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What is a good 5k monitor to use with the rMBP?
- Thread starter Audiosond
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Also bear in mind that the 2013/2014 13" rMBP will support a 4K monitor at 30 Hz but not 60 Hz. That's what finally swayed me to spend the extra money for the new 2015 model. The 2013/2014 15" rMBP will support a 4K monitor at 60 Hz, though. As for which monitor to get, I've been reading good reviews of the Dell 4K monitors, and they're reasonably priced.
Right now all computers with 2x display ports, tons of GPU power and the correct drivers for the only 5K monitor that is available right now.
Dell
I wrote this (with some revisions) a little while back in another thread, may help clarify the whole 5k thing:
- Thunderbolt 2 can push signals out using either HDMI 1.x or DisplayPort 1.2 protocols. Both of these can display 4K video (though somewhat restricted), and cannot display 5K.
- Dell currently has a 5K display, but in order for it to work at full resolution, it currently needs to behave more-or-less like it's two displays side-by-side, using two different connectors to drive those halves, then combining it into the full display.
- the 5K iMac handles this "lack-of-capable-protocol" problem instead by using custom hardware to connect the display to the motherboard; since it doesn't need to use a cable to connect, it doesn't need to follow an established protocol, and thus can use whatever means work best internally to make the display work. (speculation: this is likely also why you can't use the 5K iMac in Target Display mode, like you can other iMacs - there just isn't a cable that can push information quickly enough to drive those pixels)
- Last September, DisplayPort 1.3 was finalized, whose protocol allows for 5K video to be able to be passed through a cable. For Macs, support for DisplayPort 1.3 will likely come from the Thunderbolt 3, which supports 1.3.
- Thunderbolt 3 will be first supported at a chipset level with Intel's Skylake processors, which look to be released in the second half of this year, going into 2016.
- (speculative) Odds are good that a 5K external will be released from Apple once Thunderbolt 3 begins making it's way into products, as until that time, there really isn't a single-cable consumer protocol out there to drive a display of that bandwidth.
- Thunderbolt 2 can push signals out using either HDMI 1.x or DisplayPort 1.2 protocols. Both of these can display 4K video (though somewhat restricted), and cannot display 5K.
- Dell currently has a 5K display, but in order for it to work at full resolution, it currently needs to behave more-or-less like it's two displays side-by-side, using two different connectors to drive those halves, then combining it into the full display.
- the 5K iMac handles this "lack-of-capable-protocol" problem instead by using custom hardware to connect the display to the motherboard; since it doesn't need to use a cable to connect, it doesn't need to follow an established protocol, and thus can use whatever means work best internally to make the display work. (speculation: this is likely also why you can't use the 5K iMac in Target Display mode, like you can other iMacs - there just isn't a cable that can push information quickly enough to drive those pixels)
- Last September, DisplayPort 1.3 was finalized, whose protocol allows for 5K video to be able to be passed through a cable. For Macs, support for DisplayPort 1.3 will likely come from the Thunderbolt 3, which supports 1.3.
- Thunderbolt 3 will be first supported at a chipset level with Intel's Skylake processors, which look to be released in the second half of this year, going into 2016.
- (speculative) Odds are good that a 5K external will be released from Apple once Thunderbolt 3 begins making it's way into products, as until that time, there really isn't a single-cable consumer protocol out there to drive a display of that bandwidth.