What kind of performance can I expect from Mid 2015 Macbook pro connected to two external 4k displays — I mostly do development?

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  •  02-06-2021
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Question

I have a Mid 2015 Macbook pro.

It is currently connected to two 1080p external monitors (I don't use the built in display).

I am thinking of upgrading to two 4k external monitors - I use my macbook pro as a big Terminal server for development - all the processing is done externally on the cloud or on a virtualization box I have sitting next to my macbook pro.

Question: Can my macbook pro handle the 4k displays

I have noted a significant degradation in performance of late with all the Zoom and similar apps I have to use in this new world of virtual teams.

Detailes Specs

  1. MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015)
  2. 2.8GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 (Turbo Boost up to 4.0GHz) with 6MB shared L3 cache.
  3. 2.5GHz - 512GB Intel Iris Pro Graphics
  4. AMD Radeon R9 M370X with 2GB of GDDR5 memory and automatic graphics switching
Was it helpful?

Solution

EveryMac.com reports that:

This model can support a single external display up to 5120x2160 at 60 Hz via Thunderbolt 2. Via HDMI video output, it can support 1080p up to 60 Hz, 3840x2160 at 30 Hz, and 4096x2160 at 24 Hz.

So you could have one 4K via Thunderbolt and one 4K via HDMI.

Two 4K displays are at least within spec, but whether it can 'handle' them, in terms of heat generation/dissipation and performance load, while performing other tasks, remains to be seen. (Discrete GPUs on MacBook Pros have a chequered history in terms of reliability.)

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