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Macbook Pro 13.3 (2018) and 2 external 4k monitors. Yes or no?

deimantasn

deimantasn

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 28, 2017
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Vilnius
Hello Community. I would like to get some advices from you if you have been in my situation, please.

I am considering to replace my 2014 MB Pro 13.3 with a new MB Pro 13.3 (2018) i7, 16GB Ram. I am looking for two 4k, 24-inch external Dell monitors like P2415Q. (if you have other suggestion picking the monitor, please don't hesitate to add them)

My concern is that Irish plus graphic card 655 will be heavily loaded in order to support 4k monitors and for the rest apps (programming, light graphic works with Pixelmator and etc.) won't be enough iGPU power.

In simple words I don't want to have lag, higher temperature and noisy fan which I got with current MB Pro 13.3 and single Dell 27-inch Dell monitor (U2715H, QHD 2560 x 1440).

P.S. I know that Macbook Pro 15 will be okay with this setup, but I like to travel and MB Pro 13.3 are more suitable for me.
 
Last edited:
deimantasn said:
In simple words I don't want to have lag and over-heating which I got with current MB Pro 13.3 and single 27-inch Dell monitor.
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If you're to drive two 4k monitors on an iGPU and you're 2014 couldn't handle a single one, then I'd say the odds are against you on this endeavor. Either get an eGPU or see if the 15" MBP suits your needs.
 
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kaspergn said:
Hi there,
I have the same question, so I'm sorry – I haven't got the answer for you. :)
But about the monitor; have you considered the LG 27ud88?
Kind regards
Click to expand...

The 27UK850 is the 27UD88's replacement - that's the one I'm considering. It offers USB-C connectivity, so will charge your MBP as well as handle data/video. Additionally, as the 27UK850 has 2 USB ports, it can act as as a hub, too.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/best-4k-display-for-use-with-mac-and-windows-laptop.2126419/
 
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You should also consider that the 15-inch MBP has a faster dGPU, but it also runs hotter, making the fans ramp up much faster. I have a direct comparison between a 2015 MBP with Iris Pro 5200 iGPU and a 2016 MBP with Radeon 455 dGPU with the 2015 one running much more quiet when connected to a 4K screen.
 
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I use two 4k displays (LG ultra fine) with my 2016 MBP and it works surprisingly well. When I have the notebook display and the two monitors in use, occasionally I get some slight stutters but not enough for me to be annoyed. I'd imagine that this is far less an issue on the new model with the better iGPU.
 
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iKnowMr.Jobs said:
I use two 4k displays (LG ultra fine) with my 2016 MBP and it works surprisingly well. When I have the notebook display and the two monitors in use, occasionally I get some slight stutters but not enough for me to be annoyed. I'd imagine that this is far less an issue on the new model with the better iGPU.
Click to expand...

What kind of work do you do? And what apps are running? I just would like to know your Macbook Pro 13.3 CPU and iGPU intensity, please :)
 
robvas said:
Why do people confuse “overheating” with “normal operating temperatures”
Click to expand...
I mean lag, heating and noisy fan while using Pixelmator, Outlook, Sublime Text, Safari, Chrome, Word, Excel, CyberDuck... on 27-inch Dell monitor (U2715H, QHD 2560 x 1440).

For me overheating means when you put a finger on hot spot and don't want to hold any longer, because its burning. Anyway, the point that with U2715H and Pixelmator Macbook Pro 13 becomes laggy, hot and noisy.
 
cman-uk said:
The 27UK850 is the 27UD88's replacement - that's the one I'm considering. It offers USB-C connectivity, so will charge your MBP as well as handle data/video. Additionally, as the 27UK850 has 2 USB ports, it can act as as a hub, too.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/best-4k-display-for-use-with-mac-and-windows-laptop.2126419/
Click to expand...
Thanks a lot! I didn't know, that there was a replacement. And I thought that the 27UD88 already offered charging through USB. Definitely gonna buy the 850 instead. :)
 
kaspergn said:
Thanks a lot! I didn't know, that there was a replacement. And I thought that the 27UD88 already offered charging through USB. Definitely gonna buy the 850 instead. :)
Click to expand...
The 850 charges with ~60 Watt max power delivery. The problem is: under high load this could be not enough (the MacBook Pro Charger has ~80 watts). So you put your battery under heavy stress.
So I don't think the 850 is worth its money if you want primarily because of the power delivery (the 5K Ultrafine puts out 80 Watts!)

