4k External Monitor higher resolution question

[tudorh]

Hello,

I have an older (2018ish) Lenovo laptop which has both Intel HD Graphics 530 and Nvidia GeForce GTX 950M graphics and I recently received a new 4k monitor for work.

I have connected the laptop to the monitor using an HDMI cable and would like to bump up the resolution from 1920x1080 higher so that I have more screen real estate on the new 4k monitor.

Is there any way for me to do this using my graphics options? 

I tried using the Intel HD Graphics Control Panel to create a custom resolution for the monitor but I am getting an error when saving the custom resolution "The custom resolution exceeds the maximum bandwidth capacity". Is there anything else I can do to increase the resolution?

I've read lots of posts talking about muxers and different types of HDMI cables but I can't figure out if I should even try to go down that route or if with my setup higher resolution just isn't supported.

Thanks for the help in advance!

[n_scott_pearson]

Intel HD Graphics 530? That was released in (6th gen) Skylake processors in like 2015. Same goes for the Nvidia GeForce GTX 950M; it was released in 2015 timeframe as well.

Regardless, we can continue...

It's unclear whether the HDMI interface in your laptop is supported by the iGFX or dGFX solution. If it's the iGFX solution - which only has support for HDMI 1.4 - then the very best you could possibly do is 4K@30Hz. You should not have to create any custom resolution (anything higher isn't going to work anyway).

Hope this answers the questions,

...S

[megan3000]

If I may join this... besides the HD Graphics 530 on this 6th gen CPU can support 4K @ 30Hz, are sure your HDMI port supports higher than 1920x1080?

You may not believe it, but there are still manufacturers that "limit" higher resolutions for external displays... (I don't understand why)...

For instance, this Lenovo laptop with 10th gen CPU (a CPU that supports 4K @ 60Hz), but Lenovo says on its specs that "HDMI supports up to 1920x1080@60H " 😒🙄

https://psref.lenovo.com/syspool/Sys/PDF/IdeaPad/IdeaPad_3_15IIL05/IdeaPad_3_15IIL05_Spec.PDF

PD: I have seen several others like that, since I checked a lot of specs when doing my research when buying a new laptop or when helping family/friends to choose one...