Dell P2715Q and P2415Q 4K IPS Displays

[Mike Boreham]

Same issue with mine. It tried it for 3 days. Couldn't get over the difference in color profile between the dell and macbook pro, the orange whites on left side, and the matte screen looks awful compared to a glossy one. I tested the LG ultrafine 4k with my laptop in the store today, and caved and bought one. Returning the dell.

Thats discouraging! Even though I bought mine from Amazon, Dell still handle the warranty and are sending out a replacement to arrive today (impressive). Your post and others do not give me hope it will be a whole lot better.

I am also very attracted to the LG 21.5" Ultrafine. it does seem to be a good option for USB-C Macs, but it would only work with my 12" 2016 MacBook, not my 2013 rMBP. But this whole episode might trigger the upgrading of the MBP to a USB-C model.

If the replacement P2415Q is good I will keep it, but if not I will send both back and get a refund and reconsider everything.

 

[Mike Boreham]

Thats discouraging! Even though I bought mine from Amazon, Dell still handle the warranty and are sending out a replacement to arrive today (impressive). Your post and others do not give me hope it will be a whole lot better.

I am also very attracted to the LG 21.5" Ultrafine. it does seem to be a good option for USB-C Macs, but it would only work with my 12" 2016 MacBook, not my 2013 rMBP. But this whole episode might trigger the upgrading of the MBP to a USB-C model.

If the replacement P2415Q is good I will keep it, but if not I will send both back and get a refund and reconsider everything.

Replacement was good, so keeping it....forgetting for now about the LG Utrafine and upgrading my MBP.

 

[zeebo1]

Replacement was good, so keeping it....forgetting for now about the LG Utrafine and upgrading my MBP.

Glad you're happy with it. It's a great monitor and very good price.

 

[kaans]

Hi everyone,

Weird issue here: https://apple.stackexchange.com/que...ug-heats-macbooks-damaged-my-retina-screen-wh

Basically I lost my beloved Macbook after installing High Sierra, and bought a new one

It could've been caused by 10's of things, but it was clear that connecting a 4K monitor, specifically P2415Q, increased the ambient heat 15C instantly (it was a GT750M graphics card, could be an apple driver bug too)

Anyway, my question is, how does your system + P2415Q perform with High Sierra, any abnormal issues?

The new Macbook has a Radeon Pro 560, I suspect I won't experience issues, but just want to be sure, if I lose another Macbook I would literally cry

 

[BenTrovato]

Hi everyone,

Weird issue here: https://apple.stackexchange.com/que...ug-heats-macbooks-damaged-my-retina-screen-wh

Basically I lost my beloved Macbook after installing High Sierra, and bought a new one

It could've been caused by 10's of things, but it was clear that connecting a 4K monitor, specifically P2415Q, increased the ambient heat 15C instantly (it was a GT750M graphics card, could be an apple driver bug too)

Anyway, my question is, how does your system + P2415Q perform with High Sierra, any abnormal issues?

The new Macbook has a Radeon Pro 560, I suspect I won't experience issues, but just want to be sure, if I lose another Macbook I would literally cry

Zero issues with the P2415q on a 2016 MBP with HS. Machine runs cool as a whistle

 

[kaans]

Thanks for the info BenTrovato

I wonder how the sleep dynamics are going to be with the USB-C to Displayport cable, haven't tested things with the new Macbook yet, If I experience issues again, I'll probably bail and buy a LG-27UD58-B - on the Amazon reviews, one buyer mentions leaving a P2415Q behind and never looking back

 

[BenTrovato]

Thanks for the info BenTrovato

I wonder how the sleep dynamics are going to be with the USB-C to Displayport cable, haven't tested things with the new Macbook yet, If I experience issues again, I'll probably bail and buy a LG-27UD58-B - on the Amazon reviews, one buyer mentions leaving a P2415Q behind and never looking back

Sleep works great. Monitor goes off and comes back on with a keystroke or mouse movement.