I struggled finding monitors too and I condensed it down to the 650. But personally I think the 27UD69 is the best budget option and maybe I will order it. (Will pull the trigger tomorrow or Tuesday)
 
Uhu said:
The 850 charges with ~60 Watt max power delivery. The problem is: under high load this could be not enough (the MacBook Pro Charger has ~80 watts). So you put your battery under heavy stress.
So I don't think the 850 is worth its money if you want primarily because of the power delivery (the 5K Ultrafine puts out 80 Watts!)

I struggled finding monitors too and I condensed it down to the 650. But personally I think the 27UD69 is the best budget option and maybe I will order it. (Will pull the trigger tomorrow or Tuesday)
Click to expand...
650 doesn't have USB-C whereas the 850 does.

That settles it, in favour of the 850, for me.
 
deimantasn said:
I mean lag, heating and noisy fan while using Pixelmator, Outlook, Sublime Text, Safari, Chrome, Word, Excel, CyberDuck... on 27-inch Dell monitor (U2715H, QHD 2560 x 1440).

For me overheating means when you put a finger on hot spot and don't want to hold any longer, because its burning. Anyway, the point that with U2715H and Pixelmator Macbook Pro 13 becomes laggy, hot and noisy.
Click to expand...
Mine doesn't get hot and fire up the fans using an external monitor...

Put your hand on the back of your HDTV or cable box and tell me if it's hot...if it is turn it off and don't use it
 
deimantasn said:
What kind of work do you do? And what apps are running? I just would like to know your Macbook Pro 13.3 CPU and iGPU intensity, please :)
Click to expand...

When I'm using all three displays, it usually for my school work (accounting major). A few Safari tabs for referencing, Firefox because the dumb website for one of my classes doesn't function easily in safari, Excel and a few smaller things. Having windows from all those apps spread across all the displays can get the system to stutter a bit when I enter Mission Control (Curious to see if its a High Sierra issue though. The windowserver task that runs Mission Control has been pretty buggy this release. Even on the notebook without displays connected, it stutters on that from time to time with only a few windows open. I put the Mojave beta on my old 2012 Air and I kid you not, Mission Control is smoother on that). I've never seen video (full screen or in a PiP) stutter when I've been in that workload. When I use Pixelmator, I just give it 1 full 4k display and its fine too. It still shocks me that this notebook handles two 4k displays as well as it does. Initially, I expected to see some major stutters and lag for certain tasks and I just haven't seen them to that effect. Very, very minor ones under pretty select circumstances.

This is all done with the MBP in my sig (graphics are the Intel Iris 550). If you're buying a 2018, you'll have integrated graphics with 128MB of DRAM, which is twice as much as I have in my notebook. I'd imagine that having it will eliminate all stutters in all but the most intensive workloads the machine can handle.
 
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Uhu said:
The 850 charges with ~60 Watt max power delivery. The problem is: under high load this could be not enough (the MacBook Pro Charger has ~80 watts). So you put your battery under heavy stress.
So I don't think the 850 is worth its money if you want primarily because of the power delivery (the 5K Ultrafine puts out 80 Watts!)

I struggled finding monitors too and I condensed it down to the 650. But personally I think the 27UD69 is the best budget option and maybe I will order it. (Will pull the trigger tomorrow or Tuesday)
Click to expand...
But if I bought the 13" MBP, I guess it would be fine, since the charger has 61 watts?
 
Running 2 4k screens on the new 13" will be fine. It won't be perfect if you are stressing the computer graphically but it will work well enough. I use it 2 4k ultrafines and the internal display and its ok. I have turned off a few things as expose was pretty sluggish but thats on a 13" 2016 tbMBP.

You are also not going to be pushing quite full 4K resolution unless you get the LG ultrafines. Almost all 4K is 3840*2160 instead of true 4K which is 4096*2160. The scaling you use will also have an effect on how much stress you put on the GPU/CPU of the laptop. Picking weird resolutions forces the macbook to do more work.
 
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