OS X 10.10.3 Now Supports Dell's Dual-Cable 5K Monitor on Retina iMac and Mac Pro
With the release of OS X 10.10.3 last Wednesday, Apple has expanded support for high-resolution 4K and even 5K external displays (via 9to5Mac). Most notably, OS X 10.10.3 enables the Retina 5K iMac and 2013 Mac Pro to drive Dell's UP2715K 27-inch 5K display released late last year. The display requires more bandwidth than is currently supported over a current single DisplayPort/Thunderbolt cable, so it uses a dual-cable solution taking up two ports on the user's machine.
This bandwidth issue for the current DisplayPort standard has been seen as a major roadblock keeping Apple from releasing a standalone 5K Thunderbolt Display. With the Retina iMac, Apple has been able to build custom internal components to drive the massive display, but for external displays, a dual-cable solution such as that used by Dell has been considered by many to be "un-Apple like."
As a result, Apple has been widely expected to wait until the release of Intel's Skylake platform with DisplayPort 1.3 support later this year before releasing an external 5K Thunderbolt Display that will function over a single cable. Whether the inclusion of support for Dell's dual-cable solution in OS X 10.10.3 is a sign Apple may be willing to adopt that arrangement for its own display and perhaps release it earlier is, however, unclear.
Beyond 5K displays, OS X 10.10.3 has also expanded support for 4K displays to include "most single-stream 4K (3840x2160) displays" at 60 Hz, expanding beyond the previous support of only Multi-Stream Transport displays introduced in late updates to Mavericks. The new 4K display support will function with most of the Mac line, from the 27-inch iMac to the brand-new Retina MacBook. However, only the Mac Pro and iMac will support full 4096x2160 resolution at 60Hz.
With OS X Yosemite v10.10.3, most single-stream 4K (3840x2160) displays are supported at 60Hz operation on the following Mac computers:
- MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2015)
- MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014)
- Mac Pro (Late 2013)
- iMac (27-inch, Late 2013 and later)
- Mac mini (Late 2014)
- MacBook Air (Early 2015)
- MacBook (Retina, 12-inch, Early 2015)
As for the new 12-inch MacBook, the laptop will be able to support displays and rates of 3840x2160 at a 30 Hz refresh rate and 4096x2160 at a 24 Hz refresh rate. MacBook users wanting to use such a display will, of course, need to use Apple's USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter to do so.
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Top Rated Comments
Check your revision sticker on the back of your monitor. Dell did a silent update to that monitor to fix the issues you describe. They come from a buggy MST implementation - most 4k monitors shipped early on have that problem. If your revision is A00 call Dell support. They will need to replace the whole monitor for you. You'll get the A01 revision, which has that bug fixed.
As a bonus, you'll get a new stand (which doesn't sit on a weird angle)
One more thing: the P2415Q exists now. Much cheaper ($400) and doesn't use MST at all - so absolutely zero MST weirdness. Just like a normal monitor.
Dual 5k monitors on an intel M core.
That oughta be fun...
AFAIK they come in retail packaging.
Dell does not make you pay for shipping.
You could always sell the UP2414Q and get the P2415Q. That one fixes most of your complaints, doubly so the MST-related ones. It doesn't pretend to have a metal finish anymore, it doesn't have touch buttons. Just all together better. I say 'sell' as the UP2414Q is, for reasons passing my understanding, selling for more than the P2414Q's MSRP. Maybe people really want that 'metal' housing?
Oh, and the UP2414Q will never work right on non-2013 Mac Pros (no MST support), but the P2415Q will work on any Mac Pro with a DisplayPort 1.2 GPU (a MacVidCards 7950/7970 being among the cheapest ways to get one)
Plug and play.
Oh please. Dell's ports-on-back design predates that iMac even existing. Putting ports on the back of the display isn't even close to something Apple 'owns'. Apple may 'own' the ports facing straight out, I get that....but Dell displays have them facing down (an annoyance to anyone who needs to unplug something from their monitor)
Either way, that seems like a really silly thing to be screaming 'knockoff!' about.
I think you are wrong on this. Dell customer support for their high-end/pro monitors is equivalent to AppleCare/Apple customer support in my experience. I've personally had Dell go through 5 seperate monitors with me to make sure I found one with the gamut, lack of bleed, and angles I liked.
I've had just as many mfg defects in Apple products as Dell monitors and I've found both companies (with the exception of having to email Tim Cook to get something fixed once) easily stand behind their products. YMMV, but I think you may be an outlier there. Should have called Dell and gotten a new unit.
That's not what the article says: it says the Retina Macbook only supports 1 4K display up to 3840*2160 @30Hz.