to me using the z27q, as well as two 24" Dell 2k Displays. The Mac Pro seems to really not like one of the displays when 3 are in use. Bummer for me but not sure how to fix it. Before I reset my SMC and NVRAM the z27q was the monitor that was making my mouse janky and slow when it was within its boundaries. Even when the other displays were disconnected, the affected one would still act odd. Now after resetting the SMC and NVRAM, using the z27 first, one of my Dell 2K's does the same thing. No idea on how to remedy that though, or if its even possible to fix. I'd prefer that to the 5K being the odd display out.

Ah yes, I always plug in the 5k monitor first and completely, then the second HDMI monitor. If I try to hook everything up at once, things go a little nuts. Once it's all plugged in, I seem to be able to sleep/wake without issues.

rebby · Jan 20, 2016

Hate to bump and old thread but I'm looking at this monitor and currently debating between it and the LG 34UM95 (UW format). I'll be running whichever one I end up with in a dual screen setup with an Apple TBD off a 2013 nMP (D500, 6c, 64GB RAM). My primary use cases include software development and photography work. In theory, I really like the idea of having a 5k monitor side by side w/the TBD for both scenarios which gives an edge to the Z27q vs the 34UM95.

Thoughts on running the Z27q along side a TBD? Has this monitor been running better with the latest versions of OS X? Any concerns?

Thanks in advance!

rkuo · Jan 20, 2016

rebby said:
Hate to bump and old thread but I'm looking at this monitor and currently debating between it and the LG 34UM95 (UW format). I'll be running whichever one I end up with in a dual screen setup with an Apple TBD off a 2013 nMP (D500, 6c, 64GB RAM). My primary use cases include software development and photography work. In theory, I really like the idea of having a 5k monitor side by side w/the TBD for both scenarios which gives an edge to the Z27q vs the 34UM95.

Thoughts on running the Z27q along side a TBD? Has this monitor been running better with the latest versions of OS X? Any concerns?

Thanks in advance!

OS X appears to support the HP Z27q natively now as of 10.11.2. There are some weird issues with the display on boot up sometimes, but in general you can always get it working by plugging and unplugging the display port cables from the mac pro. I love the monitor and find the quality of the screen to well outweigh the plug/unplug issues. Once the computer is on and the display is working you can sleep and resume the computer as much as you like.

josh5k · Jan 20, 2016

rebby said:
Hate to bump and old thread but I'm looking at this monitor and currently debating between it and the LG 34UM95 (UW format). I'll be running whichever one I end up with in a dual screen setup with an Apple TBD off a 2013 nMP (D500, 6c, 64GB RAM). My primary use cases include software development and photography work. In theory, I really like the idea of having a 5k monitor side by side w/the TBD for both scenarios which gives an edge to the Z27q vs the 34UM95.

Thoughts on running the Z27q along side a TBD? Has this monitor been running better with the latest versions of OS X? Any concerns?

Thanks in advance!

Rebby: I have both in my lab. without a question you should buy the Z27q. its spectacular and a game changer. the 34" LG is cute but just a wide regular monitor. You could get the same effect by putting two normal monitors side by side. The Z27q technical issues are small and no big deal.

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