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I have an ultrawide monitor that's 3840 X 1200. It works perfectly fine with my windows laptop.

I now need to connect my work MacBook Pro provided to me, but under the list of resolutions (and extended hidden resolutions) none of them come close.

Is it a matter of the cable I'm using? I'm using a HDMI cable with a usb-c adaptor on the end to connect it to the MacBook.

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  • How do you connect it to the windows laptop?
    – Thorbjørn Ravn Andersen
    Commented Oct 19, 2020 at 10:23
  • Cheap cables and adapters can ruin an otherwise compatible monitor in my experience. I’ve listed one vendor if you don’t want to buy adapters from Apple in my answer.
    – bmike ♦
    Commented Oct 22, 2020 at 20:53

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Besides the other answer, you might have better results with a DisplayPort cable if your monitor supports it. My 3440x1440 monitor for instance works at 100hz with DisplayPort and only 60hz with HDMI.

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    I pretty much guarantee that you'll get better results with a DisplayPort cable as you don't have to convert from the native DisplayPort signal from the Mac. No conversion = better reliability!
    – Allan
    Commented Oct 22, 2020 at 17:28
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Yes, the cable is very important. Some HDMI cables do not support a 4k display signal at all, and some only at a lower refresh rate of 30 Hz. You definitely want a version 2.0 or higher HDMI cable capable of support 4k at 60 Hz.

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I usually follow along this closely and have excellent success.

Once you confirm how the display works and how you want to convert it to Thunderbolt 3 you can shop for adapters / cables and get rolling. The current (2019/2020) hardware can run one 6K, one 5K, or up to two 4K displays (or better).

As for specifics I tend to choose high quality adapters and cables. Monoprice is excellent value if you want to save on what Apple sells online for HDMI or choose a display port cable for your specific display.

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