4K or 5K monitor for Mac: how to choose and connect correctly?

Almost any Mac owner eventually needs to at least occasionally connect to a larger screen. And then immediately a whole series of questions arises - what resolution should I choose, through which port to connect, will everything work at 60 Hz? You will find answers to these and other questions in our article.

Select Resolution: Ultra HD, 4K or 5K

The display resolution is the number of pixels (dots) on the screen in length and width. For example, the well-known expression 1080p means a display with a resolution of 1 920 × 1080 pixels - 1 920 horizontally and 1,080 vertically. The higher the resolution, the sharper the picture on the screen.

Display technology is developing rapidly. Today, the most popular resolutions are 1 920 × 1 080 and 2 880 × 1 800. 4K and 5K displays are a big step forward; they hold millions of pixels more than the usual screens of the same size today, and, as a result, produce a much more impressive “picture”. Apple coined the term retina display for these ultra-high resolutions.

This 4K display has a resolution of 4,096 × 2,160 pixels. But most of the 4K displays that you will find in stores have slightly more modest indicators - 3,840 × 2,160 pixels, although the quality of the “real” image is not inferior to anything. They are called "Ultra HD" or 2 160 rubles.

The resolution of the 5K display is 5,120 × 2,880 pixels. The pixel density per inch (ppi) of such displays is 7 times higher than that of Full HD.

In short: buy a 4K display (3,840 × 2,160) for your Mac Ultra HD. Retailers offer the maximum choice, and their prices are the lowest of all possible: basic models can be found even cheaper than 20,000 rubles. At the same time, their resolution will still belong to the 4K class, and you will notice the difference between it and Full HD right away.

Ports: Thunderbolt vs. HDMI

4K and 5K displays connect to the Mac via Thunderbolt or HDMI.

Thunderbolt

Thunderbolt ports on Mac 2011 and later support Mini DisplayPort, a popular technology for connecting external displays. A monitor with a “normal” DisplayPort can also be connected to a Mac computer - through a special DisplayPort cable - Mini DisplayPort (the price is around 1,000 rubles).

Thunderbolt 1

Most Macs released between 2011 and 2013 use the first generation Thunderbolt. It supports DisplayPort 1.1a - which means that such “poppies” do not have sufficient technical specifications in order to work with a 4K or 5K display at a frequency of 60 Hz.

Help: display refresh rate is the number of maximum possible updates of the entire image on the screen per second. It is measured in hertz (Hz). There are three common frequencies - 60 Hz, 30 Hz and 24 Hz.

Of course, the only acceptable option is 60 Hz. At a frequency of 30 Hz, and even more so at 24 Hz, the user is faced with a noticeable decrease in productivity and lags during elementary movement of the mouse.

Through Thunderbolt, Macs support a refresh rate of up to 60 Hz, through HDMI - 30 or 24 Hz (due to limitations of HDMI 1.4). MacBook 2015 and newer, MacBook Pro 2016 and newer, iMac 2017 and newer, iMac Pro got HDMI 2.0 and supports 60 Hz - provided that it is supported by a connected monitor, there is an HDMI Premium cable and a USB-C adapter / HDMI 2.0 from a third-party manufacturer.

Thunderbolt 2

In 2013, Apple introduced the Thunderbolt 2 standard with DisplayPort 1.2 support. As a result, the maximum bandwidth in the video stream has doubled - from 8.64 Gbit / s to 17.27 Gbit / s. This is quite enough to “drive out” additional millions of pixels from 4K or 5K.

Thunderbolt 2 supports Macs released in late 2013 and later.

Important: Check out the SST and MST monitors below!

    MacBook Pro (Retina, late 2013 and newer).

    Mac Pro (end of 2013).

    iMac (Retina 5K, 27 inches, late 2014 and newer).

    iMac (Retina 4K, 21.5 inches, end of 2015 and newer models).

    iMac (21.5-inch, late 2015 and newer).

    Mac mini (end of 2014).

    MacBook Air (early 2015).

    MacBook (Retina, 12 inches, early 2015 and newer).

Thunderbolt 3

In June 2015, Intel introduced the Thunderbolt 3 with a USB Type-C connector.

It replaced the Mini DisplayPort, the data transfer rate - on two channels - was increased to 40 Gb / s. However, Thunderbolt 3 is still based on DisplayPort 1.2.

Apple added support for the new standard in MacBook Pro (models 2016 and newer), MacBook Air (models 2018 and newer), Mac mini (2018 and newer), iMac (2017 and newer), iMac Pro and Mac Pro (2019 and newer). It allows you to connect up to three (!) 4K monitors or one 5K monitor at 60 Hz to compatible devices.

SST or MST?

