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I think the title says it all. Can I run two 4k (3840x2160) displays, both at 60hz on a Macbook Pro 13' 2015? I understand they might need to be SST and each connected to a Thunderbolt 2 port. But I cannot get a confirmation whether that setup would work.

https://support.apple.com/kb/SP719?locale=en_US says:

Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display and up to 3840 by 2160 pixels on up to two external displays, both at millions of colors. … Support for up to 5120-by-2880 resolution at 60Hz on a single external display (model with AMD Radeon R9 M370X only)

Unfortunately, it does not state at what frequency the two displays can be run.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206587 says:

With OS X Yosemite v10.10.3 and later, most single-stream 4K (3840x2160) > displays are supported at 60Hz operation on the following Mac computers: … MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2015) and later. MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014) and later

Unfortunately it does not state whether two displays can be run at 3840 by 2160 at 60hz

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    I also posted this question at the Apple Support Community: discussions.apple.com/thread/7802640
    – SomeBdyElse
    Commented Jan 13, 2017 at 13:48
  • @Tetsujin : I wonder why this question was marked as a duplicate. This question is 1 year, 8 months old. The other question "MacBook Pro - how many displays, what resolution/frequency?" is only 1 month old.
    – SomeBdyElse
    Commented Oct 6, 2018 at 8:26

2 Answers 2

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Assuming that you are using an Early 2015 MacBook Pro 13", it uses the Intel Iris 6100 chip.

From the review of the Intel Iris 6100 by NotebookCheck:

All Broadwell GPUs support OpenCL 2.0 and DirectX 12 (FL 11_1). The video engine can now decode H.265 using both fixed function hardware as well as available GPU shaders. Up to three displays can be connected via DP 1.2/eDP 1.3 (max. 3840 x 2160 @ 60 Hz) or HDMI 1.4a (max. 3840 x 2160 @ 24 Hz). HDMI 2.0, however, is not supported.

The capability is there to support up to 3 displays with a max resolution of 3840x2160 @ 60Hz.

You connect it via mDP (mini Display Port) through the Thunderbolt 2 port.

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  • Hey Allan! Thanks a bunch, that is the most substantial answer that I received so far (incl. Apple Support) :) I did read the writeup on the Intel Iris 6100. I just wonder whether the Thunderbolt 2 bus (Does such thing exist?) can handle the load. So far, I do not even know if the two Thunderbolt 2 ports are on the same or on two different busses.
    – SomeBdyElse
    Commented Jan 13, 2017 at 22:48
  • No problem. The TB2 bus (which exists) won't apply here. It's the DisplayPort signal that will apply. The DispayPort signals exist alongside the PCIe signals on the Thunderbolt bus. So, it has more than enough bandwidth.
    – Allan
    Commented Jan 14, 2017 at 0:34
  • Great! Thanks again. I accepted the answer. It will take .5year until I can plug the devices together and report first hand.
    – SomeBdyElse
    Commented Jan 14, 2017 at 21:37
  • I can confirm that it does, I am running 2 displays at 3840 x 2160 @ 60Hz on my Early 2015 MacBook Pro.
    – Alexander
    Commented Dec 29, 2017 at 19:44
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You certainly can:

Screenshot confirming MacBook Pro driving 2 Asus MG28U monitors at 3840x2160 Screenshot confirming MacBook Pro model (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2015, Intel Iris 6100 with 1536 MB of VRAM)

It's even at 60Hz, and supports HiDPI scaling:

Screenshot showing off support of HiDPI scaling

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    The refresh rate is not in your screen dumps.
    – Thorbjørn Ravn Andersen
    Commented Oct 25, 2018 at 11:37
  • @ThorbjørnRavnAndersen Indeed, but I can attest that it is indeed 60Hz.
    – Alexander
    Commented Oct 25, 2018 at 14:30
  • You may want to check apple.stackexchange.com/a/328340/3157
    – Thorbjørn Ravn Andersen
    Commented Oct 25, 2018 at 15:09
  • @ThorbjørnRavnAndersen Yes, I've seen before that it's 60Hz, from the System Profiler. But I don't have access to my 4K displays right now, so you'll have to take my word for it.
    – Alexander
    Commented Oct 25, 2018 at 15:32

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