 

[msephton]

Looking for some guidance, please?

I have:
1. Retina MacBook Pro 13", 3 GHz Intel Core i7 (early-2013; A1425) with Intel HD Graphics 4000
2. Dell P2415Q
3. mDP to DP cable
4. SwitchResX

Am I limited to 30Hz? Ideally I'd like 60Hz but anywhere in between would be good. 40Hz+?

I've tried some 50Hz/52Hz SwitchResX settings and none of them have worked (not install - invalid? message)

Would an Active DP to HMDI adapter help?

 

[BenTrovato]

Looking for some guidance, please?

I have:
1. Retina MacBook Pro 13", 3 GHz Intel Core i7 (early-2013; A1425) with Intel HD Graphics 4000
2. Dell P2415Q
3. mDP to DP cable
4. SwitchResX

Am I limited to 30Hz? Ideally I'd like 60Hz but anywhere in between would be good. 40Hz+?

I've tried some 50Hz/52Hz SwitchResX settings and none of them have worked (not install - invalid? message)

Would an Active DP to HMDI adapter help?

Had a late 2013 with this monitor and tried the 52hz settings and everything in between. Nothing will get you close to 60hz.

 

[msephton]

Early 2013 can't get anything other than 30Hz in my testing?

 

[dylanz]

Had a late 2013 with this monitor and tried the 52hz settings and everything in between. Nothing will get you close to 60hz.

Is it fine running at 52hz?

 

[BenTrovato]

Is it fine running at 52hz?

For me 52hz is the same as 30hz. It’s not 60 so no, it’s not fine.

 

[deknk12]

Early 2013 can't get anything other than 30Hz in my testing?

over hdmi or thunderbolt?

 

[msephton]

over hdmi or thunderbolt?

it was display port (thunderbolt).

Early-2013 rMBP will never do it, limitation of the clock speed of the GPU, Intel HD Graphics 4000.

Late-2013 (my wife's rMBP) with Intel Iris 5100 GPU can do it at 52Hz, which is "good enough".

So now she has the 4K monitor and I have an old Cinema Display until I upgrade my MBP.

 

[s.m.t.]

for those with the 27", what is the resolution when choosing "default for this display", is it 1080p(HiDPI) or 1440p(HiDPI)?
Edit: never mind figured it out...

 

[s.m.t.]

So I had decided to upgrade from the 24" to the 27"... Unfortunately, it only worked for a few days... This morning I had a bunch of flashing pixels then it went black. Upon disconnected everything and letting it sit for 10-15min, it would come back on with a clean signal, but wouldn't stay on more than a min or so... Got on a chat with Dell support and they are shipping out a replacement... LCD shows it was manufactured in Nov 2017 and was a RevA05...

 

[kaans]

Things were the same with the USB-C to DP cable for me, same subpar quality, jittering/tearing of the screen if you pay attention on a pixel level

However, very recently, the quality started degrading even further, and the connection started reducing to 30HZ (keep in mind that I've tested all kinds of cables before, including certified ones) - I assumed my new cable is defective, the only way to bring things back to 60HZ is to restart the monitor

To my surprise, after a restart, the tearing/jittering was no more - I've tested things 100's of times before, and the tearing was always there, very easy to reproduce if you have a pixelled page slowly moving - but in a peculiar way, it was possible for the screen to not produce it too

So I guess you're wondering, what does it mean? Absolutely nothing, I wish there was another decent 4K monitor with anti-glare coating in the market so I can get rid of this thrash Dell monitors for good ...

 

[BenTrovato]

Haha a lot of complaints but I understand the issues. Personally the monitor has been great for me. I needed the 4 USB ports on the back, and the Dell USB soundbar is pretty good for $25. I have zero cables and accessories on my desk because of it.

 

[ralphch]

I just purchased the Dell P2715Q for my 2017 MBP 15" and I'm driving it with a USB-C to DisplayPort cable. I saw this monitor was highly rated, but I'm noticing a few things that I'm concerned about...

