Hey lovely people of MacRumors! I hope y'all enjoyed the event yesterday. I'm here cause I need some help (shock horror)!
I've decided I won't be upgrading my 15" 2012 Retina MacBook Pro anytime soon purely because it cost me quite a lot of money and it's a nifty machine with an awesome display. However, with Apple having just released a 5K (!!!) iMac, I've begun thinking about desktop computing. I now want to turn my MacBook Pro into a desktop of sorts...with a 4K monitor.
Now, here's where the questions start. I've been told the rMBPs can emit a full 4K display signal via HDMI. Is this true? Will HDMI to HDMI be good enough and handle my needs? I've heard that you have to go via DisplayPort for a 4K display and, well, Apple sell an HDMI to miniDisplayPort on the store but the monitor I wanted (the Asus PB287Q) only has a DisplayPort (not mini). Does this mean I have to get an HDMI to mDisplayPort adapter and a mDisplayPort to DisplayPort adapter as well?
Is there something really special about mDisplayPort? Could I just get a DisplayPort to HDMI adapter and be done with it?
So many questions. What do you guys think is the best route?
Hoping the answer won't be, "Your Retina MacBook Pro can't handle a 4K display." Because then I'll just cry.
Edit: Okay, so with some extra research and the help from people in this thread, I think I've worked it out. My MacBook Pro 15" Retina will drive a 4K display via Thunderbolt/MiniDisplayPort to DisplayPort, it'll just be a little less than 60Hz. Apparently, OS X won't allow you to run the 4K display at the full resolution. Instead, it'll scales it down to 1920 x 1080 and uses the rest of the pixels to give you 'Retina' display pixel density. So all I should need is a MiniDisplayPort to DisplayPort cable and I should be good to go.
If you think I've gotten any of this wrong, please do correct me. I don't want to shed out £400 on a monitor which isn't then going to be compatible or worth my time e.t.c.
I've decided I won't be upgrading my 15" 2012 Retina MacBook Pro anytime soon purely because it cost me quite a lot of money and it's a nifty machine with an awesome display. However, with Apple having just released a 5K (!!!) iMac, I've begun thinking about desktop computing. I now want to turn my MacBook Pro into a desktop of sorts...with a 4K monitor.
Now, here's where the questions start. I've been told the rMBPs can emit a full 4K display signal via HDMI. Is this true? Will HDMI to HDMI be good enough and handle my needs? I've heard that you have to go via DisplayPort for a 4K display and, well, Apple sell an HDMI to miniDisplayPort on the store but the monitor I wanted (the Asus PB287Q) only has a DisplayPort (not mini). Does this mean I have to get an HDMI to mDisplayPort adapter and a mDisplayPort to DisplayPort adapter as well?
Is there something really special about mDisplayPort? Could I just get a DisplayPort to HDMI adapter and be done with it?
So many questions. What do you guys think is the best route?
Hoping the answer won't be, "Your Retina MacBook Pro can't handle a 4K display." Because then I'll just cry.
Edit: Okay, so with some extra research and the help from people in this thread, I think I've worked it out. My MacBook Pro 15" Retina will drive a 4K display via Thunderbolt/MiniDisplayPort to DisplayPort, it'll just be a little less than 60Hz. Apparently, OS X won't allow you to run the 4K display at the full resolution. Instead, it'll scales it down to 1920 x 1080 and uses the rest of the pixels to give you 'Retina' display pixel density. So all I should need is a MiniDisplayPort to DisplayPort cable and I should be good to go.
If you think I've gotten any of this wrong, please do correct me. I don't want to shed out £400 on a monitor which isn't then going to be compatible or worth my time e.t.c.
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