1

As my corporate laptop is getting near the end of its lifecycle I'm considering replacing it with a Surface Pro 4. I have many roles in my company from on-site sales and external presentations to management and development, and it seems to be the ideal combination device to fill all roles. Due to all the roles I need real estate on my screens though, I would therefore like to maintain a similar setup as I'm using now. I have a full HD 17" laptop docked in the middle at work, with 2 24" 1920x1200 monitors on both sides.

Ideally I would replace this with the Surface Pro flat in the middle, and 3 QHD (3840x2160) monitors in row behind. Alternatively I could use only 2 QHD monitors, one in the middle, and the SP4 itself in upright position next to it.

Is the GPU in the SP4 capable of running either of these setups, so 2 or 3 external QHD screens, optionally with the SP4 itself as 3rd or 4th? Would I need one of the higher CPUs to be able to run them?

(related question here indicates the SP3 only supports a single external 4K screen, so I'm skeptical)

Community
  • 1
Niels Keurentjes
  • 123
  • 11
  • SP4 can only push 2 4K monitors with the docking station. That information is in every article on the device. – Ramhound Oct 15 '15 at 21:40
  • I think you're referring to the fact that a few articles mention that the docking station has 2 4K-capable DisplayPort connections. None of them mention daisychaining and whether the main display can then only run in mirror. DisplayPort 1.3 can [run 2 UHD monitors](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DisplayPort#1.3) daisychained on a single port, so the question is quite valid what the SP4 GPU can push. I don't care about the number of ports. – Niels Keurentjes Oct 16 '15 at 06:26
  • SP3 has displayport 1.3 and therefore can daisychain 2 monitors. The iGPU capabiltiies between the SP3 and SP4 didn't realy change by a significant amount. – Ramhound Oct 16 '15 at 09:45

1 Answers1

0

I use the Surface Pro 4 with two additional 4K Monitors (Dell 2718Q). It's important to know that two 4K connected to the dock only works with 30Hz. Therefore one Monitor must be connected to the DisplayPort.

So the maximum setup I'm using is with 3 Monitor (never tested a 4th using dailsychain):

  • 2x 4K Monitors at QHD (3840x2160)(one on the Dock, one on the mini-DP)
  • 1x Internal Monitor (2736x1824)

More monitors I haven't connected yet - using the second Dock connector would throw you back to 30 Hz (which is a no-go in my case) - so maybe DaisyChain on the mini-DP would be worth a try.

FiveO
  • 8,228
  • 12
  • 48
  • 77