What's the status on LG's UltraFine 5K monitor?

AppleInsider · February 22, 2017 5:47AM

After receiving reports of connectivity issues related to LG's new UltraFine 5K monitor, and confirming those problems with LG, Apple temporarily suspended sales of the display earlier this February. With ship times slow to improve, AppleInsider explains what's going on.

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We're also interested in your questions! If you want to know anything about the LG UltraFine 5K display, chime in on our forums and we'll address it.

bobolicious · February 22, 2017 7:40AM

...well I bought a MBP and ironically the only displays it could not work with were legacy Apple ones, go figure... So I waited, and waited, and now... Hmmm...

I have to ask if Apple had simply upgraded the 27" Cinema to 4K Thunderbolt with USB3 and a 5K/8K option perhaps even larger with TB3, such might have been both cost and zeitgeist competitive... Maybe soon, or has Apple abandoned the 'monitor' entirely in favour of AR and a virtual display future...?

appex · February 22, 2017 8:28AM

Apple should make a brand new Thunderbolt 3 (40 Gbps) display 24-inch with USB 3.1 Type-C (reversible) Generation 2 (10 Gbps). Besides brand new Mac Pro and Mac mini. The All-in-One iMac is a waste and Earth aggression computers may last seven years, but displays last more than 20.

fastasleep · February 22, 2017 9:27AM

bobolicious said:

...well I bought a MBP and ironically the only displays it could not work with were legacy Apple ones, go figure... So I waited, and waited, and now... Hmmm...

I have to ask if Apple had simply upgraded the 27" Cinema to 4K Thunderbolt with USB3 and a 5K/8K option perhaps even larger with TB3, such might have been both cost and zeitgeist competitive... Maybe soon, or has Apple abandoned the 'monitor' entirely in favour of AR and a virtual display future...?

Why would the legacy Apple displays not work with it?

BittySon · February 22, 2017 11:35AM

bobolicious said: ...well I bought a MBP and ironically the only displays it could not work with were legacy Apple ones, go figure... So I waited, and waited, and now... Hmmm... I have to ask if Apple had simply upgraded the 27" Cinema to 4K Thunderbolt with USB3 and a 5K/8K option perhaps even larger with TB3, such might have been both cost and zeitgeist competitive... Maybe soon, or has Apple abandoned the 'monitor' entirely in favour of AR and a virtual display future...? Fastasleep said: Why would the legacy Apple displays not work with it? ---- Well, find me a device that lets me plug the male miniDisplayport cable coming out of my perfectly good Apple 24 in LED Cinema Display into my USB-C/TB3 2016 MBP.

macxpress · February 22, 2017 11:54AM

appex said:

Apple should make a brand new Thunderbolt 3 (40 Gbps) display 24-inch with USB 3.1 Type-C (reversible) Generation 2 (10 Gbps). Besides brand new Mac Pro and Mac mini. The All-in-One iMac is a waste and Earth aggression computers may last seven years, but displays last more than 20.

And 3/100 would buy it. Its not worth Apple's time and money to put any effort into something very little will buy.

glowearth · February 22, 2017 12:25PM

Don't y'all notice guy's t-shirt? Right above "OCTANE" the "fire" look like a _,|,, or flip off the bird...?

supremedesigner · February 22, 2017 1:18PM

When will AI provide better subtitle on their YouTube videos?

bdkennedy1002 · February 22, 2017 3:07PM

Returned it. Not buying it back.

CalebRHightower · February 22, 2017 3:18PM

LOL

How they will handle consumer outreach is certainly uncertain, …

fastasleep · February 22, 2017 4:07PM

BittySon said:

Well, find me a device that lets me plug the male miniDisplayport cable coming out of my perfectly good Apple 24 in LED Cinema Display into my USB-C/TB3 2016 MBP.

