Apple Adds High-End 15" Retina MacBook Pro to List of Macs Supporting Dell's 5K Display

[MacRumors]

Apple has updated a support document on its website to reflect that the high-end 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro, equipped with AMD Radeon R9 M370X graphics, is capable of driving Dell's dual-cable UP2715K 27-inch 5K display. Apple initially released OS X 10.10.3 in April with support for the dual-cable 5K monitor on the Retina 5K iMac and 2013 Mac Pro, but no notebooks supported the display at the time.

Dual-Cable Displays

Some displays with resolutions higher than 4K require two DisplayPort cables to connect the display at full resolution. With OS X Yosemite v10.10.3 or later, the Dell UP2715K 27-inch 5K display is supported on the following Mac computers:

Mac Pro (Late 2013)
iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014 and later)
MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015) with AMD Radeon R9 M370X

Dell's dual-cable 5K display requires more bandwidth than is currently supported over a current single DisplayPort cable, so it uses a dual-cable solution that takes up two Thunderbolt ports on a Mac. The availability of Intel's Skylake platform with DisplayPort 1.3 support later this year will enable Apple to update Macs with support for external 5K displays that function over a single cable, at which point the company could theoretically release a 5K Thunderbolt Display.

The support document also lists the high-end 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro as capable of driving most single-stream 4K displays (4,096-by-2,160) at 60Hz on OS X 10.10.3, becoming the first notebook to support single-stream 4K displays alongside the Mac Pro (Late 2013) and iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014 and later).

Apple initially listed the high-end 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro with AMD Radeon graphics as capable of supporting an ultra-wide display with up to 5,120-by-2,160 resolution at 60Hz, but has since updated the notebook's technical specifications to reflect its ability to drive a single external display at up to 5,120-by-2,880 resolution at 60Hz.

Article Link: Apple Adds High-End 15" Retina MacBook Pro to List of Macs Supporting Dell's 5K Display

 

[Tankmaze]

This is great, I'm waiting for the 5K Thunderbolt Display !!!

The availability of Intel's Skylake platform with DisplayPort 1.3 support later this year will enable Apple to update Macs with support for external 5K displays that function over a single cable, at which point the company could theoretically release a 5K Thunderbolt Display.

This alone could make me want to wait for Skylake.

 

[dagamer34]

I can confirm this works. Tested it out yesterday.

 

[furi0usbee]

Glad I don't have this problem. I'm happy with my 15" retina 220PPI display.

 

[elmateo487]

This gift that just keeps giving

 

[HumpYourWayUp]

Glad I don't have this problem. I'm happy with my 15" retina 220PPI display.

Awww, the jealousy - how cute!
Relax! I kid, I kid...

Also 220PPI is sadly not state of the art anymore, there are numerous 15" laptops with 4K displays :-(

 

[furi0usbee]

The race for "thinner" and "higher resolution" is killing Apple's computers IMO. The point will be here soon where I have this thin piece of crap that can drive a 5k display with, but can't do much else due to the crippling of hardware/software and the lack of any usefulness.

I've said this before, and I'll say it again. When I get a new iPhone, the first thing I did was put all Apple's apps in one folder and put them on page two. I then went and downloaded third party apps that were better and did what those Apple apps should have done.

Now, when I install Yosemite, I do the same thing. I don't use any Apple apps any longer, except really Aperture. Yosemite has to be the worse OS X version I've ever used. All I do all day it seems is force quit apps, and that's after a clean install.

 

[vetman35]

2 cables for a single display hanging out the side of my MacBook Pro...No thanks. I will stick with dual Thunderbolt 27s daisy chained for now.

 

[SpiderDude]

neato

This is great.
I can already picture the next campaign:

"Buy a Macbook and a Dell 5k monitor and get a sandwich grill(*) !"


(*) sandwich making times may be conditioned to what programs you use.

 

[Going Digital]

Not sure why anyone would buy a Dell UP2715K when for $300 more you can get a whole 5k iMac.

 

[DudeDad]

I don't use any Apple apps any longer, except really Aperture

You should put Aperture in a folder and get Lightroom. I got tired of waiting for Aperture to be updated, and bailed for LR...it's what Aperture should have become. Handles my Canon 6D RAW files well, so much better than Aperture ever was, and great plugins available.

 

[PBG4 Dude]

Not sure why anyone would buy a Dell UP2715K when for $300 more you can get a whole 5k iMac.

In a few years, when the iMac is obsolete, the Dell 5K display will be able to migrate to a new computer. The iMac 5K display will not.

 

[dumastudetto]

Not sure why anyone would buy a Dell UP2715K when for $300 more you can get a whole 5k iMac.

Exactly. $300 more for a new Mac and a vastly superior display to the Dell. Dude, don't buy the Dell.

 

[Benjamin Frost]

Does anyone know if the Apple Watch can run this display?

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The race for "thinner" and "higher resolution" is killing Apple's computers IMO. The point will be here soon where I have this thin piece of crap that can drive a 5k display with, but can't do much else due to the crippling of hardware/software and the lack of any usefulness.

