Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

UP2715K vs P2715Q conclusions

J

jenzjen

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Aug 20, 2010
1,734
6
UPDATE - 10.10.3 brought 5k support for OSX, but I no longer have the UP27

--------------

I know there is a mega thread, but I get lost in there - I'll keep my conclusions simple.

We are running 2 UP27 and 1 P27 off a nMP (d700) with no issues.

The UP27 does show pre OS screens (alt boot, etc) while the P27 does not.

OSX - the P27 is noticeably clearer than the UP27 at any resolution. The P27 is a little soft due to the AG coating, but the UP27 fuzziness is worse. At 4k, the difference is less noticeable but still present.

Note, I could not get 5k from the UP27, so if you're only working in OSX, then there is no reason to get the UP27 over the P27 except the caveat about no pre OS screens.

WIN - the UP27 at 5k is razor sharp, and the P27 at 4k is very very close (even with the AG coating).

Note, install the updated AMD drivers for boot camp http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop/bootcamp

The P27 is $500, the UP27 is $2500 so would pick P27 over the UP27 for every application since it is a LOT cheaper, noticeably clearly in OSX and almost as good in WIN. It would be even better if/when the P27 gets support for pre OS screens.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: rdav
On Win, found more displays can be supported than what's stated in the FAQs below.

I'm running 3 P2715Q (4k60hz) and 1 TBD; nothing is connected via HDMI ... seems like Win could support 6 of these Dells in 4k:

TB0 is empty
TB1 has 2 P2715Qs
TB2 has 1 P2715Q and 1 TBD

Vs what the FAQ states "Three 4K displays: two connected via Mini DisplayPort and one connected via HDMI"

Win FAQ https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202889
OSX FAQ https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202801

Unfortunately, the setup doesn't work in OSX - only 2 displays - the TBD and 1 of the displays on TB1 fire even after PRAM and SMC resets.
 
Last edited:
jenzjen said:
On Win, found more displays can be supported than what's stated in the FAQs below.

I'm running 3 P2715Q (4k60hz) and 1 TBD; nothing is connected via HDMI ... seems like Win could support 6 of these Dells in 4k:

TB0 is empty
TB1 has 2 P2715Qs
TB2 has 1 P2715Q and 1 TBD

Vs what the FAQ states "Three 4K displays: two connected via Mini DisplayPort and one connected via HDMI"

Win FAQ https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202889
OSX FAQ https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202801

Unfortunately, the setup doesn't work in OSX - only 2 displays - the TBD and 1 of the displays on TB1 fire even after PRAM and SMC resets.
Click to expand...

that's good to know. I always knew the nMP could push 3 or more 4K at 60Hz. makes more sense than 2 @ 60Hz and 1 @ 30Hz via HDMI.
 
Last edited:
Very interesting and thank you for the info. I bit at one of the first 4K LCD's from Dell early last year and I didn't like it on Windoze, but just recently I hooked it up to my mac and it looks a lot better with scaling. I was hesitant to buy another 4K for Windoze 7 at work until the market on 4K LCD's matured a little bit.

I may get the P2715Q since it's in the $400 range with rebate now.
 
edjrwinnt said:
Very interesting and thank you for the info. I bit at one of the first 4K LCD's from Dell early last year and I didn't like it on Windoze, but just recently I hooked it up to my mac and it looks a lot better with scaling. I was hesitant to buy another 4K for Windoze 7 at work until the market on 4K LCD's matured a little bit.

I may get the P2715Q since it's in the $400 range with rebate now.
Click to expand...

Please tell us where do you can find the P2715Q in the $400 range?

Thanks,

Mike
 
edjrwinnt said:
http://www.adorama.com/DEP2715Q.htm..._xpQTy-YET6vwdVF9ptZj4PlyFlIvhISf5RoCdUnw_wcB
Click to expand...

Thanks, that's a great deal. Makes me want to get another to replace my Thunderbolt Display. I think I paid about $550 a month ago!!

BTW sorry for my English in the first post "Please tell us where do you can find the P2715Q in the $400 range?" I am a redneck (born in Nashville) and English was my language elective in college :>)

Do you know if the USB ports work on the P2715Q when hooked to a nMP? I can't seem to get mine to work, but it's no big deal as I have them (USB 2 though) on the Thunderbolt Display.

Cheers,

Mike

----------

BTW I was so impressed with the P2715Q I ordered 2 for my office. I don't know what our company paid, since we have a corp agreement with Dell.

Being an engineer (electrical) I was really impressed with the P2715 shipping box (I don't restrict myself to just electrical stuff). That is a work of art with skinny cardboard!! Hat's off to the designers that created it!!
 
mawyatt1 said:
Do you know if the USB ports work on the P2715Q when hooked to a nMP? I can't seem to get mine to work, but it's no big deal as I have them (USB 2 though) on the TBD
Click to expand...

Ouch. I didn't bother checking, just assumed USB would work, there's always something
 
jenzjen said:
Ouch. I didn't bother checking, just assumed USB would work, there's always something
Click to expand...

