XPS 15 9530, connect to LG 32UD59-B 32" 4K

Before anyone can troubleshoot, we need to know which specific XPS 15 model? There are 8 listed under XPS here.

Ok, there are two issues at play here:

4K at 60 Hz: Running 4K at 60 Hz over HDMI requires HDMI 2.0.  XPS 15 models prior to the most recent 9570 model only support the previous HDMI 1.4 standard, which only allows 4K at 30 Hz or 2560x1600 at 60 Hz.  Fortunately, you can use DisplayPort instead to get 4K at 60 Hz.  I agree with the post above that without knowing which specific XPS 15 model you have, things are a bit trickier, but based on the year you mentioned, it's either the 9530 or 9550.  If you have a 9530, you'll have a Mini-DisplayPort connector on the left side.  In that case, get a basic Mini-DisplayPort to DisplayPort cable and you'll be able to run your display at its full resolution and refresh rate. If you have an XPS 15 9550, you'll instead have a USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 port on the left side.  In that case, get a USB-C to DisplayPort cable and you'll be fine.  You could also get a Thunderbolt 3 dock if you wanted a docking solution, but that's more expensive.  You cannot use a USB-C dock, since those won't support 4K at 60 Hz.

Blurriness: If you're using both the built-in display and an external display at the same time and the internal display is set as primary, that's why things are blurry.  The issue is that the built-in display and external display are using different scale factors since they have very different pixel densities, and Windows cannot optimize for multiple scale factors at the same time.  So instead, what it does is optimize its rendering for the scale factor of whatever display is primary at the time the user logs in, and then for any other display scale factors involved, it will use GPU scaling to expand or shrink a rendered image, similar to blowing up or shrinking a JPEG image.  As you can probably imagine, this type of scaling does not produce as nice a result as internally rendering for the desired scale factor, and the farther apart the scale factors in use are, the more scaling is required, and therefore the worse the results will look.  So in terms of solutions, you have two possible options:

#1: Switch your external display to be your primary display, but then your built-in display won't look as good.  Additionally, you'll need to log off and back on every time you disconnect or connect that display for the highest quality presentation on that external display.  The reason is as I said above, Windows chooses the scale factor it renders for based on the display that was primary when you logged in, so if the primary display changes (or you change the scale factor of the primary display), then until you log off and log on, even the primary display will look worse than it could.  And if you're thinking that this is a huge inconvenience for people like business users who might dock and undock their laptop multiple times in a day, you'd be absolutely right.

#2: Don't use the built-in display and external display at the same time.

The bottom line is that running multiple displays with very different pixel densities at the same time is never going to allow all displays to look their best.  Windows has gotten better about this even over successive releases of Windows 10, but it's still not perfect.  Mac OS has this problem too, although they have a slightly better implementation in that you can tell Mac OS to optimize its rendering for a non-primary display, e.g. if you're giving a presentation and want the presentation display to look better.

Window Spec4k Monitor Contrast difference

Hi thank you for you all respond!!!

i own the XPS 15 9530 sorry i attache the spec image to get more details..and i also did a little more research that i will need the USB-C to HDMI to get the 4k 60hz output which i did brought here's the link below for the cable is this right cable to do the job?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075V68NVR/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

and second image is the problem i mention regard the contrast difference i know you told me two options to fix it but i don't really get it... would you mind explain me in more details perhaps step by step tutorial will be greatly appreciate!!! thank you so much for you help

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@kennydellxps wrote:

  Hi thank you for you all respond!!!

i own the XPS 15 9530 sorry i attache the spec image to get more details..and i also did a little more research that i will need the USB-C to HDMI to get the 4k 60hz output which i did brought here's the link below for the cable is this right cable to do the job?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075V68NVR/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

and second image is the problem i mention regard the contrast difference i know you told me two options to fix it but i don't really get it... would you mind explain me in more details perhaps step by step tutorial will be greatly appreciate!!! thank you so much for you help

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Unfortunately I can't see the images you attached because images uploaded on this forum are only visible to Dell representatives and the person who uploaded them until they get approved.  But if you have an XPS 15 9530, then you don't have a USB-C port, so that cable won't work for you.  As I said above, for the XPS 15 9530 you'll need a Mini-DisplayPort to DisplayPort cable.  If you have an XPS 15 9550, then the cable you selected will work.  Not all USB-C to HDMI cables/adapters can do 4K at 60 Hz, but according to the Amazon link, that one does.  A USB-C to DisplayPort cable would also have worked though, because USB-C outputs DisplayPort natively, which means USB-C to HDMI cables cost more since they need to have a DisplayPort to HDMI converter chip built in.

As for the rest of it, if you don't get what I said, then I realize it was a lot of detail, so perhaps try reading it again slowly.  But the bottom line is that if you want your external display to look its best, you need to make it the primary display under Settings > Display, then log off and back on (or restart).  From that point on, you'll also want to make sure you have your external display connected before you log onto Windows, or else log off and back on after you connect it if you were already logged in.  But when you've got your external display set as primary, you can either keep using your built-in display as well and it won't look as good as it could (because again, you can't optimize for these two displays simultaneously), or you can just set it disabled under Windows Display Settings.  It's up to you.

thank you for your fast respond!!! i don't think i have the Mini-DisplayPort  on this laptop and i double check the Mini-DisplayPort and usb-c cable port and in different shape and i have the little light bolt logo next to the port so i'm assuming that is the usb-c cable port not Mini-DisplayPort.. i will receive the cable in on Saturday so i will test it out see if it work!! and as for the color contract i will read over you previous post again and try to test it out and see if there's any different thank you so much!!! again :)

awww okay! :( thank you so much will this cable will output the 4k 60hz? because i check but in didn't mention in the listing :)

thank you so much again!

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@kennydellxps wrote:

awww okay! :( thank you so much will this cable will output the 4k 60hz? because i check but in didn't mention in the listing :)

thank you so much again!

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You're very welcome.  Yes it will handle 4K at 60 Hz.  That gets mentioned much more on HDMI cables and adapters because 4K 60 Hz support is relatively new for HDMI and HDMI cables/adapters.  DisplayPort and its cables have supported the required bandwidth for 4K 60 Hz for about 7 years now, even before there were 4K 60 Hz displays in the consumer market.  That was part of the DisplayPort 1.2 spec, and the details of that cable specifically mention that it supports DisplayPort 1.2.

I just got the cable! and plug in and it work!!! 60HZ thank you so much again for you help!!! now i can work smoothly :)))

Excellent, glad you’re all set! :)