YouTuber, Stephen, on the Connect Your MacBook Pro to Your Desktop Monitor with Monoprice Cables video asks:
I’m currently using every avail thunder bolt and USB port with external devices, and the HDMI port is presently used for a cheap monitor, which I’d like to upgrade. Thus the question is this. Can I get 4K through the HDMI so as to run a better monitor. My eyesight has never been great, and I’d love to find a 27”- 32” monitor with high resolution, ( I record and edit audio through Logic Pro X). I’ve bought cables from Mono Price and was wondering if their ‘brand-monitors’ are a good solution for my situation? Thanks for responding btw, and much appreciated.
You can connect a 4K monitor to the HDMI port on your Mac if your specific Mac will support it. Check Apple’s specs for your specific Mac Model.
I googled “Apple 2015 Macbook Pro 15 specs” and found this page on support.apple.com, MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2015) – Technical Specifications
Check the specs there and you’ll see the HDMI port will support 4K resolution at (3840 x 2160 ) at 30fps. So while it will work, the 30fps refresh rate is not ideal. It’s really too slow so you may not like the results.
To get the best performance from such a monitor, you’d be better off connecting it to one of the ThunderBolt/Mini-Display ports. If those ports are in use, you may want to add a thunderbolt dock to one port to help open up the other.
On a side, note, I use a 32 In 4K Dell monitor on my new M1 Mac Mini, this one.