Here you go:
https://www.amazon.com/ITANDA-DisplayPort-Aluminium-resolution-ChromeBook/dp/B01N2ORP84/

Mike Wuerthele · February 22, 2017 4:10PM

BittySon said:

bobolicious said: ...well I bought a MBP and ironically the only displays it could not work with were legacy Apple ones, go figure... So I waited, and waited, and now... Hmmm... I have to ask if Apple had simply upgraded the 27" Cinema to 4K Thunderbolt with USB3 and a 5K/8K option perhaps even larger with TB3, such might have been both cost and zeitgeist competitive... Maybe soon, or has Apple abandoned the 'monitor' entirely in favour of AR and a virtual display future...? Fastasleep said: Why would the legacy Apple displays not work with it? ---- Well, find me a device that lets me plug the male miniDisplayport cable coming out of my perfectly good Apple 24 in LED Cinema Display into my USB-C/TB3 2016 MBP.

Most of the TB2 docks will allow this as well, with the TB3 to TB2 adapter hanging off the MBP. The native TB3 docks seem to have full-size DisplayPort, which works as well, but needs an adapter.

slurpy · February 22, 2017 4:21PM

Saw these in an Apple store a couple days ago, and they looked way better than I expected them to. Both IQ and product design. Still nowhere near an Apple designed product, but not a complete eyesore.

pkissel · February 22, 2017 5:19PM

macxpress said:

appex said:

Apple should make a brand new Thunderbolt 3 (40 Gbps) display 24-inch with USB 3.1 Type-C (reversible) Generation 2 (10 Gbps). Besides brand new Mac Pro and Mac mini. The All-in-One iMac is a waste and Earth aggression computers may last seven years, but displays last more than 20.

And 3/100 would buy it. Its not worth Apple's time and money to put any effort into something very little will buy.

There is a value customers derived from one stop shopping with Apple. You pay a premium for Apple but have some peace of mind that Apple's high QC and engineering ensures you don't have to waste a lot of time getting Apple products to work together or dealing with many defect issues. Maybe buyers are more sophisticated now and not needing the Apple training wheels any longer or the buying group is smaller than it was in the past. Apple's sales of printers, routers, NAS and monitors could be so low that even with their higher price tags the products aren't moving and they're even losing money. One can argue whether Apple should take the loss so it can still provide the one stop shopping experience or at least be able to claim to. "It just works" is a nice brand marketing perk. I am going to miss that version of the old Apple.

night9hawk · February 22, 2017 6:16PM

fastasleep said:

BittySon said:

Well, find me a device that lets me plug the male miniDisplayport cable coming out of my perfectly good Apple 24 in LED Cinema Display into my USB-C/TB3 2016 MBP.

Here you go:
https://www.amazon.com/ITANDA-DisplayPort-Aluminium-resolution-ChromeBook/dp/B01N2ORP84/

It works with the older MagSafe/DisplayPort/USB cable style Apple Displays but does not work with the MagSafe/Thunderbolt display. I tried to set one of the M/T displays up with one of those Chromebook adaptors last week and it didn't work. We swapped that Apple Display for one of the older M/D/USB models and it worked. Since the adaptor is marketed as "Mini-DisplayPort to USB-C" it's not surprising that it doesn't work with Thunderbolt equipment.

landcruiser · February 22, 2017 8:45PM

I guess I'm one of the lucky ones. So far, love it. There are a few minor issues that seem to be more Apple macOS related, like the Dock not quickly switching between the MBP display and the LG. I've also seen it lock up the Mac a couple times when I discounted the LG cable while it's in sleep mode. But I have an Airport Express within 2 feet and have never seen a problem from that. Keeping my fingers crossed.

bobolicious · February 22, 2017 11:08PM

Mike Wuerthele said:

BittySon said:

bobolicious said: ...well I bought a MBP and ironically the only displays it could not work with were legacy Apple ones, go figure... So I waited, and waited, and now... Hmmm... I have to ask if Apple had simply upgraded the 27" Cinema to 4K Thunderbolt with USB3 and a 5K/8K option perhaps even larger with TB3, such might have been both cost and zeitgeist competitive... Maybe soon, or has Apple abandoned the 'monitor' entirely in favour of AR and a virtual display future...? Fastasleep said: Why would the legacy Apple displays not work with it? ---- Well, find me a device that lets me plug the male miniDisplayport cable coming out of my perfectly good Apple 24 in LED Cinema Display into my USB-C/TB3 2016 MBP.

