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Ugly
Fishy Cool Bird
join:2001-12-12
The Meadow

Ugly

Member

[MacBook Pro 13"] Can it drive the big HD TV monitor?

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This avian fan of the 13-inch MacBook Pro, 2.5GHz with Retina display asks a technical question on its capabilities.

My nest has a big screen HD TV with an HDMI input & cable. ~ The MacBook has an HDMI output (see photo).

Q: Can the MacBook drive the TV via an HDMI input please?

It would be great to take the puter with me on road yet have the big screen at home. ~ Has anyone done this?

Thank you, Ugly

HiVolt
Premium Member
join:2000-12-28
Toronto, ON

HiVolt

Premium Member

It can, easily.

Ctrl Alt Del
Premium Member
join:2002-02-18

Ctrl Alt Del to Ugly

Premium Member

to Ugly
Yes.

In fact the 13" MBPr can drive two external displays and its built in screen all at the same time. You can connect one TV via HDMI and another TV using a Thunderbolt to HDMI converter like this one: »www.monoprice.com/produc ··· format=2

cableties
Premium Member
join:2005-01-27

cableties to Ugly

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to Ugly
Via the tech specs?

"Dual display and video mirroring: Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display and up to 2560 by 1600 pixels on up to two external displays, at millions of colors"
Daemon
Premium Member
join:2003-06-29
Washington, DC

Daemon to Ugly

Premium Member

to Ugly
Even 1080p is far fewer pixels than the retina display is. The video card can handle it, no problem, as others have mentioned.

Metatron2008
You're it
Premium Member
join:2008-09-02
united state

Metatron2008

Premium Member

The 'big' hdtv only does 1080p. That's 1920x1080, which is easy to drive.

It probably can also run games from this year at md to high settings at 1080p...

not
@comcast.net

not

Anon

said by Metatron2008:

The 'big' hdtv only does 1080p. That's 1920x1080, which is easy to drive.

It probably can also run games from this year at md to high settings at 1080p...

Not if the games require a dedicated video card. The 13" Retina or not, doesn't have dedicated standalone video, so games that require a hefty video card won't run them or run them very well.

Metatron2008
You're it
Premium Member
join:2008-09-02
united state

Metatron2008

Premium Member

The nvidia 650m used in the macbook pro can hold its own. I don't know where you got your info..

Ctrl Alt Del
Premium Member
join:2002-02-18

Ctrl Alt Del

Premium Member

All 13 inch MBPs only have an Intel HD Graphics 4000. You have to step up to a 15 inch MBP for the NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M.

»www.apple.com/macbook-pr ··· -retina/

Mike
Mod
join:2000-09-17
Pittsburgh, PA

Mike to Ugly

Mod

to Ugly
A 11" air (Intel 4000) is driving two 27" Cinema Displays. The only thing that matters is the amount of pixels.

Ugly
Fishy Cool Bird
join:2001-12-12
The Meadow

Ugly

Member

I really have no idea how to compare the two video cards (Intel HD Graphics 4000 vs. NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M).

Are there some measurements? ~ Someone mentioned pixels.

How many pixels for each please?

This is very confusing! ~ Argh

RiseAbove
Premium Member
join:2004-01-30

RiseAbove to Mike

Premium Member

to Mike
said by Mike:

A 11" air (Intel 4000) is driving two 27" Cinema Displays. The only thing that matters is the amount of pixels.

How can it drive two cinema displays? I own an 11" macbook air (2012 variant) and it has one Thunderbolt port out. Which can be used with a regular display port enabled monitor or a thunderbolt enabled display. It also does not have enough power to daisy chain thunderbolt monitors so how is suppose to run two 27" cinema displays?
kitsune
join:2001-11-26
Sacramento, CA

kitsune to Ugly

Member

to Ugly
specs: »support.apple.com/kb/SP650 says it only has dual display support
Kearnstd
Space Elf
Premium Member
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ

Kearnstd to Ugly

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to Ugly
the video cards in something like a MBA are not that important. I am doubting the MBA or even the 13" rMBP has the general thermal properties that one would even want to try and force hard core gaming down on it. Or even GPU rendering from Blender's Cycles renderer.

However it will have no issues doing what it does while having a great looking picture.

not
@comcast.net

not to Ugly

Anon

to Ugly
said by Ugly:

I really have no idea how to compare the two video cards (Intel HD Graphics 4000 vs. NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M).

Are there some measurements? ~ Someone mentioned pixels.

How many pixels for each please?

This is very confusing! ~ Argh

It's not a matter of pixels, it's a matter of computations per second and memory bandwidth. For what you're wanting to do, you don't need to worry about this. If you were playing heavy graphics based games, you'd want a laptop with a dedicated video card chipset as opposed to an integrated one. (i.e. the 15" MacBook Pro vs the 13" one.) Even then, it wouldn't be a matter of it you could play it on the big screen or just the laptop screen itself. That's not a limiting factor (i.e. output of the signal to different screen sizes based on physical size). The limiting factor is how quickly it can render the required frame to form an animation at fast enough frame rates so that whatever is displayed doesn't seem choppy.

