Dell P2715Q and P2415Q 4K IPS Displays

[Nightbreezer]

Hi,

i just got the Dell P2415Q today and I am not sure wether to keep it or not...

In comparison to my Macbook Retina 15 (Late 2013) the colors are just too "warm"
So it always seems a little yellowish. I tried different settings and the different modes. Even in the custom mode I only get it to be yellowish or too blue..

Attached you can see the difference, the first pic shows a picture of my MBPr and the second one the Dell. Do you notice that the google bar is grey on the mbps and yellow on the dell?

Do you have the same experiences? Did some of you get the same colors as your Retina MacBooks? If so, how?

 

[bokkow]

I had the same, played around with custom color mode put in R:92 G:92 B:100 and the colours are now more or less identical to the colours of the Thunderbolt Display next to it (which I used as reference).

 

[iregret]

About my earlier post, I read that one or two other members followed suit and are running an identical setup, and are happy like me. About displays, I work on a lot of word processing documents as a contract writer of civil engineering contracts and I like portrait (I bought my first portrait display, a Radius Portrait, in 1997 - gotta have portrait mode, but that Radius weighed about 50 pounds!), so bigger is better for me. We're already mixing display sizes with the rMBP and an external, so there's nothing "wrong" in my book with running a 24" alongside a 27" display...

In the MR dungeon I posted about a couple of cable brands that I was happy with (like Lindy), but there was always an issue - heat, a bit of "lag", or something. I am opening a couple of new offices and wanted to relocate for a bit. TB cables are not easy to segregate in appearance from DP cables IMHO and I wanted to get up an running quickly several weeks ago - I connected my two 6' TB cables to my two Dells and found that my Mac was running cooler, that I had no issues with waking from sleep, and my Displays Pref Pane showed options than my older cables. I'm an engineer, and I was rooting around with search engines before most of ya'll were even aware of this "internet" thing (I was using Sherlock and other apps like that before there was this thing called "Google".... - ouch!). I found that Apple's TB cables, while expensive, were DP compliant, which led me to the DP.org website - I found that Accell DP 1.2 compliant cables gave me the same benefits as Apple's TB cables for a fraction of the cost, so I ordered two 2m mDP>DP cables from Amazon, and they work great. On top of the stuff I alluded to earlier, I don't need a third party app like SwitchResX anymore to get my Macs to "see" or hack a display's EDID data (I own multiple SwitchResX licenses, and I don't need them any longer with the Accell cables - my Macs and Dells just "see" what each can offer each other.

Look at it this way - an Accell cable is more expensive than the cheap cables that are out there, but they're cheaper than the cheap cable and a SwitchResX license or an hour or two of therapy. I've just had so much better performance between my Mac and the relevant cable it was worth it - I put there here on MR, and it's up to ya'll to put up with it or give them a try as Amazon has a money-back guarantee. My display response time is excellent, and I use AutoCAD in Win 10 using Parallels Desktop, Word/Excel, Illustrator CS - and I'm really hard on my devices, performance-wise. So, yes, I recommend using Accell cables, the DP 1.2-compliant ones. No affiliate link here! Cheers!

I'm currently using a Cable Matter's brand mini display port cable. I looked into the specs and it doesn't say that it is 1.2 compliant. That being said, it does appear to be working, so I wonder if Dell fixed the issue in a firmware revision? Regardless, I ordered 2 Accell mini display port to display port cables along with another P2415Q monitor.

I've got nothing against the 27" but I don't think it's worth the extra cash to me personally. One thing I did struggle with quite a bit though was the idea of selling my 24" and taking that money and going with an ultra wide monitor. Most folks that went ultra wide say they prefer it to dual monitors. Call me crazy, but I like the idea of everything being in it's own border. It helps me visually keep them separate. I'm afraid that if I tried to do that in software it would just be a mess. Plus, I want one monitor in portrait and one in landscape.

To try it out, I hooked up my old Dell 2005wps (I think). It's a 1920x1200 monitor in vertical position. After about 2 hours I placed the order. It's so nice to read forums, reddit, or whatever with more vertical real estate. I'm sure the ultra wide is nice, but I think it's better for gaming personally.

Also, I'm old, live in Oregon and was on the internet before Google existed. If you're in the Portland area, I'm in the Salem area.

Thanks for all the help. It's appreciated and I'm happy to be back in the computer science scene officially.

