Help - Tearing my hair out ! MBA with Philips 272C4 - only 1920

[itbeme]

Hi all - rarely do I run into a problem where after scanning the Internet I come up with nothing ? Here it is:

The display
I just purchased the highly rated Philips 272C4 Monitor. Every review (as well as the specs of the monitor themselves) have this display's native resolution at 2560 × 1440 @ 60 Hz. This is of course the very same resolution of the Apple Thunderbolt display.

The Mac
MacBook Air circa mid-late 2012 with the following graphics chipset:
Intel HD Graphics 4000:

Chipset Model: Intel HD Graphics 4000
Type: GPU
Bus: Built-In
VRAM (Dynamic, Max): 1024 MB
Vendor: Intel (0x8086)
Device ID: 0x0166
Revision ID: 0x0009

The problem
When I plug in the monitor it will only give me 1920x1080 - can go no further. I thought it was my cable - A DVI. I quickly thought to go with HDMI and did the following:

Grabbed a Thunderbolt to HDMI cable laying around - plugged it in - no go, stuck at 1920x1080. Ordered from Amazon (in transit). Tried native DVI. No go, tried DVI to HDMI - no go. So - is it the monitor ? Shouldn't be.

I plugged it into (native) HDMI--HDMI from my Mac Mini. Stuck at 1920x1080.

Both the Mac Mini - and the MacBook air go to 2560 × 1440 no problem via Native Thunderbolt. So...before I return this thing ..

Q1: Is it that the Mac's will only drive this resolution with their own proprietary ThunderBolt display ?

Q2: Is there a way to update the graphics chip or driver (so easy on Windows machines) ?

Q3: Do I have a bad monitor (I would think, highly unlikely) ?

Q4: Am I doing something wrong ?

Stories of using 3rd party monitors to drive 2560 × 1440 from Mac's are legion - and this monitor is highly rated and has as it's native resolution 2560 × 1440. At an impasse ....

Help appreciated, sorry for the long post.

 

[Fishrrman]

Have you tried a MiniDisplayPort (MacBook end) to DisplayPort (monitor end) cable yet?

If not, try one of those and get back to us...

 

[paulrbeers]

Hi all - rarely do I run into a problem where after scanning the Internet I come up with nothing ? Here it is:

The display
I just purchased the highly rated Philips 272C4 Monitor. Every review (as well as the specs of the monitor themselves) have this display's native resolution at 2560 × 1440 @ 60 Hz. This is of course the very same resolution of the Apple Thunderbolt display.

The Mac
MacBook Air circa mid-late 2012 with the following graphics chipset:
Intel HD Graphics 4000:

Chipset Model: Intel HD Graphics 4000
Type: GPU
Bus: Built-In
VRAM (Dynamic, Max): 1024 MB
Vendor: Intel (0x8086)
Device ID: 0x0166
Revision ID: 0x0009

The problem
When I plug in the monitor it will only give me 1920x1080 - can go no further. I thought it was my cable - A DVI. I quickly thought to go with HDMI and did the following:

Grabbed a Thunderbolt to HDMI cable laying around - plugged it in - no go, stuck at 1920x1080. Ordered from Amazon (in transit). Tried native DVI. No go, tried DVI to HDMI - no go. So - is it the monitor ? Shouldn't be.

I plugged it into (native) HDMI--HDMI from my Mac Mini. Stuck at 1920x1080.

Both the Mac Mini - and the MacBook air go to 2560 × 1440 no problem via Native Thunderbolt. So...before I return this thing ..

Q1: Is it that the Mac's will only drive this resolution with their own proprietary ThunderBolt display ?

Q2: Is there a way to update the graphics chip or driver (so easy on Windows machines) ?

Q3: Do I have a bad monitor (I would think, highly unlikely) ?

Q4: Am I doing something wrong ?

Stories of using 3rd party monitors to drive 2560 × 1440 from Mac's are legion - and this monitor is highly rated and has as it's native resolution 2560 × 1440. At an impasse ....

Help appreciated, sorry for the long post.

To expand (and fully explain) why it hasn't worked from you....

1. The HDMI port is only capable of 1920x1200 on the 2012 Mac Mini. Using it (whether HDMI to HDMI or HDMI to DVI) would never get you full resolution.
2. Thunderbolt is also a Mini Displayport. However, with Displayport you can only get 1920x1200 when converting to HDMI or DVI unless using an (expensive) Dual Link DVI cable (has to be a powered/active converter). All Cheap Mini-Displayport to DVI cables are single-link DVI and that's why you will only get 1080P on your monitor

So basically (without buying an expensive Dual Link link DVI cable), the only way to get 2560x1440 is to go with a cheap Mini-displayport to Displayport cable. I have my HP 27" 1440P monitors being driven this way. These kinds of cables can be found regularly for less than $10.

 

[itbeme]

Thanks for quick response. Given it seems I have already ordered the wrong cable from Amazon, I do not wish to compound the problem.

So if I understand you correctly, I simply need this thing:

http://www.amazon.fr/StarTech-com-C...eywords=Mini-displayport+to+Displayport+cable

Mini DisplayPort (on the Thunderbolt side) to what Philips calls the DP in (DisplayPort) - and it should work. Odd that the solution is simply a cheap little cable.

Once again - thanks for your help, this place is awesome resource when you get stuck.

 

[paulrbeers]

Thanks for quick response. Given it seems I have already ordered the wrong cable from Amazon, I do not wish to compound the problem.

So if I understand you correctly, I simply need this thing:

http://www.amazon.fr/StarTech-com-C...eywords=Mini-displayport+to+Displayport+cable

Mini DisplayPort (on the Thunderbolt side) to what Philips calls the DP in (DisplayPort) - and it should work. Odd that the solution is simply a cheap little cable.

Once again - thanks for your help, this place is awesome resource when you get stuck.

Yep that's exactly what you want. I've got about 3-4 of them.

 

[AlpineTom]

I have the same problem but with a newly purchased post-2014 mac mini -- i.e., stuck at 1920x1080. Does your advice carry over from the original poster with a 2012 mac mini? I have tried HDMI to HDMI, HDMI to mini-display (with adaptor) and DVI to mini display (with adaptor).

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[larrysing1963]

I have the same problem but with a newly purchased post-2014 mac mini -- i.e., stuck at 1920x1080. Does your advice carry over from the original poster with a 2012 mac mini? I have tried HDMI to HDMI, HDMI to mini-display (with adaptor) and DVI to mini display (with adaptor).

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Yes. The mDP-to-DP cable is the way to go, and the only way to easily get 2560x1440. I used this cable on my late 2013 15" rMBP to attach to a 34" monitor and it worked great for full resolution @ 60Hz.