Confirmed: 2015 MacBook Air Supports 4K Displays at 60Hz

Apple’s MacBook Air (early 2015) supports 4K output at 60 Hz, according to test results from Ars Technica, contradicting the official tech specs page.

In case you are hesitating over buying this year’s MacBook Air model due to its lack of support for 4K displays, you may want to reconsider. After seeing Apple’s official tech spec page, Andrew Cunningham of Ars Technica was sure that the company was wrong, so he quickly looked into the matter. He analysed Intel’s Broadwell documentation and started testing the latest Apple laptops.

As it turns out, the current-generation MacBook Air and Pro have the right hardware configuration to make 60 Hz output a reality. Although Apple says the Air supports only a maximum resolution of 2560 × 1600, the reality is that “Intel’s Broadwell-U processors and their integrated GPUs support output of up to 3840 × 2160 at 60 Hz when connected using DisplayPort 1.2.”

Earlier versions of the Air and Pro did not support DisplayPort 1.2. This year’s models, however, include Thunderbolt 2, which explicitly supports it. The tests Andrew performed all confirm that Apple has made an error on its tech spec page. You can read more about his tests here.