Macbook Pro Retina 15″ Mid-2015 and Ultrawide Monitors (LG and Acer)

displaydisplayportmacbook prothunderbolt

I'd like to be able to use a 38" ultrawide LG 38Uc99-W monitor or the Acer XR382CQK with my 15" Mid-2015 Retina Macbook Pro with an Intel GPU (not the Radeon).

Here are the specs for my Macbook Pro: https://support.apple.com/kb/sp719?locale=en_US

Here are the specs for the LG monitor: http://www.lg.com/us/monitors/lg-38UC99-W-ultrawide-monitor

Here are the specs for the Acer monitor: https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/model/UM.TX2AA.001

My understanding is that the Thunderbolt 2 digital video port can connect to the DisplayPort 1.2 on the monitor and that the Macbook can drive the 3840 x 1600 monitor. In fact, it can drive two of these displays.

Is this the correct cable to connect the laptop to the monitor: http://a.co/6p9WBrV?

Is this correct? Am I missing anything?

Best Answer

Yes, Thunderbolt 2 is indeed compatible with DisplayPort 1.2. On top of that you should have no issue running a resolution of 3840x1600 on an external monitor via your MacBook. You will likely have to set the resolution manually though. After connecting the monitor, just head to System Preferences>Display>Your Monitor and hold option while clicking the "Scaled" radio-button to show a full list of available resolutions.

However do be wary that Night Shift is not officially compatible with any displays besides the internal Mac displays, the Apple Thunderbolt Monitor, and the LG UltraFine 4K/5K monitors. There is a common problem on unsupported external monitors where Night Shift will become permanently enabled, and will even stop Night Shift's scheduling and intensity settings from working properly on the Mac's internal monitor. I wrote a guide about fixing this by tricking your Mac into thinking your external monitor is internal. This will also prevent another problem where some external monitors get stuck in mirroring mode on newer versions of macOS. You can find that here: Fixing Night Shift incompatibility with external monitors