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inmotionnow

macrumors regular
Sep 12, 2014
170
64
Toronto
It works perfectly fine for a backup hard drive. Even on an SSD I got 240W/320R, so about a 30-40% reduction compared to a direct connection. But fine for backups.

Totally. And most people are probably not using SSDs for backups. I'm getting full speeds with my Seagate Backup Plus drives when connected to the 5K screen (around 95.1 MB/s write, 97.1 MB/s read).
 
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inmotionnow

macrumors regular
Sep 12, 2014
170
64
Toronto

That's really weird. I know some members here had bad luck with the stock cable. Are you able to try plugging in via another TB3 instead of the stock cable? If not, you may want to chat with Apple/LG and get their input. I don't think that you should be seeing such as significant drop in speed.
 
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maxb

macrumors member
Nov 24, 2008
80
8
Montréal, Canada
That's really weird. I know some members here had bad luck with the stock cable. Are you able to try plugging in via another TB3 instead of the stock cable? If not, you may want to chat with Apple/LG and get their input. I don't think that you should be seeing such as significant drop in speed.

I've called Apple Support but they don't offer support for the display since it's an LG display, tried to call LG but was a real pain as you might imagine, after 30 minutes and speaking to many representative that didn't know that the display exist, the line got dropped.

I'll give live chat a shot tomorrow and maybe I'll get the Belkin cable for testing purpose.
 

inmotionnow

macrumors regular
Sep 12, 2014
170
64
Toronto
I've called Apple Support but they don't offer support for the display since it's an LG display, tried to call LG but was a real pain as you might imagine, after 30 minutes and speaking to many representative that didn't know that the display exist, the line got dropped.

I'll give live chat a shot tomorrow and maybe I'll get the Belkin cable for testing purpose.

Definitely try the live chat... Considering that Apple 'co-designed' these display with LG and that these are now the 'official' Apple displays, they shouldn't just be passing the buck to LG.... Let us know what happens. Good luck.
 

kevlee

macrumors newbie
Dec 20, 2016
19
0
Just got off a call with Apple support. I've been having issues with my display constantly flickering when I plug just the Thunderbolt 3 cable provided to power and charge my 15 TB MBP. Figured out the solution to this is to also plug in the original USB C cable at the same time. I'm guessing that somehow the Thunderbolt 3 cable is unable to power the monitor and charge my laptop at the same time somehow. Not sure if it is an issue with my laptop or the LG monitor. I will find out this weekend when I bring it into the Genius bar.

Funny thing is the person i spoke to over the phone did not realize that this monitor was sold by Apple and was surprised to see in the description that it is suppose to power the monitor and charge the laptop at 85w with a single Thunderbolt 3 cable.
 

CarlosH

macrumors member
Apr 9, 2008
76
8
San Francisco, CA
So I bought the LG 5K display and was delivered two weeks ago. I was having some of the same issues reported here, mainly the flickering, etc. As soon as I installed it, it started flickering, or was completely black, no image, sometimes I was able to see my desktop for 5 seconds, and then it would go black again. I went to an Apple Store, they said this was the first time they heard about these problems, and so they gladly accepted my return. A week later, I purchased another one. Same issues. I went to the store, but this time I asked the guy if I could install it in the store, and test it with any MacBook Pro on display. After talking to a manager, he helped me set it up. The display worked flawlessly. I tried everything, and I couldn't make it fail. Tested moving the cables, using their cables, everything, but the display was rock solid. I decided to keep it, and so went back home. I installed it temporary in a different location on my desk, and to my surprise it worked. I used it for an hour, it worked flawlessly. Then I decided to move out my Thunderbolt Display, and install the LG properly. To my surprise, it didn't work. I wasn't able to get an image, or was flickering like crazy. I moved it back again to where it was, and lo and behold, it worked again. I couldn't grasp why it was failing, and I was dumbfounded to find out the issue was my Wifi routers. Of course is all electronics, but I couldn't imagine this would be an issue, I wrongly supposed these devices have shields against this type of interference. The Thunderbolt Display has an aluminum case, so I can only surmise this is the reason I didn't have any issues whatsoever.


Here's the proof:



Hopefully this will help anyone having this same issue.
 

carestudio

macrumors 6502a
Aug 6, 2008
653
164
The best resolution I could reach is 3200x1800, mine is macbook pro 2016.
the max display option is 3200, there is no 5K resolution that I can choose. any idea?
 

CarlosH

macrumors member
Apr 9, 2008
76
8
San Francisco, CA
^
I tried all the 4 ports. :(


Hold the option key while clicking the "Scaled" button, it will display one more resolution.

Honestly, 3200x1800 has great resolution and real estate, but 2560-by-1440 (Retina pixel doubled) provides a bit sharper text and assets.
 

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stevespa

macrumors member
Mar 18, 2009
44
3
Just got off a call with Apple support. I've been having issues with my display constantly flickering when I plug just the Thunderbolt 3 cable provided to power and charge my 15 TB MBP. Figured out the solution to this is to also plug in the original USB C cable at the same time. I'm guessing that somehow the Thunderbolt 3 cable is unable to power the monitor and charge my laptop at the same time somehow. Not sure if it is an issue with my laptop or the LG monitor. I will find out this weekend when I bring it into the Genius bar.

Funny thing is the person i spoke to over the phone did not realize that this monitor was sold by Apple and was surprised to see in the description that it is suppose to power the monitor and charge the laptop at 85w with a single Thunderbolt 3 cable.
I had EXACTLY the same experience. No one at Apple Support seems to know anything about this display. I have the same flickering, and I have an appointment with an authorized repair shop tomorrow. Funny thing is the system report seems to show 85W available for charging, even with just the display plugged in.
 

malreynolds

macrumors member
Jun 22, 2007
86
4
One of my displays exhibited the same problem–broken Thunderbolt 3 cable. I confirmed it by using the one from my other monitor. Why is the quality control so bad on these Thunderbolt 3 cables?

