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So i'm thinking of purchasing a DELL XPS 15 with a screen resolution of 15.6" 4K Ultra HD (3840 x 2160).

I already have a very nice DELL Ultrasharp 27 inch monitor with a screen resolution of 2560 x 1440.

I did the research and i believe it's better to use the USB type-c (laptop) to DP (monitor) to connect both instead of the USB type-c (laptop) to HDMI (monitor).

Is this correct? Is DisplayPort 1.2 better then HDMI to connect a laptop to a monitor?

If yes, my monitor comes with a mini DP... Should i use the USB type-c (laptop) to mini DP (monitor) instead of DP 1.2?

Also, what is the negative points of having to different resolutions connected? I guess i just want to make sure that i'm making the right decision before investing on a expensive laptop. Thanks all.

For more info, here are the connectivity specs from my DELL Ultrasharp U2715H:

Connectivity 2 HDMI(MHL) connector 1 Mini DisplayPort 1 DisplayPort (version 1.2) 1 DisplayPort out (MST) 1 Audio Line out (connect your speakers) 5 USB 3.0 ports - Downstream (4 at the back, 1 with battery charging) 1 USB 3.0 port - Upstream

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    Hi, welcome to Hardware Recommendations! In general, we recommend purchasable electronic hardware to solve problems. Your question is more of a technical support question, which could be better suited for our affiliate site Super User. If you are looking for an adapter recommendation to connect a laptop to a monitor this is within the scope of the site and we would be more than happy to help you find one. You'll need to edit your question, however.
    – Bennett Yeo
    Nov 14, 2018 at 20:58

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It is true, DP is a little better (e.g., it supports a higher refresh rate); however, regardless of which one you end up going with, the differences between DisplayPort and HDMI are not very major. Unless you have some technical reasons why one would be preferred over another (e.g. you're running several of these screens, which would overload the CPU, and you need the one with the least CPU usage), either one works just fine, as long as your screen can play the sound which your computer sends. (some lower quality screens have trouble playing HDMI sound)

And for the second part of your question, the negatives to connecting different resolutions are also quite minor. For example, when you need to move from one window to the other, you'll be able to move your mouse to, e.g. upper right corner to switch to the other screen, but moving your mouse to the lower right corner will not move it over to the other screen (or vice versa). However, that is quite a minor disadvantage, and for all practical purposes, you should be fine.

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  • It's comforting to know that both resolutions are going to be supported. One more question, my monitor comes with DP 1.2 and mini DP, Wich should i use to connect my laptop (usb-c tb3)? Does it even matter?
    – Marco
    Nov 9, 2018 at 19:21
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    DP 1.2 is more reliable, and allows better bandwidth for an external screen this big. While mini DP should also be fine, you might get a bit of lag when you play full-screen videos at a high refresh rate. Again, I'm not sure how noticeable the lag would be, most of the high-end screens tend to smooth it (e.g., the video you would get would run at 50Hz instead of 100Hz); however, I am not familiar with running this particular screen over mini DP, and so can't say how well it handles it. I just know that Chinese-made screens I've used in the past get very glitchy once their bandwidth is exceeded
    – Alex
    Nov 9, 2018 at 22:27

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