 

[campyguy]

I'm currently using a Cable Matter's brand mini display port cable. I looked into the specs and it doesn't say that it is 1.2 compliant. That being said, it does appear to be working, so I wonder if Dell fixed the issue in a firmware revision? Regardless, I ordered 2 Accell mini display port to display port cables along with another P2415Q monitor.

I've got nothing against the 27" but I don't think it's worth the extra cash to me personally. One thing I did struggle with quite a bit though was the idea of selling my 24" and taking that money and going with an ultra wide monitor. Most folks that went ultra wide say they prefer it to dual monitors. Call me crazy, but I like the idea of everything being in it's own border. It helps me visually keep them separate. I'm afraid that if I tried to do that in software it would just be a mess. Plus, I want one monitor in portrait and one in landscape.

To try it out, I hooked up my old Dell 2005wps (I think). It's a 1920x1200 monitor in vertical position. After about 2 hours I placed the order. It's so nice to read forums, reddit, or whatever with more vertical real estate. I'm sure the ultra wide is nice, but I think it's better for gaming personally.

Also, I'm old, live in Oregon and was on the internet before Google existed. If you're in the Portland area, I'm in the Salem area.

Thanks for all the help. It's appreciated and I'm happy to be back in the computer science scene officially.

Cool beans. I'm between Portland, Longview, Seattle, Mason County, and Eugene - work stuff, looking to locate businesses in the latter two areas, trying to locate in port city and university city. I'll keep you in mind when I'm heading south again...

I tried the stock Dell cable, a long TB cable - which is what led me to buy a couple of Accell cables, CableMatters cables (which offered less lag than the TB cable) - the Dell and CableMatters cables ran my Mac hot and had sleep issues, the TB cable left my Mac running much cooler but I didn't like spending $60 on two cables for my displays. Much happier with the Accell cable - we've been using them on about 2 dozen of my Macs and the same number of PCs now and all of my techs really like that their machines are running cooler now and that they don't have to unplug/plug in the displays - it's just not a Mac-platform issue, this.

As for being old, I resemble that remark and did the whole Usenet and BBS thing too. Ouch... Cheers!

 

[Macintosh1985]

Hi,

i just got the Dell P2415Q today and I am not sure wether to keep it or not...

In comparison to my Macbook Retina 15 (Late 2013) the colors are just too "warm"
So it always seems a little yellowish. I tried different settings and the different modes. Even in the custom mode I only get it to be yellowish or too blue..

Attached you can see the difference, the first pic shows a picture of my MBPr and the second one the Dell. Do you notice that the google bar is grey on the mbps and yellow on the dell?

Do you have the same experiences? Did some of you get the same colors as your Retina MacBooks? If so, how?

Hi, I noticed this yellow colour on my P2415Q when it arrived last week. To fix this I changed the custom colour to R - 87 G - 85 B - 96. Let me know what you think of this setting, regards.

 

[Nightbreezer]

Hi, I noticed this yellow colour on my P2415Q when it arrived last week. To fix this I changed the custom colour to R - 87 G - 85 B - 96. Let me know what you think of this setting, regards.

Thank you, but wow, this turns out to be very blue with my display.

I had the same, played around with custom color mode put in R:92 G:92 B:100 and the colours are now more or less identical to the colours of the Thunderbolt Display next to it (which I used as reference).

Thank you for that!
I put 92-92-97 that is very close to my retina. Especially, if uniformity compensation is turned to "calibrated" it looks quite good. But the problem is when I am working in the evening, then its just too bright...

Another question:
How do I activate the USB ports? What kind of cable do I need, an USB 3.0 A to B Cable?

 

[jimmyco2008]

Hmm yeah out of the box colors were noticeably warmer than Retina Display. I adjusted contrast to get rid of a lot of it, but the 92-92-97 just about finished the job.

I put the El Cap default wallpaper on both displays and tweaked settings to get the color as close as possible: 75 contrast, 90R 91G 100B.

 

[iregret]

Cool beans. I'm between Portland, Longview, Seattle, Mason County, and Eugene - work stuff, looking to locate businesses in the latter two areas, trying to locate in port city and university city. I'll keep you in mind when I'm heading south again...

I tried the stock Dell cable, a long TB cable - which is what led me to buy a couple of Accell cables, CableMatters cables (which offered less lag than the TB cable) - the Dell and CableMatters cables ran my Mac hot and had sleep issues, the TB cable left my Mac running much cooler but I didn't like spending $60 on two cables for my displays. Much happier with the Accell cable - we've been using them on about 2 dozen of my Macs and the same number of PCs now and all of my techs really like that their machines are running cooler now and that they don't have to unplug/plug in the displays - it's just not a Mac-platform issue, this.