Which ones are you guys ordering as replacement?
 

kevlee

macrumors newbie
Dec 20, 2016
19
0
I had EXACTLY the same experience. No one at Apple Support seems to know anything about this display. I have the same flickering, and I have an appointment with an authorized repair shop tomorrow. Funny thing is the system report seems to show 85W available for charging, even with just the display plugged in.

Can you try plugging in the USB C cable as well? Does it work when you do that?
 

garyleecn

macrumors 6502a
Jul 25, 2014
841
142
The best resolution I could reach is 3200x1800, mine is macbook pro 2016.
the max display option is 3200, there is no 5K resolution that I can choose. any idea?

the display has a physical 5120*2880 resolution. but apple never allow you to have a pixel to pixel screen resolution option on a Retina display.
you can use an application called switchresx to achieve full 5k resolution. however under such resolution it will be very difficult for you to even read.
 

triumph71

macrumors member
Nov 16, 2014
72
29
@CarlosH how far away did you have to move the displays from the WIFI router to get the signal to work properly? I'm wondering if this is what caused both of my displays to appear broken, because I have a wifi router right behind the displays.

.... I moved it back again to where it was, and lo and behold, it worked again. I couldn't grasp why it was failing, and I was dumbfounded to find out the issue was my Wifi routers. Of course is all electronics, but I couldn't imagine this would be an issue, I wrongly supposed these devices have shields against this type of interference. The Thunderbolt Display has an aluminum case, so I can only surmise this is the reason I didn't have any issues whatsoever....
 
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hollandog

macrumors regular
Mar 13, 2014
226
82
I guess I'm the lucky few who doesn't have such issues with the display except for wake sleep issue. otherwise it's been working well.
 

baylanger

macrumors newbie
Jan 13, 2017
3
0
I just received my monitor and will call LG to get a replacement cable.

FYI I bought this cable a while back and it has same issue.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01KGU0R9W/

I find that the USB-C port w/ the power output feels loose, am I the only one? When I try to move the connector on my Mac, it doesn't move at all and signal isn't going down .. but as soon as I touch the connector on the back on the LG monitor, the monitor looses signal and then it comes back.

I get really bad result w/ the hub. I have a USB-C to USB-3.0 adapter connected to a USB hub that always worked flawlessly on my previous Macbook! I just noticed the hub works great and my USB-C cable is inserted in a "certain" position. Bottom line, the issue seems to be - not the cable - but the ports behind the monitor.
 
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markere34

macrumors newbie
Jan 13, 2017
1
0
@CarlosH how far away did you have to move the displays from the WIFI router to get the signal to work properly? I'm wondering if this is what caused both of my displays to appear broken, because I have a wifi router right behind the displays.

@CarlosH Thank you for this info! That solved my problem! It was driving me crazy trying to figure out what the problem was. I had the monitor about 1-2 feet away from my wireless router and my monitor would either cut out or not even display at all. I moved the monitor to the other side of the desk away from the router and not a single flicker since. Thanks again!
 

maxb

macrumors member
Nov 24, 2008
80
8
Montréal, Canada
That's really weird. I know some members here had bad luck with the stock cable. Are you able to try plugging in via another TB3 instead of the stock cable? If not, you may want to chat with Apple/LG and get their input. I don't think that you should be seeing such as significant drop in speed.

UPDATE on my USB-C to Gigabit Ethernet adapter connected to the display

Just as a curiosity test, I've tried BlackMagic disk test with a SSD (slow kingston V300) connected to the display and I was able to get faster speeds : about 160mb/s write and 240mb/s read so there's no reason why I would be able to pull more the 440mbps (about 44mb/s) from the Gigabit ethernet adapter.

The big question is why it behaves differently when connected directly to the MBP when I can get more speed from another device connected to the monitor.

The 2 two adaptors (1 Belkin and the other from monoprice) I've tried are using the Realtek chipset (Product ID 0x8153). Did anyone who use the same adapter can test their network speed to see if the are maxed out at 440mbps. (you can test it with a network share and BlackMagic).

I'll try an old Startech adaptor (USB1000S) with a USB-C to USB-A adaptor on monday (using ASIX AX88179 chipset) to see if it makes a difference.
 

Weaselboy

Moderator
Staff member
Jan 23, 2005
34,171
15,691
California
.. but as soon as I touch the connector on the back on the LG monitor, the monitor looses signal and then it comes back.

I had the same issue when I first got mine and unplugged the cable then plugged it back in three or four times and the problem is completely gone. I can grab the cable on the monitor end and wiggle it all around now and no flicker or signal loss occurs at all. I dunno if there was some dust or grease in there or something, but it seems fine now.
 
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stevespa

macrumors member
Mar 18, 2009
44
3
So, I fixed my problem by swinging by the Apple Store and buying (!!) a new Belkin 2m thunderbolt 3 cable. Now it works perfectly with 1 cable as intended. I think its a little strange that it would still charge my MBP with the old cable, but it wouldn't properly output the video.

Now, to see if Apple/LG/someone will refund the cable... Or ship a new one...
 

kevlee

macrumors newbie
Dec 20, 2016
19
0
So, I fixed my problem by swinging by the Apple Store and buying (!!) a new Belkin 2m thunderbolt 3 cable. Now it works perfectly with 1 cable as intended. I think its a little strange that it would still charge my MBP with the old cable, but it wouldn't properly output the video.

Now, to see if Apple/LG/someone will refund the cable... Or ship a new one...

I just got out from my appointment with the genius bar and they think it's an issue with the logic board. It's being sent off for repair now. Sigh.
 
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