1. I set the resolution to 2560x1440, which feels the most comfortable, but because it's scaling, I see the "half-pixel" issue sometimes where text might look a bit blurry instead of super sharp. On the other hand, any other resolution makes things too big or too small.
   
   
2. The white color is quite warm, towards the yellow/red side of the spectrum.
   
   
3. The LED panel within the frame is very slightly shifted to the left: like there's less ~one millimeter more space on the right side than left side where the "live" part of the screen ends and the plastic frame starts. It's small but I can't help but notice it every time...
4. When I'm typing, the vibrations transfer over to the display and it shakes slightly.
   
   
5. Every time I use it, I feel like my eyes get strained afterwards and I get mildly dizzy. Can't quite put my finger on what it is, but it's a weird sensation that I've never had before (e.g. I used to use the old 27" Apple Thunderbolt display). I am sitting by a window, so not sure if it has something to do with light reflecting off the monitor, the monitor itself, or something else.

Has anyone else had this experience with this monitor? What resolution are you using it at?

Thanks!

 

[Cougarcat]

I just purchased the Dell P2715Q for my 2017 MBP 15" and I'm driving it with a USB-C to DisplayPort cable. I saw this monitor was highly rated, but I'm noticing a few things that I'm concerned about...

1. I set the resolution to 2560x1440, which feels the most comfortable, but because it's scaling, I see the "half-pixel" issue sometimes where text might look a bit blurry instead of super sharp. On the other hand, any other resolution makes things too big or too small.
   
   
2. The white color is quite warm, towards the yellow/red side of the spectrum.
   
   
3. The LED panel within the frame is very slightly shifted to the left: like there's less ~one millimeter more space on the right side than left side where the "live" part of the screen ends and the plastic frame starts. It's small but I can't help but notice it every time...
   
   
4. Every time I use it, I feel like my eyes get strained afterwards and I get mildly dizzy. Can't quite put my finger on what it is, but it's a weird sensation that I've never had before (e.g. I used to use the old 27" Apple Thunderbolt display). I am sitting by a window, so not sure if it has something to do with light reflecting off the monitor, the monitor itself, or something else.

Has anyone else had this experience with this monitor? What resolution are you using it at?

Thanks!

To get rid of the scaling issue you need to run it at 2x. Then it's exactly double 1920x1080 and everything is crisp. If everything is too big for you, well, that's why the 24" exists (that's what I have). IMO, 24" is the right size for 4K, and you want 5K for 27". There's a reason Apple's iMacs are 4K at 24" and 5K at 27".

Can't say I have your other issues, though I will say it took me a few models to get a perfect one. I kept getting models with lines in the middle. Thankfully, Dell's replacement policy is excellent. They will ship you out a new one before you have to send the old one back, so you can compare and you're never without a monitor. If the LED is bothering you, get a replacement.

 

[howiest]

I just purchased the Dell P2715Q for my 2017 MBP 15" and I'm driving it with a USB-C to DisplayPort cable. I saw this monitor was highly rated, but I'm noticing a few things that I'm concerned about...

1. I set the resolution to 2560x1440, which feels the most comfortable, but because it's scaling, I see the "half-pixel" issue sometimes where text might look a bit blurry instead of super sharp. On the other hand, any other resolution makes things too big or too small.
   
   
2. The white color is quite warm, towards the yellow/red side of the spectrum.
   
   
3. The LED panel within the frame is very slightly shifted to the left: like there's less ~one millimeter more space on the right side than left side where the "live" part of the screen ends and the plastic frame starts. It's small but I can't help but notice it every time...
4. When I'm typing, the vibrations transfer over to the display and it shakes slightly.
   
   
5. Every time I use it, I feel like my eyes get strained afterwards and I get mildly dizzy. Can't quite put my finger on what it is, but it's a weird sensation that I've never had before (e.g. I used to use the old 27" Apple Thunderbolt display). I am sitting by a window, so not sure if it has something to do with light reflecting off the monitor, the monitor itself, or something else.