Just hook up your laptop to your TV and be done with it already. It'll work just fine for what you want to do. Also, there's no TV in the consumer market at the moment that has a greater resolution than 1080. The integrated Intel video card in the 13" can drive that resolution without any issues.

skeechan
Ai Otsukaholic
Premium Member
join:2012-01-26
AA169|170

3 edits

skeechan to RiseAbove

Premium Member

to RiseAbove
Displays aren't bus powered. Power requirements aren't the problem but the MBA only supports 1 external monitor (dual display including the build in panel). But the HD4000 itself in the rMBP can drive it's internal 2560x1600 panel plus 2 external T-Bolt displays at 2560x1440 each.
skeechan

skeechan to Ugly

Premium Member

to Ugly
The 650M is significantly faster.

»www.videocardbenchmark.n ··· +HD+4000

RiseAbove
Premium Member
join:2004-01-30

RiseAbove to skeechan

Premium Member

to skeechan
said by skeechan:

Displays aren't bus powered. Power requirements aren't the problem but the MBA only supports 1 external monitor (dual display including the build in panel). But the HD4000 itself in the rMBP can drive it's internal 2560x1600 panel plus 2 external T-Bolt displays at 2560x1440 each.

I know all of that read what I quoted. THe person stated that an 11" air can run two 27" displays. I was correcting them. You are correct through about rMBP.

Ctrl Alt Del
Premium Member
join:2002-02-18

1 recommendation

Ctrl Alt Del

Premium Member

Click for full size
2012 11-inch MBA driving 3 displays
said by RiseAbove:

said by skeechan:

Displays aren't bus powered. Power requirements aren't the problem but the MBA only supports 1 external monitor (dual display including the build in panel). But the HD4000 itself in the rMBP can drive it's internal 2560x1600 panel plus 2 external T-Bolt displays at 2560x1440 each.

I know all of that read what I quoted. THe person stated that an 11" air can run two 27" displays. I was correcting them. You are correct through about rMBP.

You both are incorrect about the 2012 MacBook Air. The 2011 could only drive 1 external monitor. But as of 2012, here's the breakdown:

15-inch Retina MacBook Pro can drive 4 displays, 3 external displays plus the internal monitor: »appleinsider.com/article ··· monitors

13-inch Retina MacBook Pro can drive 3 displays, 2 external displays plus the internal monitor.

The 2012 11-inch MacBook Air can drive 3 displays, 2 external displays plus the internal monitor: »arstechnica.com/apple/20 ··· onitors/

skeechan
Ai Otsukaholic
Premium Member
join:2012-01-26
AA169|170

skeechan

Premium Member

Huh, Apple claims different.
said by Apple :
Dual display and video mirroring: Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display and up to 2560 by 1600 pixels on an external display, both at millions of colors.
Cool. It did surprise me that Apple would say that MBA with the same HD4000 as the rMBP would drive "an external" instead of the 2 it claims for that rMBP.

Ctrl Alt Del
Premium Member
join:2002-02-18

Ctrl Alt Del

Premium Member

Apple needs to clarify their own tech specs pages, because there are people running two Thunderbolt displays and the internal off a 2012 MBA.

skeechan
Ai Otsukaholic
Premium Member
join:2012-01-26
AA169|170

skeechan

Premium Member

It's probably like some of the RAM capacity specs...it can do it but it isn't "supported". Maybe Apple's T-Bolts displays work while other displays end up not, or flickering on and off (like my Dell did with the T-Bold to dual link adapter).

Ugly
Fishy Cool Bird
join:2001-12-12
The Meadow

Ugly to skeechan

Member

to skeechan
said by skeechan:

The 650M is significantly faster.

»www.videocardbenchmark.n ··· +HD+4000

The unit of measure is unclear.

0.486 vs. 1.2 This makes little sense as a numeric comparison w/o a benchmark.

Is the difference really a multiple of 2 & 1/2 (x2.5) times?

Ctrl Alt Del
Premium Member
join:2002-02-18

Ctrl Alt Del

Premium Member

Ugly See Profile, there are only two big areas where you care about the graphics card: fullscreen games and photo/video editing. If you play Team Fortress 2 or Deus Ex or use Final Cut or Avid, then you will want a more powerful graphics card. Otherwise the Intel graphics card will drive multiple displays, play HD video, and run everything just fine for your usage.

Ugly
Fishy Cool Bird
join:2001-12-12
The Meadow

Ugly

Member

said by Ctrl Alt Del:

Ugly See Profile, there are only two big areas where you care about the graphics card: fullscreen games and photo/video editing. If you play Team Fortress 2 or Deus Ex or use Final Cut or Avid, then you will want a more powerful graphics card. Otherwise the Intel graphics card will drive multiple displays, play HD video, and run everything just fine for your usage.

I NEVER play video games. I remember that my last time in the arcade there was a black n white game called 'Asteroids.'

Now the arcade is closed and I just never cared again.

And I do not do photo or video editing either.

So the video card makes little difference, except for the price
Ugly

Ugly to Ctrl Alt Del

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to Ctrl Alt Del
Awesome post. Thank you!

edit: The one with the photo of three displays, I mean.