There have been reports of P2715Q shipping with dead USB 3.0 hubs.

If I had one with that problem, I would try to confirm it with a couple of different computers, then return it, if I SPECIFICALLY needed the hub in the monitor wot work.

But with stand-alone USB 3.0 hubs so available and cheap, I personally would not go to the trouble of sending a monitor back because of a non-functional USB hub.
 
So if you were able to drive 5k resolution in windows but not in OS X then its a driver issue so I wondered did you try 10.10.3 beta to see if that would support it in OS X?
 
Many (most/all?) of the USB issues seem to have been caused by not connecting the USB cable to the computer. Unlike a ThunderBolt display, you need the second cable with the Dells. No big deal.
 
orbitalpunk said:
So if you were able to drive 5k resolution in windows but not in OS X then its a driver issue so I wondered did you try 10.10.3 beta to see if that would support it in OS X?
Click to expand...

No, I never load betas was the latest 10.10.2
 
VirtualRain said:
Seems a bit arbitrary and contradictory when testing bleeding-edge unsupported hardware. :confused:
Click to expand...

Not at all. Hardware doesn't work, it gets unplugged and swapped out. 2 minutes maybe.

Beta (clean install) doesn't work, I've wasted at least 1-2 hours.

It is self inflicted since I clean install.
 
In another thread, you mentioned that you can run 2 UP2715K monitors @ 5K, 60 Hz in Windows on the nMP.

Can you confirm that this works well? It was expected that only 1 5K, 60 Hz monitor would be supported on the nMP, because it only has 3 Thunderbolt buses.
 
reflecti0nX said:
In another thread, you mentioned that you can run 2 UP2715K monitors @ 5K, 60 Hz in Windows on the nMP.

Can you confirm that this works well? It was expected that only 1 5K, 60 Hz monitor would be supported on the nMP, because it only has 3 Thunderbolt buses.
Click to expand...

Worked completely fine, see my 1st post in this thread ... all displays were 4/5k and 60Hz ... you do need to install the latest boot camp driver

"We are running 2 UP27 and 1 P27 off a nMP (d700) with no issues ... The UP27 does show pre OS screens (alt boot, etc) while the P27 does not."
 
jenzjen said:
Ouch. I didn't bother checking, just assumed USB would work, there's always something
Click to expand...

I'm using the USB ports on one of my P2715Q's with my nMP.

I had some issues... you need to try different combinations of ports on the nMP side of things. I found that if I connected up USB devices to all of the ports on the nMP, things started acting badly. I have a 10 port USB 3.0 hub, so I just moved most things onto that.

3 months in with the Dell's and things are good. When I reboot, I simply power one monitor off, wait for the boot sound and a few seconds, enter my password (filevault is enabled), and then after the system boots up I power on the second display. This isn't perfect, but it's reliable in that it works every time.

I hope an EFI update will eliminate the need to do this, though.
 
nMP(6): UP2715K(5k)x2 & P2715Q(UHD)x1.

jenzjen said:
We are running 2 UP27 and 1 P27 off a nMP (d700) with no issues ... The UP27 does show pre OS screens (alt boot, etc) while the P27 does not.
Click to expand...

Is this correct? nMP(6)-700D.
UP2715K(5k) x2 @60Hz - MST.
P2715Q(UHD) x1 @30Hz - SST.

Any chance you could post some images of your setup, cable arrangement etc?
Thanks!
 
rdav said:
Is this correct? nMP(6)-700D.
UP2715K(5k) x2 @60Hz - MST.
P2715Q(UHD) x1 @30Hz - SST.

Any chance you could post some images of your setup, cable arrangement etc?
Thanks!
Click to expand...

I'm ignoring the MST/SST since I never bothered to understand it

We've returned the UP27s in favor of P27s, I had updated the OP so people don't get confused

So, my conclusions are only valid for 10.10.2, but all 3 (2 UPs + 1P) worked at 4k ... 5k only came with 10.10.3
 
  • Like
Reactions: rdav
jenzjen said:
I'm ignoring the MST/SST since I never bothered to understand it



We've returned the UP27s in favor of P27s, I had updated the OP so people don't get confused



So, my conclusions are only valid for 10.10.2, but all 3 (2 UPs + 1P) worked at 4k ... 5k only came with 10.10.3
Click to expand...


So you don't know if the nMP can drive two UP27s at 5K? Your answer to my last question implied it did.?!?
 
VirtualRain said:
So you don't know if the nMP can drive two UP27s at 5K? Your answer to my last question implied it did.?!?
Click to expand...

I updated my reply to highlight 4k vs 5k, that OP asked whether the nMP can work with the UP27 (which it can), but others in that thread started asking about 5k hence the confusion.

So, I don't know if it can run 2 UPs at 5k, but now that Apple lists it as support, and I had no problem running 2 UPs prior, I would bet that the nMP can support at least 2 UPs at 5k on 10.10.3
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back