Most of the TB2 docks will allow this as well, with the TB3 to TB2 adapter hanging off the MBP. The native TB3 docks seem to have full-size DisplayPort, which works as well, but needs an adapter.

Thanks. Indeed the docks shipping mid winter promised that, for several hundred dollars, and I did find a cable & adapter as mentioned above, the former sold out, the latter didn't work. The irony seems multiple Apple reps said mDP would work with Apple's own TB2 adapter, which theoretically the official TB3 spec supports, but Apple had not implemented, and may never? Even getting 4K 60hz on PC displays took until 10.12.3, yet expect these things can take time...

To those that feel an Apple TB3 display might not sell, my sense of the TB1 is it was indeed overpriced in the end having languished for several years (USB2?) - still worth considering at refurb prices and in fact a friend called me looking for one just because of the fit & finish - the PC interfaces with their host of reach behind & fiddle/drill down brightness buttons and other adjustments are to me so inefficient and even unusable I can't believe they sell - is that an unquantifiable value in the auto & keyboard brightness interfaces that are Apple...?

Aside from the obvious I'd like to see mDP support for the Apple TB2 adapter, dual link TB2 and TB3 5K iMac target display options, a 4K 24" or 27" for those on a budget and ideally something to top my still favourite 30" Cinema - 40" 8K Apple TV ? Even at 4K a 40" vests @ ~110dpi matching the discontinued TB Display... Ahhh the bleeding edge... I also emphatically reiterate support for 'it just works'...!

StrangeDays · February 23, 2017 3:11AM

appex said:

Apple should make a brand new Thunderbolt 3 (40 Gbps) display 24-inch with USB 3.1 Type-C (reversible) Generation 2 (10 Gbps). Besides brand new Mac Pro and Mac mini. The All-in-One iMac is a waste and Earth aggression computers may last seven years, but displays last more than 20.

The iMac is certainly not a waste. It's an excellent computer and about as easy as they come. I'm on a six year old model, and when I replace it even the display will be outdated.

epski · February 23, 2017 2:00PM

Installed this for 2 clients. 1 had no issues, the other had it severely. After moving the router across the room, the display stayed on, but now it is painfully slow to wake up or will only wake up if the laptop is opened. Client refused to take it back, though, at least so far.

tedp88 · February 23, 2017 6:52PM

I was recently in an Apple Store and saw the LG displays in the wild for the first time. First impression; it felt very incongruous and un-Apple like.

fastasleep · February 26, 2017 3:44AM

night9hawk said:

fastasleep said:

BittySon said:

Well, find me a device that lets me plug the male miniDisplayport cable coming out of my perfectly good Apple 24 in LED Cinema Display into my USB-C/TB3 2016 MBP.

Here you go:
https://www.amazon.com/ITANDA-DisplayPort-Aluminium-resolution-ChromeBook/dp/B01N2ORP84/

It works with the older MagSafe/DisplayPort/USB cable style Apple Displays but does not work with the MagSafe/Thunderbolt display. I tried to set one of the M/T displays up with one of those Chromebook adaptors last week and it didn't work. We swapped that Apple Display for one of the older M/D/USB models and it worked. Since the adaptor is marketed as "Mini-DisplayPort to USB-C" it's not surprising that it doesn't work with Thunderbolt equipment.

I was replying to "Apple 24 in LED Cinema Display" not the Thunderbolt Display. For that one you just need the TB3->TB2 adapter from Apple. What's the problem?

What's the status on LG's UltraFine 5K monitor?

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