As for being old, I resemble that remark and did the whole Usenet and BBS thing too. Ouch... Cheers!

I ordered two of your recommended Accel cables and an additional p2415q Dell monitor. Only the cables showed up today. The monitor should be here tomorrow.

I have been using a cable matters brand Mini DisplayPort cable. Since I currently only have the cables and not the monitor I decided to go ahead and swap the cables.

Long story short, even though my brain says it shouldn't matter, the Accel cables make the display look noticeably better. I don't know if the colors are more accurate or what. The only difference is the Accel cable is mDP -> DP and cable matters is not.

I just wanted to throw this out there for everyone. The cable apparently makes a difference. Make sure you use one that is 1.2 compliant.

I'm going to mess around with calibration once I have both monitors.

 

[campyguy]

Long story short, even though my brain says it shouldn't matter, the Accel cables make the display look noticeably better. I don't know if the colors are more accurate or what. The only difference is the Accel cable is mDP -> DP and cable matters is not.

I just wanted to throw this out there for everyone. The cable apparently makes a difference. Make sure you use one that is 1.2 compliant.

FWIW, I tried the Cable Matters mDP>mDP and mDP>DP cables, each left me with an impression that they were about as "nice" as the stock Dell mDP>DP cable. I just got set up in my new office a couple of hours ago (gawd I hate setting up new offices...). My partner in this office now wants some of the Accell DP 1.2 cables too for his PC, a bit surprising since he's only seen these things in action for about 2 hours.

As for "throwing out", I'm adding more cables to my Free Geek donation box for my return trip to Portland next week!

 

[iregret]

Got both p2415q monitors hooked up today. Sure enough, late 2013 MacBook Pro, with 750M is driving it's internal display, and both monitors are at 60hz. I didn't doubt anyone, I'm just impressed that it can do it!

I haven't calibrated anything yet. The two monitors seem to match each other really well, but the MacBook is a bit brighter and has a cooler color temperature.

I'll screw around with the calibration later. I have too much homework currently.

Thanks for the help everyone!

 

[kaans]

Hi,

i just got the Dell P2415Q today and I am not sure wether to keep it or not...

In comparison to my Macbook Retina 15 (Late 2013) the colors are just too "warm"
So it always seems a little yellowish. I tried different settings and the different modes. Even in the custom mode I only get it to be yellowish or too blue..

Attached you can see the difference, the first pic shows a picture of my MBPr and the second one the Dell. Do you notice that the google bar is grey on the mbps and yellow on the dell?

Do you have the same experiences? Did some of you get the same colors as your Retina MacBooks? If so, how?

First of all, as a life experience, your eyes usually get used to any color balance in a painful 1-3 days, so I just roll with changes now, asses the situation after a week and make changes then if necessary

Although I came from another DELL monitor, I was paralyzed when I switched to the P2415Q (and previously the U2413) - I checked again and I seem to be using the "Custom Color" scheme now, but I was using "Multimedia" before for reasons I forgot, probably because it's the only colorscheme there that is cold

Anyway, it's not a definitive answer to your question, but, you can find the color warmth you like both from osx settings and the monitor settings itself, it seems this time around I chose to get used to the default "Custom Color" one

-- -- --

Off topic, on topic, as a post-usage review, the monitor is just awesome now, at one point there were OSX issues with wake up, but now, even though the monitor wakes up late, the windows are restored to their previous positions/sizes, and there are almost none chronic dell issues, maybe once every 1-2 months - I also got a PC connected with DP, switching between 2 systems (OSX at mDP), there are absolutely no issues while driving systems at 4K 60hz (hdmi is 4k 30hz, fyi, I didn't pay attention initially, finding the right cable balance wasn't easy, got DP + DP and mDP + mDP cables now)

 

[jkundi]

Hi all, looking to purchase the Dell P2715Q not used a external monitor before, I have late 2013 rMBP 15" can someone advise on the best method of connect the display to my mac? Do I need any adaptors, can it be driven from the thunderbolt port?

Thanks.

 

[shrigg]

Hi all, looking to purchase the Dell P2715Q not used a external monitor before, I have late 2013 rMBP 15" can someone advise on the best method of connect the display to my mac? Do I need any adaptors, can it be driven from the thunderbolt port?

Thanks.

