Dell Inspiron 3493 Won't Output 4k to External Monitor

The GPU in that system is indeed capable of driving multiple 4K displays, but it's still up to the system manufacturer to actually provide display output connectors that can actually leverage that capability.  The specs of the Inspiron 3493 here indicate that its HDMI port is 1.4b, which is only enough for either 2560x1440 at 60 Hz or 4K at up to 30 Hz -- not 4K 60 Hz.  You'd need an HDMI 2.0 port for 4K 60 Hz.  The only other option for 4K 60 Hz is DisplayPort, either via an actual DisplayPort connector or via a USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 port, but your system doesn't have any of those.  If 24/30 Hz would be acceptable for your purposes, you might be able to achieve that by going into Intel HD Graphics Control Panel and selecting it as a custom output setting.  Windows Display Settings won't normally show that because it defaults to 60 Hz on all resolutions.  Note that your mouse cursor will be laggy at that low refresh rate, as will any video actually captured at 60+ fps.  However, most film and some TV episodes are shot at 24 fps, so if that's what you're trying to watch, then set your system to output at 24 Hz so the signal's refresh rate matches the video you're trying to play and things should be fine.  But if that isn't enough for your purposes, then unfortunately that system doesn't provide a port to transmit 4K 60 Hz, I suspect because the Inspiron 3000 Series is the low end of Dell's basic consumer product line.

Thanks for the reply.  I have now tried to separate TVs that connect perfectly fine to 4k with a desktop of mine.  Both have worked with 4K@60hz and 4K@30hz.  However, even with using the Intel Graphics Command Center it does not give an option for 4K even after I switch the refresh to 30hz.

I created 2 separate custom resolutions of 3840x2160 and 4096x2160.  While keeping the refresh rate at 30hz I select those custom resolutions and nothing happens.  The screen doesn't go blank or anything.  It simply doesn't react.  The info from the TV continuously reports 1080.

I really don't know what else to try.  It seems like it may be a driver issue as this processor is very new.  After initially trying and failing to achieve 4K, I checked the drivers.  Intel reported that there was a newer driver, but when I attempted to install it the Dell blocked it saying it wasn't supported.  I was able to download the zip file and go into device manager and manually install the latest Intel drivers and the problem persists.  

Have you tried updating the firmware and the video drives for your PC?

I just confirmed all drivers were up to date with the automatic dell driver analyzer, SupportAssist.  Everything is up to date and there have been no changes.  I still do not have any 4k options and I cannot force a 4k custom resolution even at 30hz.

Thanks for the info. I will try 24hz when I get home. I might try uninstalling the intel driver and going back to the Dell if 24hz doesn't work. I did try everything with the Dell driver first though. I then repeated the process with the intel driver to no avail.

As to applying the custom resolution I can't see what I could do different. I add a custom resolution, it appears in the drop down menu, I select the custom resolution and the shape of the tv icon changes on the screen but nothing changes with the physical display.

It would be nice to know if anyone with the Iris Pro G4 graphics is able to get the external 4k to work.

I was able to attempt 4k output at 24hz but it also did not work. I then was able to uninstall the newest Intel Iris drivers and reinstall the latest drivers available at the Dell website. I then attempted 4k output through the HDMI at 24hz, 30hz, 59hz, and 60hz. None of them worked.

@ArgonV  sorry to hear that.  In that case I'm not sure what to suggest next.  You've already ruled out external possible causes like the cable, TV, and specific HDMI input on the TV you're using by having swapped those components around, and you've already messed with drivers and custom resolution configurations.  Given that the specs for that system indicate that the HDMI port is 1.4b and you certainly have a sufficiently new Intel GPU, I can't understand why you wouldn't even be able to send 4K 24 Hz.  Sorry I don't have a better answer, but I'll post back if I think of anything else!

@ArgonV  that's absolutely crazy.  First of all, 4K 120 Hz is a near-unicorn setup because even HDMI 2.0, which is newer than what your system has, does not have enough bandwidth for 4K 120 Hz.  HDMI 2.1 does, but that's only JUST started to arrive on TVs.  And again, your system is HDMI 1.4b, which doesn't even come close to having that kind of bandwidth.  And even on the DisplayPort side, 4K120 would require DisplayPort 1.3 or better, which is still quite rare on laptops even though the standard has existed for a while.  The vast majority today still only support DisplayPort 1.2.  And lastly, while I suppose in theory a system might have a "minimum refresh rate" for the display signal it can send, I've never heard of it being 120 Hz at ANY resolution.  60 Hz is the norm for PCs, and it's not unusual for PCs to support at least down to 24 Hz, since that's what most film and some TV shows use, and there are benefits to syncing your display's refresh rate to the frame rate of the content you're viewing.  I've never tried going lower than 24 Hz personally.

I would love to see what information that support tech was reading from when they said that!  Your system doesn't have any display outputs with enough bandwidth even for 4K 60 Hz and a tech says that the problem is that the system must send at least 4K 120 Hz, never mind that almost no TVs on the market today would accept that signal even if your system COULD send it, to say nothing of PC displays that you might sometimes want to connect via HDMI.  Unbelievable....

I have responded to you via Private note. Please allow me some time so that I'll get this reviewed by concerned team and get back to you with more clarification.

Thanks for the confirmation and plethora of information on the format. 

The previous tech linked the spec sheet from the i5-1035g4 processor.  In the column 4K SUPPORT, it simply says "Yes, at 120hz"

I told the tech I would be shocked if intel meant ONLY at 120hz and not UP TO 120hz. 

This was the response: 

""I got this reviewed by our product engineering team and confirmed its 4k @ 120Hz only.
The manual forced resolution for a TV should be 4k = 3840 x 2160, not the true 4k values.""

A different Dell support agent is telling me that the 1035g4 can ONLY output 4k at 120hz and that any lesser refresh rate won't work. 

I thought that was crazy but what do you think? 

@ArgonV  as I said earlier, the fact that the GPU specs indicate support for 4K 120 Hz is technically true, but the motherboard of your particular system doesn't give that GPU access to any display output connector that would be able to carry that signal.  So while the GPU supports it, the implementation of this particular system does not make that possible.  And the mere fact that you're able to run 1080p at 60 Hz proves that 120 Hz isn't mandatory.  The idea that a 120 Hz requirement kicks in only for 4K resolution is just absurd.  The reason Intel says "at 120 Hz" is to differentiate from GPUs that only support 4K at 60 Hz, or even only 30 Hz.  Various video-related products (GPUs, display cables/adapters, docking stations, even displays) sometimes market "support for 4K" without specifying the refresh rate they support.  Sometimes it's only 30 Hz, which is not what users typically expect given that the norm on PC displays is 60 Hz.  That's why "responsible" specs pages include information about refresh rate.

The note that the forced resolution should be 3840x2160 rather than "true 4K" is correct, however.  True 4K resolution is 4096x2160, but that's only used in cinema.  "Consumer 4K", aka UHD/Ultra HD, is in fact 3840x2160, and that's what TVs, PC displays, and even consumer-oriented projectors use.

@DELL-Cares  hopefully you can find out who @ArgonV has been talking with inside Dell and provide a bit of technical retraining, especially if that person did in fact hear that from the Product Engineering Team.  An engineering team should not be making basic mistakes and providing clearly incorrect information like this.  Claiming that 120 Hz is mandatory for 4K is bad enough considering that that would make the system incompatible with virtually every 4K display and TV currently on the market.  But claiming that it's mandatory when the system doesn't even have a display output connector that would actually support carrying that signal is even worse.

Any update on this issue?