Mid-2018 13" i7 MBP with 4k Monitor?

[Cashmonee]

I am wondering what people's experience has been with a 4k external monitor being driven by a MacBook Pro. I know that there is extra stress on the GPU because of the non-integer scaling. I want to run at the looks like 1440p setting. Will I get a lot of lag or tearing?

For reference, I have a 2018 13" MacBook Pro i7 with 1TB SSD and 16GB of RAM. Looking at a 27" 4k monitor.

 

[bill-p]

It will be usable, but won't be smooth.

You need an eGPU or a MacBook with dGPU (16") in order to make "looks like 1440" smooth.

A better way to deal with it is to get the LG 27" 5K monitor. You can get 1440 with integer scaling and it will be better than scaling.

 

[Cashmonee]

It will be usable, but won't be smooth.

You need an eGPU or a MacBook with dGPU (16") in order to make "looks like 1440" smooth.

A better way to deal with it is to get the LG 27" 5K monitor. You can get 1440 with integer scaling and it will be better than scaling.

Yeah, that is what I was afraid of. Unfortunately, I don't think I can justify the LG cost. I will like just stick with a 1440 monitor then. Thanks!

 

[Christopher Kim]

So I use this exact setup, with an even older / worse 13" MBP. I have the Late 2016 13" MBP dual-core i5, 16gb ram, 4TB3 ports version (the first one with the new design).

I've used it for 3.5 years now about 50/50 as a laptop and closed-clamshell into a 27" LG 4K (the UD68, the good bang-for-buck monitor that came out 3-4 years ago). During COVID and working from home for 5 months, that's more like 95/5 in closed clamshell.

I run it at "Looks like 2560 x 1440", understanding it's not true HiDPI pixel-doubling, which would need the 27" 5K. But honestly, it still looks great. Mac's scaling is pretty fantastic and I've been super impressed. The way I understand it works, they pixel double it pretending it's 5120 x 2880, and then downscale to the 3840 x 2160 4K monitor resolution. I run it at 60Hz refresh rate.

Overall I find it looks great. Rarely see any lag, tearing or any weird artifacts. That being said, I don't really use it for anything graphics intense. Now it's not perfectly smooth all the time, but my 6th gen Skylake is getting on in years too...

It may depend on what you would use it for and what monitor you get, but at least for me, I have been and continue to be really happy with the setup. Happy to discuss if you have any questions about it (here's how I'm setup. During the pandemic, working from home I've been basically sitting here 10hrs a day, 5 days a week, so really been using it a lot as of late).

,

 

[azt33]

I have the same MBP as Christopher Kim, and I have been driving the 32” LG 32UD99-W for almost 2 years without any issues. I have not noticed anything being less than smooth and I also have been working from home since end Feb.

 

[Cashmonee]

Thanks everyone. It seems I should at least try it out and see how it goes.

 

[alias99]

Could someone using a 13in MBP post their activity monitor or stat menu stats whilst connected to a 4k monitor?

Id like to get one and am concerned that it might over stress the machine as even on a 1080p monitor during normal work its spinning the fans up.

 

[robvas]

My LG 4K works great on my 2017 13 nTB

I watch YouTube on it using safari but I don’t play games or anything