UglyFishy Cool Bird join:2001-12-12 The Meadow |
Ugly
Member
2012-Dec-18 9:36 pm
[MacBook Pro 13"] Can it drive the big HD TV monitor?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 |
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HiVolt Premium Member join:2000-12-28 Toronto, ON |
HiVolt
Premium Member
2012-Dec-18 9:39 pm
It can, easily. |
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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 |
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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" |
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Daemon Premium Member join:2003-06-29 Washington, DC |
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. |
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Metatron2008You're it Premium Member join:2008-09-02 united state |
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... |
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not @comcast.net |
not
Anon
2012-Dec-20 5:49 am
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. |
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Metatron2008You're it Premium Member join:2008-09-02 united state |
The nvidia 650m used in the macbook pro can hold its own. I don't know where you got your info.. |
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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/ |
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Mike Mod join:2000-09-17 Pittsburgh, PA |
to Ugly
A 11" air (Intel 4000) is driving two 27" Cinema Displays. The only thing that matters is the amount of pixels. |
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UglyFishy Cool Bird join:2001-12-12 The Meadow |
Ugly
Member
2012-Dec-25 10:06 pm
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 |
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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? |
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kitsune join:2001-11-26 Sacramento, CA |
to Ugly
specs: » support.apple.com/kb/SP650 says it only has dual display support |
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KearnstdSpace Elf Premium Member join:2002-01-22 Mullica Hill, NJ |
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. |
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not @comcast.net |
not to Ugly
Anon
2012-Dec-26 3:48 am
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. |
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skeechanAi Otsukaholic Premium Member join:2012-01-26 AA169|170 3 edits |
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. |
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skeechan |
to Ugly
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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. |
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1 recommendation |
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 ··· monitors13-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/ |
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skeechanAi Otsukaholic Premium Member join:2012-01-26 AA169|170 |
skeechan
Premium Member
2012-Dec-26 3:30 pm
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. |
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Apple needs to clarify their own tech specs pages, because there are people running two Thunderbolt displays and the internal off a 2012 MBA. |
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skeechanAi Otsukaholic Premium Member join:2012-01-26 AA169|170 |
skeechan
Premium Member
2012-Dec-27 1:13 am
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). |
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UglyFishy Cool Bird join:2001-12-12 The Meadow |
to skeechan
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? |
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Ugly , 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. |
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UglyFishy Cool Bird join:2001-12-12 The Meadow |
Ugly
Member
2012-Dec-30 5:11 pm
said by Ctrl Alt Del:Ugly , 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 |
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Ugly |
to Ctrl Alt Del
Awesome post. Thank you!
edit: The one with the photo of three displays, I mean. |
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