4K at 60Hz IS supported via hardware but not software on new rMBP

[jbg232]

There has been a large debate whether 4K actually is supported at 60Hz on the new rMBP through the mini displayport.

On the apple discussions forum someone has FINALLY tested it in this post:

1. It WORKS using MST (multistream) on an ASUS through Windows 8.1 at full 4K at 60Hz
2. It does NOT work in Mavericks (caps at 30Hz)

Thus, it's likely a driver issue that I assume will be corrected in the future.

For background see this post by me a week ago:

The answer is very much a maybe...

I also am very confused by this because per apple's support page it only supports 4K via HDMI at 30Hz but SHOULD support 60Hz via a mini display port 1.2 specification built into thunderbolt 2.

However, I think it does possibly include 60Hz support (although not mentioned on apple's website). My evidence of this is that on the ifixit teardown they found an Intel DSL 5520 Thunderbolt 2 controller which according to Intel's and Wikipedia's website is falcon ridge which means it should support Display port 1.2 natively. Plus, on apple's thunderbolt page they specifically mention connecting a 4K display to a macbook pro through the thunderbolt port (not which is suggested by the support page listed above):

"Now with Thunderbolt 2 built into the new Mac Pro and MacBook Pro with Retina display, you can connect the latest 4K desktop displays and get double the bandwidth for your peripherals. And the two generations of Thunderbolt technology are compatible with each other."

Also, the Apple mini displayport support page has not been updated since 2012 but I believe it is just showing old information

The BIG piece of evidence against the new macbook pro's supporting 4K through the thunderbolt port is that on apple's tech specs page they specifically mention 4K under the HDMI section but make no mention of it under the thunderbolt 2 section.

Lastly, because I also want to get a retina macbook pro if it will support 4K displays at 60Hz I called them and spoke with "advanced technical support" (it took 3 levels of going up the rungs to find someone who could answer this question). His official answer was that "it is untested by Apple" and thus is not officially recommended until it is tested by Apple and they have more information on the matter.

 

[zOlid]

Good to hear.
Then it was like thought.
My reasoning was that there would be no reason for Apple to print supported displays on the TB2 specifications, cos TB2 is not only a display port.
I think it would create more confusion if they had wrote what resolutions it supported. Because then people would ask "why is not my TB2 unit on the list of supported peripherals?"

I believe the update will come near the Mac Pro release, when we possibly will see a 4K display from Apple.