What do I need to run 4k? Can I now?

Planning on getting this TV or an even bigger 4k TV to use a monitor. It will be maybe 3 feet from my eyes or more with plenty of table space between it and me.

What do I need to be able to use the monitor with my laptop?

I have a thinkpad yoga core i7
I have a dell precision m4800 with quadcore i7. What other info do you need to know?

In the past when I've connected monitors to a TV, the max resolution I see as options is 1080p. Would the same thing happen if I get a 4k tv and connected a laptop to it?

 

You likely won't get better with a 4K TV. What real life 4K sources are there? Broadcast TV is not. Streaming TV is not. Blu-Ray is not. Cable and Satellite is not, as they are down rezzed and compressed in real life.

 

In order to output to 4K, you'll need an HDTV that can accept DisplayPort or HDMI 2.0.

The problem with this is that a lot of 4K TV's don't have DisplayPort inputs. And a handful of laptops don't have DisplayPort (or mini-DP) outputs. The other option is HDMI 2.0, which almost every 4K HDTV will have. However, there aren't too many laptops that have HDMI 2.0 output, especially iff your laptop is over 1 year old.

So you'll want to make sure that you have the correct connectivity options to begin with, before even going down this path. Otherwise, you'll be stuck at 1080p resolution.

 

HDMI 1.4 can display 4k/30
DisplayPort 1.2 can display 4k/30

But it all depends on any limitations imposed by the laptop manufacturer or drivers, etc.

 

It's up to 4K 60Hz 10bit for DP 1.2.

 

Thanks, I did mean to put 4k/60 for DP 1.2. In any case there are artificial limitations put on the display output by Intel or OEM's for some reason.

 

You'll need HDMI 2.0 to display 4k @ 60hz @ 4:4:4 chroma on these TVs.

With HDMI 1.4, you can do 4k @ 60hz on an nvidia card but it will be running at 4:2:0 chroma so some aspects on the display won't look right(some text won't be right, colors etc.)

I don't even think the mobile 970M/980M do HDMI 2.0 on all laptops right now, only a select few. A desktop GTX 960/970/980/980Ti/Titan X are the only cards I know of that can do 4k @ 60hz 4:4:4 through their HDMI port.

Both of your laptops will likely run @ 4k @ 30hz, which imo isn't worth it. The mouse will lag, only 24/30fps content will look right, while games and such will look like they're lagging.

You can always reduce the resolution to 1080p when you need 60hz, which by the way looks amazing on these 4k panels(at least on my samsung 4k tv).

 

I wanted to just add, that 4K@30 hz isn’t that bad for the desktop and just browsing. If you are sensitive to it you may not like it otherwise the extra space can be helpful. You may be able to game a little too depending on the game and what you consider fluid.

One more thing to add to the poster above about still being able to do 1080p gaming @60. I was able to do 2560x1440@60 as well for an in between resolution at 60 hz. However some may not like the non-native resolution. I use it even today when I want more than 1080 but can’t quite do 4k (and some games don’t go to 4k but will do 2560).

 

There's a use for it. I would not have any problem playing Cities Skylines at 4K 30Hz for example. The cursor would be jumpy but it's playable.

At 4K for a laptop not using native is not that much of a deal as long as you're looking at something moving. Static picture is still a problem.