I've been using a P2715Q with my mid-2014 15" rMBP since April of 2015 and it's wonderful, works as advertised with the cables included using the thunderbolt port. I too struggled to get the Dell to match my Mac's Retina display. I'm a photographer/videographer and color accuracy is essential for my work, so I bought an Xrite i1 Display Pro display calibrator and calibrated both displays. Man what a difference, now I absolutely trust my Mac's display and/or the P2715Q to be 100% accurate. Love it.

I haven't spent a lot of time back on this thread since my initial research on the P2715Q and I'm glad I came back to catch up. My P2715Q has a very occasional no wake from sleep, I usually just power the monitor off and on by pulling and reinserting the power cord, then it always finds the signal. My slightly crude workaround works, but I think I'll order an Accell DP 1.2 compliant cable and see if it improves.

 

[jkundi]

Thanks for the info. Whats the best resolution to run the P2715Q? I basically would like to run it for now at Retina resolution, is this possible?

 

[shrigg]

Thanks for the info. Whats the best resolution to run the P2715Q? I basically would like to run it for now at Retina resolution, is this possible?

I usually run it at 3K because the 4K setting makes everything too small for me to easily read

 

[jkundi]

I usually run it at 3K because the 4K setting makes everything too small for me to easily read

Ive got 2560x1440 is that close to retina? Sorry I'm kinda useless when it comes to displays and resolutions.

 

[shrigg]

Ive got 2560x1440 is that close to retina? Sorry I'm kinda useless when it comes to displays and resolutions.

Well that's not really "retina" but it's the same resolution Apple's Thunderbolt 27" runs at. I like to run mine at "3008x1692" because it gives substantially more real estate without looking too small.

 

[jkundi]

Gotcha mate. I may stick to 2560x1440 as 3008x1692 strains my eyes. But will give it another go. Thanks for the help.

 

[iregret]

Gotcha mate. I may stick to 2560x1440 as 3008x1692 strains my eyes. But will give it another go. Thanks for the help.

Why not buy a 1440 monitor then?

 

[JTToft]

Why not buy a 1440 monitor then?

- I'm quite sure they don't mean actual 2560x1440, but a scaled HiDPI 2560x1440, the same way Apple allows for the "Normal", "More Space", "Most Space", etc. settings on their Retina screens.

 

[iregret]

- I'm quite sure they don't mean actual 2560x1440, but a scaled HiDPI 2560x1440, the same way Apple allows for the "Normal", "More Space", "Most Space", etc. settings on their Retina screens.

Ahh, I see. Hmm... Maybe I should play around with HiDPI?

 

[johanp]

Just set up my P2415Q. It is my first external monitor. Using it with MBPr 2014, 13-inch, regular graphics. After playing around a few hours with resolutions on SwitchResX, the best in terms of crispness and size is 1680x1050 at 51Hz, HiDPI. That's the highest HiDPI option I have available. Does this square with other people out there? I don't fully grasp these resolution numbers but want to make sure I'm on right track.

Also just noticed this resolution I'm using is 16x10, thus I'm losing a little real estate. I tried clicking on the companion 16x9 option but wouldn't let me click on it. Is this a function of clamshell mode or is there some setting I need to find?

UPDATE: Now able to get 1920x1080 @ 51Hz HiDPI. Much better.

I have the same 2014 13" rMBP and I want to use it in exactly the same setup, with P2415Q and 1920x1080 HiDPI. My question to you and other users of this combination is, how hot does the rMBP get? Does the fan spin up? Currently with my moderate usage the fan basically never spins up.

Also, for those of you with the 2015 13" rMBP, does it work perfectly with 1920x1080 @60 Hz, no heat issues?

If there will be heat issues or I can't stand 51 Hz, what are my options other than upgrading to a 2015 rMBP? PCIe expander chassis with an external graphics card?

What I'm after is a retina like quality 24" monitor. Currently I have an EIZO Foris FG2421 and I can't stand it after being used to the rMBP screen.

 

[Macintosh1985]

Does anyone know how to enable 3840x2160 @ 50HZ on a late 2013 13" Retina Macbook Pro in Ubuntu?

 

[whitedragon101]

Is the Dell P2715Q likely to be replaced with a new model soon? I am looking for a 4K monitor but feel uncomfortable buying something that has been on the market so long.

 

[jimmyco2008]

I'm not sure what they'd replace it with... It's a run-of-the-mill Dell professional monitor, USB ports are already there, tilt/swivel/rotate stand is already there. I think the next step is bezel-less or near-bezel-less, but I would imagine those starting at $600 or more for the 24". Too, 4K doesn't have a huge adoption at this point in time. Still very niche.