Video review: LG's UltraFine 5K Thunderbolt 3 display, 6 months later

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2021
Six months after it launched, how does LG's UltraFine 5K Thunderbolt 3 display hold up? AppleInsider revisits the premium monitor intended for Apple's USB-C MacBook Pros in this video review.






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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 12
    soundvisionsoundvision Posts: 174member
    While this monitor is gorgeous, it has been a disaster for the clients I had who bought them. I am no longer recommending them, nor are the Apple Stores I've worked with. Below are the problems I've seen on 4 separate monitors:

    - Flickering due to wifi. We sent our first monitor in to be fixed with the extra shielding but the problem still happened after it came back. We ended up returning it.
    - Kernel panics when connecting TB3 and/or waking up from sleep (seen this on 4 separate monitors)
    - Display brightness arbitrarily turns down to the lowest setting, giving the appearance that it is off
    - USB post on the back are not always recognized when hooking back up via TB3, forcing the user to unplug and plug back in the USB cables.

    I know not everyone may have these issues, but we'll see countless references of them on Apple's review page, Apple discussion boards, and other places where people discuss these issues. Luckily this monitor has been such a disaster that it has reminded Apple that they need to make monitors again which they've confirmed they are working on for the future.
    boredumbwreighvendysamoriapscooter63stevenozfastasleepchiapulseimageszoetmbdws-2
  • Reply 2 of 12
    vannygeevannygee Posts: 61member
    Inferior display.. 3 USB 3.1 ports in the back are they kidding? No daisy chaining, no other ports in the back?
    dysamoriapulseimages
  • Reply 3 of 12
    boboliciousbobolicious Posts: 1,163member
    For some perhaps an alternative option: http://www.uptab.com/uptab-usb-c-to-mini-displayport-adapter-silver.html
  • Reply 4 of 12
    entropysentropys Posts: 4,254member
    The only thing good about it is the display itself. Port configs are limited, the frame and the stand are ugly. Apple should be ashamed to promote it. And then there are the performance and reliability issues. A lemon.
    edited May 2017 pulseimages
  • Reply 5 of 12
    willcropointwillcropoint Posts: 74member
    Do you guys know if this monitor features the awesome automatic ambient light adjustment like the Macbook Pro and the Apple Thunderbolt 27" Display ? (including when the notebook lid is closed) I could not live without this... :neutral: 
  • Reply 6 of 12
    shapetablesshapetables Posts: 201member
    Honestly, I think it's trying to kill me.

  • Reply 7 of 12
    dws-2dws-2 Posts: 277member
    soundvision said:
    While this monitor is gorgeous, it has been a disaster for the clients I had who bought them. I am no longer recommending them, nor are the Apple Stores I've worked with. Below are the problems I've seen on 4 separate monitors:

    - Flickering due to wifi. We sent our first monitor in to be fixed with the extra shielding but the problem still happened after it came back. We ended up returning it.
    - Kernel panics when connecting TB3 and/or waking up from sleep (seen this on 4 separate monitors)
    - Display brightness arbitrarily turns down to the lowest setting, giving the appearance that it is off
    - USB post on the back are not always recognized when hooking back up via TB3, forcing the user to unplug and plug back in the USB cables.

    I know not everyone may have these issues, but we'll see countless references of them on Apple's review page, Apple discussion boards, and other places where people discuss these issues. Luckily this monitor has been such a disaster that it has reminded Apple that they need to make monitors again which they've confirmed they are working on for the future.

    I'm glad to hear that you don't recommend these to clients anymore. 

    Except for the display brightness, I've had every one of these issues myself. I also have an issue where the display doesn't always turn on when I connect it, and the slightest movement of a cord causes disconnection (I notice this when I have to re-plug in usb devices that stopped worked). I also agree that the display is gorgeous.

    I feel like a sucker for buying this. My new MacBook Pro keyboard also starts to make all sort of weird double-click, half click noises whenever it gets hot. This is by far my worst experience ever from Apple. This is the first setup when I really wish I had the last generation of hardware rather than the latest one. I'll deal with it because it's too expensive and time-consuming to go back to the prior setup, but I'm very disappointed. Normally with Apple you get this thrill from having nice stuff. In this case it makes me a little sad every time I look at my expensive setup.
    stevenoz
  • Reply 8 of 12
    saroniansaronian Posts: 8member
    willcropoint said:
    Do you guys know if this monitor features the awesome automatic ambient light adjustment like the Macbook Pro and the Apple Thunderbolt 27" Display ? (including when the notebook lid is closed) I could not live without this... :neutral: 
    No, there is no "Automatically adjust brightness" checkbox in the system preferences for this monitor. Brightness adjustment is manual.
  • Reply 9 of 12
    willcropointwillcropoint Posts: 74member
    saronian said:
    willcropoint said:
    Do you guys know if this monitor features the awesome automatic ambient light adjustment like the Macbook Pro and the Apple Thunderbolt 27" Display ? (including when the notebook lid is closed) I could not live without this... :neutral: 
    No, there is no "Automatically adjust brightness" checkbox in the system preferences for this monitor. Brightness adjustment is manual.
    Thank you. This is a disappointment to say the least.
  • Reply 10 of 12
    willcropointwillcropoint Posts: 74member
    HBW1 said:
    Brightness adjustment on monitors will always be manual. How good is this 5k thing?
    It can be set to automatic on the Apple Thunderbolt 27 Display. Spending countless hours in front of my screen, for work mostly, I find it awesome. Works like on the iPads, iPhones and MacBooks.
  • Reply 11 of 12
    willcropointwillcropoint Posts: 74member

    saronian said:
    Do you guys know if this monitor features the awesome automatic ambient light adjustment like the Macbook Pro and the Apple Thunderbolt 27" Display ? (including when the notebook lid is closed) I could not live without this... :neutral: 
    No, there is no "Automatically adjust brightness" checkbox in the system preferences for this monitor. Brightness adjustment is manual.
    Hey, I just found it has one but it is currently disabled : https://9to5mac.com/2017/01/02/lg-ultrafine-5k-display-faq/.

    Ok, I guess they have a bunch of quirks to solve but on the paper, the features are there.  ;)
    edited June 2017
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