Few questions regarding an external monitor

[deepakvrao]

Planning to get the Del P2417H, specs as below.

http://www.dell.com/ed/business/p/dell-p2417h-monitor/pd

Brand Dell
Item Height 49.2 Centimeters
Item Width 18 Centimeters
Screen Size 23.8 Inches
Maximum Display Resolution 1920x1080
Item Weight 5.17 Kg
Product Dimensions 55 x 18 x 49.2 cm
Item model number P2417H
Hardware Platform PC
Included Components Monitor with Stand, Power Cable, 1 x DP Cable, 1 x VGA Cable, 1 x USB 3.0 Upstream Cable (enables the USB port on the monitor), Drivers and Documentation Media, Quick Setup Guide, Safety Information

Planning to use the Hootoo hub to connect the monitor to my MB 12.

https://www.hootoo.com/ht-uc001-usb-type-c-hub-hdmi-4k-adapter-apple.html

1. Will this effectively be the same as connecting with a USB c cable to a USB c monitor? That is, will it power my laptop, as well as carry data to the hub, and the monitor if I connect one usb of the hub to the upstream USB hub on the monitor? USB c monitors not available where I live, or at least not at less than almost double the US pricing.
2. This will be mainly for accounts, spreadsheet etc, so I am presuming a higher resolution might not benefit me? I have no clue. Are higher res monitors mainly for media consumption, or is the increased real estate space also useful? The text would become very small right?

 

[Mike Boreham]

Planning to get the Del P2417H, specs as below.

http://www.dell.com/ed/business/p/dell-p2417h-monitor/pd

Brand Dell
Item Height 49.2 Centimeters
Item Width 18 Centimeters
Screen Size 23.8 Inches
Maximum Display Resolution 1920x1080
Item Weight 5.17 Kg
Product Dimensions 55 x 18 x 49.2 cm
Item model number P2417H
Hardware Platform PC
Included Components Monitor with Stand, Power Cable, 1 x DP Cable, 1 x VGA Cable, 1 x USB 3.0 Upstream Cable (enables the USB port on the monitor), Drivers and Documentation Media, Quick Setup Guide, Safety Information

Planning to use the Hootoo hub to connect the monitor to my MB 12.

https://www.hootoo.com/ht-uc001-usb-type-c-hub-hdmi-4k-adapter-apple.html

1. Will this effectively be the same as connecting with a USB c cable to a USB c monitor? That is, will it power my laptop, as well as carry data to the hub, and the monitor if I connect one usb of the hub to the upstream USB hub on the monitor? USB c monitors not available where I live, or at least not at less than almost double the US pricing.
2. This will be mainly for accounts, spreadsheet etc, so I am presuming a higher resolution might not benefit me? I have no clue. Are higher res monitors mainly for media consumption, or is the increased real estate space also useful? The text would become very small right?

My understanding is that this arrangement you would

1. plug the Apple charger into the Hootoo and the Hootoo into the MB. This will charge the MacBook.
2. Plug the monitor into the HDMI port and its own wall power supply. This will get the HDMI signal to the Dell.

Then

either

3a. plug USB drives directly into the Hootoo. My experience of drives connected to the Hootoo is that simple tasks involving one drive were generally OK, but transferring data between two drives was flaky. Adding HDMI is not going to improve that. The drives are sharing wall power with the MB. A Caldigit or OWC docking station would be much better than the HooToo. More about this in this thread

or

3b. plug the upstream USB port of the Dell into the Hootoo, then USB drives into the Dell. This way the drives should get more power than through the Hootoo. As I said in the other thread, because the monitor is not 4K you may get 60Hz and USB 3 simultaneously.

Opinions about high res/4k/ Retina monitors vary widely. It is a personal thing. Some people say that they can't see or don't care about the difference. Personally once I started using Retina I knew I would never buy or use a low res screen again. Everything is sharper and I find the whole user experience much better.

Final comment: The little 12" MacBook is a fantastic machine, and can be used with external monitors, but if you are need 4K/Retina monitor and USB3 speed drives it is probably not the best machine, due to its single USB-C port bandwidth limitation.

 

[iPlodder]

Planning to get the Del P2417H, specs as below.

http://www.dell.com/ed/business/p/dell-p2417h-monitor/pd

Brand Dell
Item Height 49.2 Centimeters
Item Width 18 Centimeters
Screen Size 23.8 Inches
Maximum Display Resolution 1920x1080
Item Weight 5.17 Kg
Product Dimensions 55 x 18 x 49.2 cm
Item model number P2417H
Hardware Platform PC
Included Components Monitor with Stand, Power Cable, 1 x DP Cable, 1 x VGA Cable, 1 x USB 3.0 Upstream Cable (enables the USB port on the monitor), Drivers and Documentation Media, Quick Setup Guide, Safety Information

Planning to use the Hootoo hub to connect the monitor to my MB 12.

https://www.hootoo.com/ht-uc001-usb-type-c-hub-hdmi-4k-adapter-apple.html

1. Will this effectively be the same as connecting with a USB c cable to a USB c monitor? That is, will it power my laptop, as well as carry data to the hub, and the monitor if I connect one usb of the hub to the upstream USB hub on the monitor? USB c monitors not available where I live, or at least not at less than almost double the US pricing.
2. This will be mainly for accounts, spreadsheet etc, so I am presuming a higher resolution might not benefit me? I have no clue. Are higher res monitors mainly for media consumption, or is the increased real estate space also useful? The text would become very small right?

There doesn't seem to be any mention of what wattage the monitor can supply to a laptop, which would lead me to think that the USB 3.0 Upstream cable was for data only, so you won't be able to charge your MacBook from the monitor.

 

[Mike Boreham]

There doesn't seem to be any mention of what wattage the monitor can supply to a laptop, which would lead me to think that the USB 3.0 Upstream cable was for data only, so you won't be able to change your MacBook from the monitor.

My experience with external monitors and laptops is the normal arrangement is that the laptop and monitor are independently powered from the wall.

Exceptions are USB-C monitors like this one I linked in the other thread. Also I used to have 27" Apple Thunderbolt Display which had a built in 85W MagSafe power outlet to charge the connected MBP.

 

[deepakvrao]

Thanks guys for all the help. I currently have a Dell U2713, and the manual says this, so I presume if the USB outputs 4.5W each, they should be able to drive external drives?

Universal Serial Bus (USB) Interface

This section gives you information about the USB ports that are available on the left side of your monitor.NOTE: This monitor is USB 3.0 Compatible.

Transfer speed

Data Rate

Power Consumption

Super Speed

5 Gbps

4.5 W (Max., each port)

High Speed

480 Mbps

2.5 W (Max., each port)

Full speed

12 Mbps

2.5 W (Max., each port)

Low speed

1.5 Mbps

2.5 W (Max., each port)