For a 15" 2016 MBP – are there any USB-C monitors out there, other than the LG ones that Apple sells, that are worth considering? While I don’t currently have a gaming PC, I do have Windows installed on my Mac and would like to pick up something that will work well for gaming but will primarily be used to give me more screen real estate for the various programming tasks that I do (usually in MacOS).
I’ve been eyeballing this but it looks like it’s still a few months out:
Anybody know of a similar monitor, ideally that can be driven in MacOS and Windows 10 through the USB-C port? (I haven’t had a ton of luck with HDMI converters on this machine…)
This Dell is the price/performance champion, coming in at $476. It delivers 45w of power to your laptop, which is enough to fully charge a 13" MBP and will slowly charge a 15" MBP. All on the same cable that also sends video signals to the laptop and connects to its hub with 2 USB-A, 1 USB-C, and a HDMI port as well. This monitor doesn’t connect over thunderbolt so don’t expect those ports to be fast. Finally, it is only 1440p so not a high-DPI display.
Upscale a bit, LG has a 4K 27" monitor with USB-C connectivity as well coming in at $700. It does support freesync for gaming, and will charge the 15" MBP at 60w, still not full speed but faster than the Dell. It also acts as a hub with 2 USB-A ports on the rear. Again, no thunderbolt so don’t expect USB 3.0 speeds.
As an alternative, I would suggest picking up a nice Thunderbolt 3 dock, which provides a shitton of USB, audio, ethernet, etc, ports and native displayport out. This one is the Wirecutter’s pick and also charges the MBP at 60w. Then buy whatever monitor you want. You can actually connect a second displayport or HDMI monitor to this dock natively on its daisychain TB3 port with an adapter. Natively means it won’t use up any of the USB bandwidth.
I have the LG 5k at work because I wasn’t spending my own money. If I was, I would have purchased the dock and two normal 4k 27" monitors.
Awesome, thanks, @stusser! I have a love/hate relationship with the USB-C. I really like it and really want to use it, but peripheral support is… not quite there yet.
If I get the Dell you linked and connect it via USB-C – and the laptop also is connected to power via USB-C, I assume the laptop is intelligent enough not to draw too much power, since it’s being fed juice through two separate connections? Or, with the monitor connected, is it then unnecessary to have the laptop connected to power otherwise? FWIW, my current setup is with a monitor that doesn’t power the laptop, so I usually leave it connected to its power cord when it’s connected to the external monitor.
Looks like non-OC korean 144hz monitors are starting to show up.
IPS, 144hz, FreeSync, ~300$, 1440p: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2sVe90hTA8
Amazon re-seller is sold out after the video, but more will have to be coming soon.
When I’m in MacOS, all is great on the USB-C connection for the display. However, when I boot into Bootcamp and Windows 10, Windows is unable to drive the monitor at its native resolution and refresh rate unless it’s connected via HDMI. I installed the drivers from the Dell website, etc., but no luck, so I had to go back to the dongle and HDMI. Any ideas about tricks to get it to work? It does display over USB-C but Windows says there’s a link error and that it cannot show the recommended resolution.
So I did both of these things. Dell told me, and I quote, “It’s a plug and play device so the problem isn’t ours. You have to contact Mac support.” Ok…
Considering it works perfectly in MacOS, it has to be some type of Windows driver issue. All my drivers are up-to-date (bootcamp, graphics, monitor, etc.) so maybe it’s some USB-C port degradation when running in Windows with the bootcamp drivers?
It works fine in Windows with an USB-C to HDMI adapter. This is what I see when I plug it in via USB-C in Windows. Any ideas?
Edit: Oh you already tried that… maybe try forcing a lower resolution? If not, and Dell won’t support it, time to return the monitor and get one of the docking stations I suggested.
Yeah – I haven’t decided what to do yet. I don’t think it’s the monitor’s fault and frankly, I don’t spend a lot of time in Windows. I might just get a USB-C to HDMI cable and see if that works well in both. The market for USB-C devices isn’t quite mature yet, unfortunately. Seems strange that it’s taking so long.
Also: How the F did we go from this notion of a universal USB-C to having the several different variants that exist? Not only do you have to check the devices, but you also have to check the cables as to whether they support power, thunderbolt 3, display, etc. etc.
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