How to use 4K displays and Ultra HD TVs with Mac
Learn which Macs can connect to 4K displays and Ultra HD TVs. Also, learn what the requirements are and how to set up and adjust your display or TV.
Supported displays and models
You can use 4K displays and Ultra HD TVs with the following Mac computers:
- MacBook Pro (Retina, Late 2013 and later)
- 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)
HDMI
You can use 4K displays and Ultra HD TVs at the following resolutions and refresh rates when connected via the built-in HDMI port:
- 3840×2160 with 30 Hz refresh rate
- 4096×2160 with 24 Hz refresh rate (mirroring is not supported at this resolution)
- MacBook (Retina, 12-inch, Early 2015) supports the displays and refresh rates listed above when connected to the display with a USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter.
Single-Stream (SST) Monitors
With OS X Mavericks v10.9.3 and later, the following DisplayPort displays are supported at their native resolution in single-stream transport on:
- Sharp PN-K321
- ASUS PQ321Q
- Dell UP2414Q
- Dell UP3214Q
- PANASONIC TC-L65WT600
With OS X Yosemite v10.10.3, most single-stream 4K (3840×2160) displays are supported at 60Hz on the following Mac computers:
- MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2015)
- MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014 and later)
- Mac Pro (Late 2013)
- iMac (27-inch, Late 2013 and later)
- MacBook Air (Early 2015)
With OS X Yosemite v10.10.3, most single-stream 4K (4096×2160) displays are supported at 60Hz on the following Mac computers:
- Mac Pro (Late 2013)
- iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014 and later)
- MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015) with AMD Radeon R9 M370X
Multi-stream Transport (MST) displays
These computers also support multi-stream displays (MST) at 60 Hz:
- MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013 and later)
- MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2015)
- Mac Pro (Late 2013)
- iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014 and later)
If you are using a 60Hz MST display with a MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013) or iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014), only one additional Thunderbolt display can be supported.
You will need to manually configure 4K displays to use MST. Follow the steps below to use the built-in display settings and 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 > Stream Setting > Auto
Your computer will automatically detect an MST-enabled display. However, your display may require a firmware update to support 60Hz operation. Contact your display vendor for details. If the specific DisplayPort display you are interested in is not listed above, contact the display manufacturer for compatibility information.
Dual-Cable Monitors
Some displays with resolutions above 4K require two DisplayPort cables to connect at full resolution. With OS X Yosemite v10.10.3 and above, the Dell UP2715K 27-inch 5K is supported on the following Mac computers:
- Mac Pro (Late 2013)
- iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014 and later)
- MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015) with AMD Radeon R9 M370X
Adjust Your Screen
From System Preferences > Displays you can adjust your screen resolution. With the appropriate settings, text and icons may appear larger or you may have more available space on the screen.
If you hover your mouse over the resolution options you will see more details about that option. To display the “Detect Displays” option, press the “Option” key. To see all available resolutions, hold down “Option” and click on the “Scaled” option. To see all available resolutions, hold down the Option key while clicking on the Scaled button.
If you change screen resolutions while mirroring 4K displays or Ultra HD TVs, some distortion may occur. Disable and re-enable mirroring to fix this. Get the best possible graphics performance from 4K displays by connecting the display or its dongle/adapter directly to your Mac, rather than through another peripheral or device.