I've said this before, and I'll say it again. When I get a new iPhone, the first thing I did was put all Apple's apps in one folder and put them on page two. I then went and downloaded third party apps that were better and did what those Apple apps should have done.

Now, when I install Yosemite, I do the same thing. I don't use any Apple apps any longer, except really Aperture. Yosemite has to be the worse OS X version I've ever used. All I do all day it seems is force quit apps, and that's after a clean install.

I can hear the violins from here.

 

[Daalseth]

Yosemite has to be the worse OS X version I've ever used. All I do all day it seems is force quit apps, and that's after a clean install.

Odd, I've got it on two different Macs, '14 MacBook Pro and 2012 MacBook Pro (not Retina) and it's solid. It's not very pretty but solid. I can't remember the last time I've force quit an app in Yosemite. Both were upgrades not clean installs.

 

[elmateo487]

Exactly. $300 more for a new Mac and a vastly superior display to the Dell. Dude, don't buy the Dell.

I am pretty sure the point of a laptop is to have a laptop.... you know. So you can take it places and put it on your lap.

*smacks forehead*

 

[cmChimera]

Not sure why anyone would buy a Dell UP2715K when for $300 more you can get a whole 5k iMac.

Can the 5k iMac be used as an external display? If Apple enables it to be used by this new Macbook as a monitor at 5k, I'd do that.

 

[horsebattery]

Exactly. $300 more for a new Mac and a vastly superior display to the Dell. Dude, don't buy the Dell.

Not sure why anyone would buy a Dell UP2715K when for $300 more you can get a whole 5k iMac.

Because, user case.

"Already own a computer but want an external monitor, let's get an all-in-one!" - seems to be quite the blanket statement for everyone.

 

[furi0usbee]

Awww, the jealousy - how cute!

LOL. At the distance I use my MacBook, 4k would be overkill. 5k would be just stupid.

 

[elmateo487]

The race for "thinner" and "higher resolution" is killing Apple's computers IMO. The point will be here soon where I have this thin piece of crap that can drive a 5k display with, but can't do much else due to the crippling of hardware/software and the lack of any usefulness.

I've said this before, and I'll say it again. When I get a new iPhone, the first thing I did was put all Apple's apps in one folder and put them on page two. I then went and downloaded third party apps that were better and did what those Apple apps should have done.

Now, when I install Yosemite, I do the same thing. I don't use any Apple apps any longer, except really Aperture. Yosemite has to be the worse OS X version I've ever used. All I do all day it seems is force quit apps, and that's after a clean install.

Isn't it awesome to be on a Mac where the quality of aftermarket apps is very very high?

 

[furi0usbee]

You should put Aperture in a folder and get Lightroom. I got tired of waiting for Aperture to be updated, and bailed for LR...it's what Aperture should have become. Handles my Canon 6D RAW files well, so much better than Aperture ever was, and great plugins available.

I've tried LR. I just can't get over the ugly UI. I may have to go that route someday, but right now Aperture does exactly what I need it to do.

 

[Renzatic]

Can the 5k iMac be used as an external display? If Apple enables it to be used by this new Macbook as a monitor at 5k, I'd do that.

Nope. It's like laptop. You can output to other monitors til the cows come home, but it doesn't accept any external inputs.

Though if you're good with electronics and a soldering gun, you might be able to rig something up...

 

[furi0usbee]

Odd, I've got it on two different Macs, '14 MacBook Pro and 2012 MacBook Pro (not Retina) and it's solid. It's not very pretty but solid. I can't remember the last time I've force quit an app in Yosemite. Both were upgrades not clean installs.

All the Apple apps seem to require force quit. Preview, Numbers, Pages. For instance, say I'm viewing an quick image in Preview. Simply closing the image window often closes the Preview app. It looks closed, it's gone from the dock, not in the app switcher, but it's still running in the background. So I have to force quit it to actually shut it down, as it's still using memory.

This happens with only Apple apps so far. Not all the time, but enough of the time. Pages/Numbers a lot too. iTunes memory leak too. I'll play music and get messages I'm out of memory.

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Does anyone know if the Apple Watch can run this display?

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I can hear the violins from here.

You better be listening to those violins using non-Apple software...

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Isn't it awesome to be on a Mac where the quality of aftermarket apps is very very high?

I've thought of that before, believe me. I love Apple hardware, but they have simply given up on software. If I had to use a Mac with ONLY Apple apps, I don't know if I could do it, as much as I love the hardware. Their software just blows these days. But I don't need much more than Pixelmator, Coda, Transmit, Ember, iDraw, Wunderlist, and several other great apps.

 

[dimabear]

how about the intel iris pro? the high-end rMBP gave off too much heat for my liking so i exchanged for the lower-end rMBP.

 

[nikhsub1]

Can anyone really tell the difference between a 4k and 5k monitor? I know that I surely can't with my aging eyes. When does the PPI race become futile? Seems to me we are already there. Maybe I'm wrong?