The creators of the first 4K displays with a resolution of 60 Hz used Multi-Stream Transport (MST) technology. It programmatically “sews” two parts of the display into a single whole (“tile”). MST is supported on Macs with Thunderbolt 2 and allows you to transmit a signal to two or even more monitors through a single cable, which was convenient for those who needed to work with multiple 4K monitors.

The following Mac computers support MST displays at 60 Hz:

    MacBook Pro (with Retina display, 15 inches, end of 2013) and later;

    MacBook Pro (with 13-inch Retina display, early 2015) and later

    Mac Pro (end of 2013);

    iMac (with Retina 5K display, 27 inches, end of 2014) and later;

    iMac Pro (2017).

More modern 4K displays use Single-Stream Transport (SST), where there is no longer any need to programmatically combine displays into a single whole - SST monitors immediately scale 4K resolution with a frequency of 60 Hz per tile. When buying, it is better to choose an SST monitor, since MST has problems when working with in-game menus, the BIOS screen, and scaling.

When using OS X Yosemite 10.10.3 and later, most SST displays with a resolution of 4K (3840 × 2160) support a refresh rate of 60 Hz on the following Mac computers:

    MacBook Pro (with 13-inch Retina display, early 2015) and later

    MacBook Pro (with 15-inch Retina display, mid-2014) and later

    MacBook Air (2018) and later

    Mac mini (2018) and later

    Mac Pro (2013) and later;

    iMac (27 inches, late 2013) and later;

    MacBook Air (early 2015);

    iMac Pro (2017) and later.

With OS X Yosemite 10.10.3 and later, most SST displays with 4K resolution (4096 × 2160) support a 60 Hz refresh rate on the following Mac computers:

    MacBook Pro (2016 and later)

    Mac Pro (2013) and later;

    MacBook Air (2018) and later

    Mac mini (2018) and later

    iMac (with Retina 5K display, 27 inches, end of 2014) and later;

    iMac Pro (2017) and later.

With macOS Sierra, the MacBook (2015 and later) supports 4K displays (3840 × 2160) at 60 Hz when connected via DisplayPort.

You can also connect multiple 4K displays to a Mac with Thunderbolt 2 via a serial connection. To connect, you need a Thunderbolt cable (to each device), DisplayPort input and output on each monitor, support for DisplayPort 1.2 technology on both the Mac and all monitors except the last link in the chain (version 1.1 is sufficient there). The length of the chain of monitors connected in series is determined by the Mac graphics card.

HDMI

4K and Ultra HD displays can also be connected to the Mac via the integrated HDMI port. List of supported devices:

     MacBook Pro (late 2013 and newer);

     iMac (27-inch, late 2013 and newer);

     Mac mini (end of 2014);

     Mac Pro (end of 2013).

On the Mac, until 2016, Apple installed HDMI version 1.4. The capabilities of this version are very modest - it supports the connection of an Ultra HD display at a frequency of 30 Hz or one 4K display at a frequency of 24 Hz.

In short: Thunderbot is much more suitable for connecting 4K and 5K displays than HDMI 1.4 with its maximum refresh rate of 30 Hz. In addition, Thunderbolt is compatible with DVI, HDMI and VGA monitors via Mini DisplayPort adapters, while HDMI only works with DVI.

Which 4K monitor to buy for Mac?

Dell offers the ideal price-performance ratio for 4K - its 24-inch P2415Q monitor and 27-inch P2715Q have received many positive reviews. Both displays support refresh rates of up to 60 Hz, SST and MST, and the kit includes the necessary DisplayPort cables. Although, of course, any other display with the same characteristics is suitable, but a more modest price tag.

Dell Monitor P2415Q 

Apple recommends using the LG UltraFine 4K and LG UltraFine 5K monitors, as well as its own super-expensive Pro Display XDR display.

LG UltraFine 4K Monitor

Note: OS 4K 10.10.3 or later is required for full 4K resolution.

A short algorithm for buying a 4K or 5K display for Mac

If you want to buy a 4K or 5K display for your Mac:

1. Find out which Mac you have. To do this, click on the Apple menu in the upper left corner and select the About this Mac item.

2. Next, carefully study this article from the "apple" tech support for whether you can connect a 4K monitor to your Mac with a screen refresh rate of 60 Hz. There are a lot of details and special cases - for example, 60 Hz on one 4K monitor supports the 15-inch MacBook of the end of 2013, but not the 13-inch MBP of mid-2014. Of course, it also does not hurt to read the information on relevant forums.

3. Choose an Ultra HD monitor (3,840 × 2,160 pixels) SST standard in the stores of your city with an IPS-matrix, 60 Hz support and a Display Port connector (it connects to Thunderbolt on your Mac through a special adapter or DisplayPort-type cable - Mini DisplayPort) or Mini DisplayPort.