Has anyone else had this experience with this monitor? What resolution are you using it at?

Thanks!

I have the same display and I'm using the same resolution.
What refresh rate is showing in Display pref pane?
And, have you used the calibration tool in Display pref pane?

 

[ralphch]

I have the same display and I'm using the same resolution.
What refresh rate is showing in Display pref pane?
And, have you used the calibration tool in Display pref pane?

The Display Preferences pane shows no refresh rate. I have tried everything: option key, etc, nothing shows the Refresh Rate dropdown that I see everywhere on the web in screenshots... But if I go to System Report > Displays, I see it's 60Hz and online tests seems to confirm this. Why wouldn't the refresh rate show up under Display Preferences though?

I've only used the calibration tool to change the white point and make it slightly cooler, but not sure if I'm supposed to do that...

To get rid of the scaling issue you need to run it at 2x. Then it's exactly double 1920x1080 and everything is crisp. If everything is too big for you, well, that's why the 24" exists (that's what I have). IMO, 24" is the right size for 4K, and you want 5K for 27". There's a reason Apple's iMacs are 4K at 24" and 5K at 27".

Can't say I have your other issues, though I will say it took me a few models to get a perfect one. I kept getting models with lines in the middle. Thankfully, Dell's replacement policy is excellent. They will ship you out a new one before you have to send the old one back, so you can compare and you're never without a monitor. If the LED is bothering you, get a replacement.

Yeah, 24" is a bit small for me. I wonder if I should've gotten a QHD 27" monitor instead...

I bought the monitor as new on Amazon. Does that mean I can still ask Dell to send me a different one to compare them side by side? Or should I have purchased directly thru Dell?

 

[howiest]

The Display Preferences pane shows no refresh rate. I have tried everything: option key, etc, nothing shows the Refresh Rate dropdown that I see everywhere on the web in screenshots... But if I go to System Report > Displays, I see it's 60Hz and online tests seems to confirm this. Why wouldn't the refresh rate show up under Display Preferences though?

I've only used the calibration tool to change the white point and make it slightly cooler, but not sure if I'm supposed to do that...

For me (Sierra 10.12.6) it shows up in the Display pref window, but it is greyed out...

 

[ralphch]

For me (Sierra 10.12.6) it shows up in the Display pref window, but it is greyed out...

I'm using High Sierra 10.13.3 and I don't get a menu like that. When I click Scaled I just see four horizontal screen icons going from "Larger Text" to "More Space"

By the way, how does text on web pages on your P2715Q look compared to your MacBook's display? Like these forums, Gmail, etc -- text ~14px to 18px font size and bold and normal weight.

I can see that on the Dell display sometimes this text can appear slightly blurry and not perfectly sharp, depending on where it positioned on the screen. I think this is caused by the upscaling of the 1440p resolution.

Also, do you use the "LCD font smoothing" option under System Preferences > General?

 

[howiest]

I'm using High Sierra 10.13.3 and I don't get a menu like that. When I click Scaled I just see four horizontal screen icons going from "Larger Text" to "More Space"

By the way, how does text on web pages on your P2715Q look compared to your MacBook's display? Like these forums, Gmail, etc -- text ~14px to 18px font size and bold and normal weight.

I can see that on the Dell display sometimes this text can appear slightly blurry and not perfectly sharp, depending on where it positioned on the screen. I think this is caused by the upscaling of the 1440p resolution.

Also, do you use the "LCD font smoothing" option under System Preferences > General?

The MacBook AIR has a non-retina screen which is it's main weakness, and my MBP is from 2007, so my P2715Q is so far beyond those that it's no contest. My P2715Q has very sharp, crisp text. In fact the reason I bought it is because my aging eyes were having trouble with my old Dell 2007FP dual display setup. It was a very nice upgrade for me.
Yes, I have font smoothing selected.