According to some people I've spoken to, I should have unplugged and ran off batteries more often to prevent that from happening - so will have to make a trip to the Apple store to get it sorted. The only issue I have right now is that the batteries have started to swell - which for a two year old machine with only 33 cycles on the battery is a bit disappointing. While I am tempted by the additional power of a iMac or Mac Pro, I don't think I'll ever switch back to a desktop based solution - unless the day comes where I have more money than sense! I did have a third external 23" Acer Monitor running off the HDMI port but it died (the monitor) and I haven't got around to replacing it. I have a 27" iMac running in target display mode on my right and a 27" Acer monitor to my left - both running off the Thunderbolt 2/Mini Display ports.
My setup is the MacBook right in front of me - I like the combination of Keyboard and trackpad plus a Logitech bluetooth mouse. I switched from a 27" 2012 iMac to a 15" MacBook pro (mid 2015, bought in august 2016). If you want portability where you might be working in a coffee shop, you need a MBP. If you need portability but only rarely, the new Mac Mini looks tempting if you can guarantee a power supply, mouse, keyboard and monitor wherever you go. If you need no portability, then get an iMac. When I had it docked to my dual 1440p monitors at home, it struggled even in clamshell mode. I used to keep it in clamshell mode because it had fewer pixels to push.
The disadvantage is that the 13" does not have dedicated graphics and struggled to power both itself and the dual 1080p monitors I had at work. That's harder to do with a Mac Mini because it's not a laptop, and much harder with an iMac that's significantly harder to move.
The core advantage is that it's still a laptop, and on the rare occasion I needed to go off site or work from home, I could just take it with me. I used to have the exact same set up as you are describing at a previous job. Most monitors, even 4K ones, will support one or both of those connection types. If you don't need or want the single cable setup or a super high resolution display, I suggest using Mini DisplayPort (which is easily adapted to full-sized DisplayPort) or HDMI. However, it tends to be more expensive, and as I mentioned earlier, a bit flaky. It also supports the highest resolution monitors. Thunderbolt is great because you can connect everything - video, audio, USB, ethernet, etc, through a single cable that you can connect and disconnect. Also worth noting is that this adapter only works with Thunderbolt 3 - you will not be able to use USB-C in any way with your MacBook Pro (the LG UltraFine 4K will not work).
It should be noted that you will only get 4K resolution if you connect via Thunderbolt 2 - you need Thunderbolt 3 (which your MacBook doesn't have) or a dual-cable system to get 5K. Some Thunderbolt 3 monitors, like the LG UltraFine 5K, work when adapted from Thunderbolt 3 to 2, but it's possible some do not. You plug the adapter into the monitor, then connect it via the cable to your MacBook. If you want to connect to a Thunderbolt 3 monitor, you'll need that cable and a Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adapter. To connect to a Thunderbolt 1 or Thunderbolt 2 display, you'll need an Apple Thunderbolt Cable, or some third-party equivalent. Your 2015 MacBook Pro has two Thunderbolt 2 ports. What cable would I use and do I need a monitor that has a thunderbolt port?
Running 5K on a MBP was just barely possible in 2015, so I might shy away from this setup if you're looking to keep your setup running cool. But if you get everything set up and you can hear your fans running all the time, you might want to think about changing up your setup. Running a 4K or 5K display might add some additional thermal load to your system, but it shouldn't be too bad. Once the connection works, it should stay working as long as the MacBook is on.ĭoes using an external monitor heat up the MacBook or wear it out, cause it has to push all those pixels? (Like if I got a 4k or 5k monitor) This also can happen if you let your MacBook sleep while plugged in. This is more of an issue with Thunderbolt 3 (which, since you have a 2015, you don't have), but things like taking a MacBook that's asleep and plugging it directly into the display sometimes doesn't wake up the computer properly, and you have to open the lid and/or restart.