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Hesslor

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 6, 2019
2
0
Hello everyone,

I have an LG 25UM58-P monitor, which I currently use with a Windows 10 PC. The monitor's full native resolution is 2560x1080p, and it is a 25", 21:9 monitor with only two HDMI 2.0 ports. Here's the link to it on LG's website: https://www.lg.com/us/monitors/lg-25UM58-P-ultrawide-monitor

I am probably going to purchase an i5 13.3" Macbook Pro 2018 (the Touch Bar version) with no upgrades: https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/macbook-pro/13-inch-space-gray-256gb-2.3ghz-quad-core

I would like to somehow connect my MBP to my LG monitor, using the monitor as an external display for the MBP. I have several questions about how this would work, listed below, with my main questions underlined.

1. Can the MBP scale up to ultrawide (21:9) resolutions?

2. If the MBP can scale to ultrawide, and I connect it to my LG monitor, will the full 2560x1080p native resolution of the LG monitor be maintained, or will it be lowered, or somehow degraded?

3. If the MBP cannot scale up to any ultrawide resolution, and I connect it to my LG monitor, will the monitor display the MBP at a 1920x1080p resolution? I assume this means there would be black bars on the far left and right sides of the monitor, because nothing would be displayed in those areas of the monitor.

4. I will need some form of adapter to connect the MBP and LG monitor. The adapter has to have a USB-C plug on one end and an HMDI 2.0 plug on the other. I am unsure about what the actual data transfer capabilities of the adapter should be. I understand that all the USB-C ports on the MBP support Thunderbolt 3, DisplayPort, and USB 3.1 Gen 2. I also understand that Thunderbolt 3 is backwards compatible with several other connectors, and that there are several generations of DisplayPort, as well as DisplayPort Mini. I am unsure how to sort out the differences between plug shape, actual data transfer capability, and generation of the adapter. How should I chose my adapter?

5. On the Technical Specifications page for the MBP (https://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/specs/) there is a "Display" section, which lists, among other display specifications, three "Supported Scaled Resolutions." There is also a section titled "Video Support," which lists various supported full native resolutions for external displays. I am unsure how these two sections relate to each other and if their information is important for my situation.

I hope my questions are clear. If there are any terms I am using incorrectly, or terms I have not used but would be more accurate in describing what I have written, please feel free to correct me, as this would make this process more efficient (I also like to learn).

Thank you.
 

cynics

macrumors G4
Jan 8, 2012
11,959
2,155
1. Yes

2. Full

3. Shouldn't be a concern

4. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B073H9RG9T/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 That is the cable I use for a 2018 MBP 13" w/ TB to screen for a 4k@60hz 10 bit (UHD). Its USB-C to HDMI connectors and have the more than enough bandwidth for your requirements.

5. Doesn't effect your situation. But native resolution is the hardware, adjusting the resolution of a display off its native resolution (lower resolution so text gets larger and you can read it better for example) causes a mismatch between the image resolution and the hardware resolution. This can make a screen look blurry, blurrier than the resolution would normally look natively. Displays always look best at their native resolution. Scaling is just the software solution to this to use the native resolution but scale the data being sent to the display. Again something you can play with if you need it when you get it but irrelevant for your concerns.

Good luck!
 
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