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HDMI capped @ 1080p everywhere!? Whyyy??

Hi everyone! 

 

I am going out of my mind here with this damn HDMI and apparent 1080p capping. I know that some manufacturers limit their respective HDMI ports to 1080p, but I didn't think Dell was one of them in the case of the XPS One 27 Touch, because after all, the 27" panel in the XPS 2710 is a WQHD (2560x1440) display. Dell also advertises the fact that the HDMI spec used in the XPS 2710 is HDMI 1.4, which most definitely supports even 4K resolution.

 

At any rate, I have a late-2012 Mac mini, which has miniDisplayPort (as part of Thunderbolt) and HDMI for video out. Apple is one of those manufacturers that limits the HDMI output to 1920x1080 (1080p), so to get any higher resolution than 1080p, I have to go through DisplayPort. That's not a problem as far as the Mac is concerned, as I easily attain 2560x1440 with my 27" LED-backed IPS Apple Cinema Display.

 

I like both Macs and Windows machines and ever since Windows 8 came out, I've wanted a 27" touch-screen monitor and when I found a great deal for the high-end Core i7 version of the XPS 2710, I ordered one. I was lead to believe that it would be possible to use the XPS 2710 as a primary or secondary display, because it not only has HDMI out, but also HDMI IN. Needless to say, all I could get was a horrid looking Mac desktop in 1920x1080, no matter what I tried. Of course, the fact that a high-end PC made in 2013 would not have DisplayPort or DVI is somewhat tragic in and of itself.

 

At any rate, the fact that I can't get a dual-monitor setup in 2560x1440 working with these two monitors is extremely disappointing. And again, the problem does not lie with my Mac, because the HDMI port in my Mac mini drives my 1080p projector just perfectly, while at the same time driving my 27" Cinema Display at full 2560x1440 resolution. I wish I could connect the XPS 2710 in the same manner. #$%^&*( :(((((

 

And why is it that Dell even bothers with an HDMI IN port on the XPS 2710??? I am asking because any LCD's resolution other than its native (=highest) resolution scaled down will look grainy (=crappy).

 

Is there maybe a hack available that forces the HDMI IN port to accept 2560x1440? 

 

Thanks for any help! :)

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your cable may be holding it back. for example my one supports 4k but other older or cheaper ones may not. 

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I'm a bit confused

 

You said the mac limits hdmi output to 1080p, then said it was not a problem with your mac.

 

Am I right?

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A few things i would like to mention.

1. Make sure your HDMI cable is the 1.4 revision.

2. the dell XPS 2710 uses a mobile gpu, with that being said, i wouldn't call it a high end PC.

3. If your wanting to use this setup of yours for gaming, you may want to exercise different options. The mac mini using the integrated gpu in the cpu and the dell xps 2710 uses a mobile gpu, which wont be able to handle the resolution you are wanting to throw at it, if you are planning to do some gaming.

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You can get a thunderbolt to DVI adapter, or even a thunderbolt to HDMI

15" MBP TB

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You can get a thunderbolt to DVI adapter, or even a thunderbolt to HDMI

 

Thunderbold/miniDP to HDMI will still be limited to 1080/1200. HDMI needs to die. It's completely obsolete, what a pointless venture when it could have been displayport from the beginning.

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  • 3 months later...

Wow, you guys are great! Thanks so much for your help that I'm just now getting a chance to thank you for.

 

Just a few comments because this has not been resolved on a technological level. I ended up selling the XPS 27 One at a nice premium, so none of this matters anymore on a financial level. Still, I want to share my first-time experience with any Dell product and Dell support.

 

It seems to be that only the very senior support staff has any clue beyond answering calls requesting knowledge as to turn the darn thing on. (yes, exaggerating, but only a little) In fact, right before I sold the XPS 27 One, the next-generation Haswell refresh brings a new XPS One 27 with guess what, a Thunderbolt port!!! Which, of course, doubles as a Mini Displayport, and any form of Displayport has NO problem with 2560x1440! That right there would have solved my issue. So I call and keep getting transferred around and one technician, after giving up a little secret, which was that Dell itself capped the HDMI IN port at 1080p "with its own proprietary drivers". "Wow.", I thought. So I asked (well, begged is more accurate) if we could somehow swap it out and I would pay some kind of fee as well as shipping both ways, even though I had bought the XPS One 27 only a WEEK before...but not from Dell, which is why I asked that.

 

Simply declining my request was what I thought would happen but no, the Dell rep. let me know just how little they care about their customers when he said: "Well, why would we do that?" (exchanging my week-old system for the JUST-released one). "Because you care about your customers???" I yelled into the phone in disbelief.

 

Thunderbolt would have been SO nice, too, as I use Macs these days, but I used to be a ThinkPad fan, so I'm not at all anti-PC. So I wanted to dabble in Windows 8 and the whole touch thing, but boy was I disappointed.

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