Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

GooseInTheCaboose

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 2, 2022
361
222
Will a vintage mac (such as the 15” mbp 2014) be able to display anything on the Apple Studio Display?
 
At least 1440p60. The EDID of the Apple Studio Display has a 1080p60, 1440p60, 4K60, and 5K60 modes.

The MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014) has NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M.
https://support.apple.com/kb/sp704?locale=en_CA

If you want to try 4K30 or 5K23 then you have to add them manually using SwitchResX. 23Hz might be too low for the display - the EDID doesn't say what the allowed refresh rate range is so you'll have to experiment.

My iMac (27 inch, Late 2013) has NVIDIA GeForce GT 780M. I made a patch that allows selecting 6bpc but I haven't found a patch to also increase the max pixel clock which makes 6bpc currently not useful. However, if the screen goes black because it's trying 10bpc for a display mode with pixel clock that is too high for 10bpc, then the patch can fix that by setting 8bpc mode.

You can use AllRez to see if the display connects using HBR or HBR2 link rate. The Apple tech specs suggest an HBR limit, but Thunderbolt 2 can support HBR2 link rate. This link says it can support HBR2 link rate but that was without 750M:
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...-4k-single-stream-transport-monitors.1764815/
If it supports HBR2, then maybe 4K60 will be possible. Then, if the bpc patch works, and a pixel clock patch can be found, then 5K60 may be possible with 6bpc (but there could be other factors besides DisplayPort link rate and bpc that limit the max pixel clock).
 
  • Like
Reactions: Amethyst1
4K60 should be possible. Non-GK110 NVIDIA Kepler GPUs have a 540 MHz pixel clock limit. I don’t know if a patch can get around that.

I have a Late 2013 15” rMBP with the Iris Pro 5200 and it can do 4K60 too (max width is 3968 — I haven’t determined max height but 2880 works). Max pixel clock is 540 MHz.
 
Last edited:
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.