I have a MBA with 2 external displays, including an Apple Thunderbolt Display. I want to know if the new 13" MPB (with TouchBar) will drive both a LG 5k display AND the TBD AND the laptop display? I understand it will not drive 2 5K displays but I want to continue to use the TBD as a second external monitor.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
MacBook Pro support of 5K + TBD?
- Thread starter Windowsrefugee
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I'm going to say no. It will support two 4k displays plus the built in. The 5k display is using two stitched together displays plus the built in display makes for a total of 3 displays, the max the intel iGPU will support. The 15" gets around this because the AMD GPU can utilize up to 5 displays. Two 5k = 4 "displays" plus the built in display = 5.
Here are 2 different and partially conflicting answers from Apple...
"... 1. systems engineer..: Spec’s say that it should… probably won’t be chaining but rather 5K in one port. USB-C -> Thunderbolt Adapter in another port...."
2. "One of my other coworkers said the only thing he could foresee potentially being necessary is closing the lid on the MacBook Pro in order to use two external screens, but he still thinks it should be able to drive two displays. I don’t think we can fully know without actually trying it, which is pretty aggravating. As soon as we get the 5k in store I’m going to try this out, but there’s no word on when we might get them in..."
Any other thoughts? Anyone try this on their new 13" 4-port MBP yet? Does anyone think #1 will work? The previous post by glindon suggests that this is a GPU issue, not a port issue.
"... 1. systems engineer..: Spec’s say that it should… probably won’t be chaining but rather 5K in one port. USB-C -> Thunderbolt Adapter in another port...."
2. "One of my other coworkers said the only thing he could foresee potentially being necessary is closing the lid on the MacBook Pro in order to use two external screens, but he still thinks it should be able to drive two displays. I don’t think we can fully know without actually trying it, which is pretty aggravating. As soon as we get the 5k in store I’m going to try this out, but there’s no word on when we might get them in..."
Any other thoughts? Anyone try this on their new 13" 4-port MBP yet? Does anyone think #1 will work? The previous post by glindon suggests that this is a GPU issue, not a port issue.