Dual 4K Spectrum with M1 Pro/Max MBP compatibility

Products Spectrum ES07D03 | User Experiences
1

Looking to purchase two of these monitors to use with my 2021 M1 Pro MBP. Is there anybody out there with two of these and a new Mac and can confirm they work at 120Hz+? Hoping to use at least one over USB-C too for the power delivery.

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Just so you know, Monterey caused a lot of issues for folks, especially those who upgraded from previous versions of macOS. However, Grant (@Lore_Wonder ) told me recently that the most recent update to Monterey fixed the issues of limited refresh rates and resolution on his end.

But it would be good to have more community members to comment on your desired setup for dual Spectrum ES07D03 paired to your MBP.

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I have only one Spectrum connected via USB-C to my M1 Pro MBP and I have to say that the experience is very inconsistent. Even though the built-in fps counter kind of confirms a 144 Hz signal or a variable rate, I donā€™t get the same results on testufo.com. Most of the time I get 72 fps according to the ufo-test but sometimes the test reaches the maximum of 144 Hz.

I couldnā€™t find any reasons for this inconsistency so far, so I canā€™t tell by now if this is a problem on my end, the monitor, Mac OS or e.g. the browser (tested with chrome and safari).

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4

That is odd. I just checked on a PC, and it showed whatever I set the refresh rate to in Windows 11.

Just out of curiosity, are you on Monterey? Which version?

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Hi. Can I ask which display settings are you using on your Mac while connected to the Spectrum?

I have the M1 Pro MBP too but when I connect it, it leaves a strong burn-in on the screen and Iā€™m trying to figure out a combination of display settings that donā€™t cause this. When this issue happened I had set Variable Refresh Rate and Display P3.

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Yes, I am on Monterey 12.2.1.

@joresal

  • resolution: default for display
  • preset color profile ā€œES07D03ā€ there are three profiles with this name, I guess these are the profiles you can store yourself on spectrum
  • HDR on or off (works either way for me)
  • VRR on or off (experience is inconsistent as mentioned before)
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One other thing to note is that the UFO site also says Safari is not supported for higher refresh rates, so stick with Chrome, or a newer Fx build, and to close all other apps. Which means itā€™s probably best to perform the test in a ā€˜guestā€™ profile in chrome with no other windows / apps open.

Also, to test 144 Hz, I used the following test: TestUFO: Framerates

The count can be anything you want it to be, from 1-6, 2 or 3 should be more than sufficient. I just used the max for giggles. But I performed the test in Edge with ~ 60 tabs open and it was unstable as all get out, though my fps never changed. I moved to a Firefox profile with a few (~12) tabs open and it ran rock solid for 5 minutes straight without hiccupping once.

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8

Other than the blanking issues (which honestly makes this monitor a no-go IMHO) it works fine on my Macbook Pro 14" M1 Max.

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