Macbook pro on 144hz monitor

[marklcfc]

I was just wondering will a macbook pro work on a 144hz monitor? I currently use a 60hz monitor but was thinking of upgrading to 144hz.
The usb-c hub I use only does 60hz, so I was wondering what would happen, would it just not work at all?

 

[LinkRS]

I was just wondering will a macbook pro work on a 144hz monitor? I currently use a 60hz monitor but was thinking of upgrading to 144hz.
The usb-c hub I use only does 60hz, so I was wondering what would happen, would it just not work at all?

Hi marklcfc,

Yes it will work just fine at 60Hz (default). Depending on your GPU and its drivers, you may be able to take advantage of the faster refresh rate. See this article to see how to change it: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210742 This specifically talks about the Apple Pro Display XDR, but should work for any external monitor

Good luck!

Rich S.

 

[di1in]

I plugged in a 144hz monitor (

LG 32GK650F) to my non-touchbar 2017 MBP 13” using usb-c to DP and it shows 144hz in the display settings at 2.5k resolution.​

Does this mean that Mac OS animations will now render at 144hz or is it limited to just games?

 

[LinkRS]

I plugged in a 144hz monitor (

LG 32GK650F) to my non-touchbar 2017 MBP 13” using usb-c to DP and it shows 144hz in the display settings at 2.5k resolution.​

Does this mean that Mac OS animations will now render at 144hz or is it limited to just games?

Howdy di1ln,

The framerate the macOS desktop renders at is based on the GPU and the number of frames that are programmed into the UI. The monitor just redraws the screen at 144 frames per second. The easiest way to notice a difference is to open up a finder window, grab it with your mouse pointer, and whip it back and forth across the screen as quick as you can. If your system can push the UI faster than 60 fps, you will quickly see the difference that way.

FWIW, the framerate of the UI doesn't change at all, it is how many frames that the actual display can show you. When you run the display at 60Hz, and your UI animates faster than that, you will get "tearing" as the window is quickly dragged across the screen, as the display cannot keep up. What likely will happen, is that you won't really notice a difference. The typical way that you prevent the screen tearing, is by locking the framerate to 60 fps. This prevents that, but also limits your performance. I would imagine that Apple locks the UI to 60 fps, as that would give the best experience. What I don't know, is if macOS will actually render it faster with a higher refresh rate.

Good luck!