Achieving 144Hz Refresh rate using the Macbook Pro on the Xiaomi 34″ Monitor

One of the main reasons I purchased the Xiaomi 34″ UltraWide monitor was because of the screen real estate. Because of the pandemic, this became my main work-from-home monitor where I would hook up my MacBook Pro M1 to the monitor. I was trying to connect my MacBook Pro M1 laptop to the Xiaomi monitor via a USB-C hub (I use a Baseus 17-in-1 USB-C hub) and connecting an HDMI cable to it. What I did notice was that when I did that, I could only select a refresh rate of only 50Hz. I checked to make sure that the connection was stable and tried other HDMI cables such as 4K rated HDMI cables and of course HDMI 2.0 cables.

After a quick search around the internet, I found that in order for Macs to use a 144Hz refresh rate on the monitor, one would need a monitor that had USB-C support (that meant that the monitor has a USB-C port) or for the Mac to connect to the monitor using a DisplayPort 1.4 cable (the Xiaomi has 2 HDMI ports and 2 DisplayPort ports).

Xiaomi 34″ Ultrawide monitor is a great tool for work

With just two available USB-C ports on the MacBook Pro M1, it looked like I would need to use one port dedicated for the monitor. Now, searching for a USB-C to DisplayPort 1.4 locally here in Malaysia wasn’t very easy and when I turned to the usual online stores such as Shopee, all sellers were from overseas which meant it would take time for it to be shipped here. 

Thankfully, a mate had one handily available (as a spare). After a quick drive to his place, I borrowed his cable and voila, I could connect the MacBook Pro to my Xiaomi 34″ UltraWide monitor and use it at the 144Hz it was designed for. Now many have asked me what games would I be playing on it but I went through all of this just to know that Macs could achieve 144Hz on external monitors and I mainly use the monitor for work.

UGreen USB-C to DisplayPort cable

I guess that once you are already used to a high refresh rate monitor, I would try my best to achieve that performance. If you are interested in getting the same cable, you can click on this link here or you can find any USB-C to DisplayPort 1.4 and make sure in the specs that it can support 4K@60Hz. This would enable you to achieve a 2K@144Hz with your Mac M1. If you have a Mac Mini, you are in luck. You can just connect a HDMI 2.0 cable directly from your Mac Mini to your external monitor and achieve 144Hz already.

This is how the Macbook Pro M1 is connected to the Xiaomi 34″

What about the Xiaomi 34″ Monitor?

So what does one do with a 34″ ultrawide monitor that sports 144Hz refresh rate and have AMD’s Freesync technology on it? Probably not for gaming but I am totally enjoying using it for work. I love having two windows open side by side especially when I need to reference stuff for work as well as refer to certain key documents when in a conference call.

For example, I was referencing the Xiaomi’s website when writing this blog post

The monitor sports a 3440×1440 resolution, which they deem it as WQHD and it is curved which makes it easier to view everything since it is so wide. It has a 21:9 aspect ration which to me doesn’t really matter except when I watch movies on it and suddenly I get to enjoy the screen a lot more.

The monitor is bright, like really bright so it works well in a brightly lit room. I truly enjoy using it for work and with my laptop closed most of the time, the only downside is that I needed an external camera for video conference calls.

Currently at home, I have two machines connected to the Xiaomi 34″ monitor. During office hours, the monitor is primarily connected to the Macbook Pro M1. This is where I will have multiple windows up and about, from my Reminders app, Notes App, Chrome browsers (for mail, calendar, drive and others) as well as other office productivity software. Having the extra screen real estate makes it worth the purchase.

When it is outside of office hours, the monitor is connected to my home server which is an old Intel Core i7 2nd generation. This server of mine is primarily used as my Plex media server to serve certain TV series and movies to me and family members. Usually I wouldn’t really touch it but thanks to the addition of this monitor, I now use it as well for normal internet browsing and browsing media on my Plex client.

The Xiaomi 34″ monitor uses magnetic snap-in connectors to allow for easy removal

Connectivity

The Xiaomi 34″ monitor has two HDMI ports as well as two DisplayPorts. Currently, I am using both DisplayPorts which connects to both the Macbook Pro and my Windows server. There is an audio port as well but I am not really using it. The monitor comes with nicely in-built cable routing so that you can actually keep everything clear but due to me having way too many things about, my desk still looks messy.

 

Overall thoughts

Whilst it is still fairly new, I am absolutely loving the monitor, and just a little over a year ago, 34″ WQHD monitors always cost more than RM2500. Now with the introduction of the Xiaomi 34″ curved gaming monitor for less than RM2000, I thought it was a great deal and now I do wish that I could also have one in the office (when the day comes that everyone has to go back to the office).

5 thoughts on “Achieving 144Hz Refresh rate using the Macbook Pro on the Xiaomi 34″ Monitor”

  1. Hi, interesting read as not many writes about Mac M1 with Xiaomi ultra wide combo. Can you share the specific model of the usb-c to displayport cable as the link in article was not present. I have Mac mini M1, but connection via HDMI capped at 100Hz due to the monitor. Whreby Xiaomi only supports the full 144Hz refresh rate over displayport connectivity. Thank you.

    1. The exact model I got was the UGreen USB-C to display port but I have read elsewhere that any of the USB-C to display port cables should be able to achieve 144Hz. I tried using the HDMI port as well but in the same case, had the same limit of 100Hz. For example if you are thinking of purchasing it from Amazon you can use this (https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-DisplayPort-USB-C-Supporting/dp/B01J6DT070) or if you are buying it around South East Asia, you can check on Lazada or Shopee for the UGreen USB-C to Display Port cable (https://shopee.com.my/USB-C-to-DisplayPort-Cable-Type-C(Thunderbolt-3)-to-DP-Adapter-4K-60Hz-6ft-1.8M-i.58707163.1077413013) which is what I am using for my set up.

  2. So for your setup (34 xiaomi gaming monitor + M1 MacBook Pro through USBC to 1.4DP) has any issue like screen can’t turn on after laptop goes to sleep? Or is the problem resolved after MacOS update?

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