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Apple Details Expanded 4K Display Support Included in OS X 10.9.3

Friday May 16, 2014 1:43 pm PDT by Juli Clover
Apple today updated its 4K display support page following the OS X 10.9.3 update, detailing the enhancements that have been made to 4K display support.

Running OS X 10.9.3, the 2013 Mac Pro and the 2013 Retina MacBook Pro now support several new 4K displays, including the Sharp PN-K321, ASUS PQ321Q, Dell UP2414Q, Dell UP3214Q, and the Panasonic TC-L65WT600. Previously, only the Sharp and ASUS displays were officially supported.

There's a new section on display adjustments and Retina scaling, introduced to allow the resolution of 4K displays to be adjusted much like the display of the Retina MacBook Pro, improving the size and readability of text and other on-screen elements.

screenresolutions4k
The revamped support page also notes that both the Mac Pro and the Retina MacBook Pro are now able to support 60 Hz 4K output for the five supported displays, using multi-stream transport, a feature previously limited to the Mac Pro. With the higher refresh rates, response times for tasks like game playing and video editing will be improved. Detailed instructions are given for enabling the option:
MacBook Pro (Retina, Late 2013) or Mac Pro (Late 2013) also support 60 Hz displays using multi-stream transport (MST). These displays need to be manually configured to use MST. Follow the steps below to use the display's built-in controls to enable this feature.

- Sharp PN-K321: Choose Menu > Setup > DisplayPort STREAM > MST > SET
- ASUS PQ321Q: Choose OSD menu > Setup > DisplayPort Stream
- Dell UP2414Q and UP3214Q: Choose Menu > Display Setting > DisplayPort 1.2 > Enable
- Panasonic TC-L65WT600: Choose Menu > Display Port Settings > Steam Setting > Auto

Your Mac will automatically detect an MST-enabled display. However, your display may require a firmware update to support 60Hz operation. Please contact your display vendor for details. If your specific DisplayPort display is not listed above, check with the display's manufacturer for compatibility information.
First released yesterday, OS X 10.9.3 with enhanced support for 4K displays can be downloaded via the software update tool in the Mac App Store.

[ 81 comments ]


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brock2621
62 months ago
C'mon apple, 4k display already!
Rating: 14 Votes
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MagnusVonMagnum
62 months ago

No official Samsung U28D590D support? Arguably the most popular based on its price.


WTF does Apple need to "officially support" every stinking monitor being manufactured? That could get really ugly really fast trying to depend on Apple to release new drivers all the time when they cannot even keep their regular video drivers and 3D system up-to-date in a timely fashion. There should be a STANDARD that all 4k monitors support and Apple should then just support that standard, not this piece meal one-at-a-time approach.
Rating: 8 Votes
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Houdini7
62 months ago
Just don't try more than 2 monitors!

Lots of issues supporting more than 2 monitors (of ANY resolution)

10.9.3 broke support for more than 2 monitors for Many people.
Rating: 5 Votes
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ianimate3d
62 months ago

I like the wallpaper they posted? Anyone know where I can download it?


Here it is in 7025 x 4008 :D

http://i.images.cdn.fotopedia.com/flickr-8133635853-original/Photography_Techniques/Image_editing/High_dynamic_range_imaging/The_road_to_Glenorchy_is_epic.jpg
Rating: 4 Votes
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shurcooL
62 months ago

If I remember correctly they did the same thing with the MBP. Retina came to 13" first then 15".


You remember incorrectly. The first Retina MBP was 15". A 13" rMBP came out 4 months later.
Rating: 3 Votes
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newagemac
62 months ago
Ok now I'm confused. Previously, Macrumors reported that 60hz support in 10.9.3 would only apply to the 15" Retina Macbook Pro. Now its just saying "Retina Macbook Pro". So does this apply to the latest 13" model or is some information being left off?
Rating: 2 Votes
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DTphonehome
62 months ago
Where the hell is the 4K Apple display already?
Rating: 2 Votes
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FrancoisC
62 months ago

Did you enable DisplayPort 1.2? Its disabled by default and you're stuck at 30Hz.


I did, I also tried with a PC that is display port 1.2 capable, input lag is caused by the processing inside the monitor. Input lag has nothing to do about refresh rate, it's the time between when the monitor receive the signal and when it display it.

Quote from TFTcentral about input lag:

To avoid confusion with different terminology we will refer to this section of our reviews as just "lag" from now on, as there are a few different aspects to consider, and different interpretations of the term "input lag". We will consider the following points here as much as possible. The overall "display lag" is the first, that being the delay between the image being shown on the TFT display and that being shown on a CRT. This is what many people will know as input lag and originally was the measure made to explain why the image is a little behind when using a CRT. The older stopwatch based methods were the common way to measure this in the past, but through advanced studies have been shown to be quite inaccurate. As a result, more advanced tools like SMTT provide a method to measure that delay between a TFT and CRT while removing the inaccuracies of older stopwatch methods.

In reality that lag / delay is caused by a combination of two things - the signal processing delay caused by the TFT electronics / scaler, and the response time of the pixels themselves. Most "input lag" measurements over the years have always been based on the overall display lag (signal processing + response time) and indeed the SMTT tool is based on this visual difference between a CRT and TFT and so measures the overall display lag. In practice the signal processing is the element which gives the feel of lag to the user, and the response time of course can impact blurring, and overall image quality in moving scenes. As people become more aware of lag as a possible issue, we are of course keen to try and understand the split between the two as much as possible to give a complete picture.


Input lag is not much concern when you use your monitor for browsing/working/photography, but is very annoying when gaming.
Rating: 2 Votes
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Onimusha370
62 months ago

You remember incorrectly. The first Retina MBP was 15". A 13" rMBP came out a year later.


YOU remember incorrectly, the 13" came out 4 months later, that same year :)
Rating: 1 Votes
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3282868
62 months ago

Apple; is this a Pro or Consumer OS?

There are still plenty of issues with Mavericks - WiFi reconnections from sleep; poor enterprise support.

TBH, I have no interest in 4K support - NLE Editors might and boys with toys; but there are SO many more issues which need addressing.

I'm hoping, no; BEGGING 10.10 isn't released this year - or rather if it has to be; it's more of a fix OS than anything.


Apple needs to end the annual OS X release cycle (emulating iOS isn't a smart decision with so many Mac variants, etc), and frankly I dislike Federighi's work as SVP of Engineering. I'm sure he's a great engineer/programmer, but since he took over a lot of long standing OS X users have been disappointed with quality and features. We get it, Apple is more "consumer" driven since 2007 and iOS, however you can be both consumer and enterprise oriented - Apple was before. Keep OS X and iOS development separate and treat them as such. Otherwise, this may worsen (I'm looking at you, iTunes 11.2).
Rating: 1 Votes

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