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13" 2018 MBP with Ultrafine 5k?

rkwon

rkwon

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Hey everyone, I'm thinking about getting the base model 13" 2018 MacBook Pro and also picking up the LG Ultrafine 5k as an external monitor. I've seen people say good things about the setup with the Blackmagic eGPU but wanted to hear if anyone with the 13", monitor, and NO eGPU has experiences they'd like to share. I know the 13" can definitely run the monitor but not sure how much performance will suffer being attached to a 5k monitor.
 
If you want to simulate what the experience would be like, you can use something like SwitchResX, add 5120×2880 as a custom resolution, then select 2560x1440 HiDPI as a resolution. That actually will have a bit more overhead as the OS will have to downscale to a non-native res, but it should be reasonably close.
 
There were both good experience and bad experience reports in the forum previously.

I think I will also go for the same setup soon.
 
I have the 13" i5/512/16GB connected to a 27" 27UD88 LG 4K monitor - while it's not 5k, it's fine when in normal use, however it does become laggy in certain situations such as resizing windows very quickly, moving the window around when playing a 4K YouTube video etc.

My 2016 15" MBP handles the 4K monitor better than the 13" 2018, however that's due to the dedicated graphics.
 
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I've used the 2016 13" on the Ultrafine and am currently using a 2018 13" on the 27" 27UD88 LG 4K. Haven't had any problems (laggy 4k videos or anything) whatsoever.
 
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Those who are using the 4K 27-inch monitors, how's the text sharpness on 2560x1440 scaled resolution? Is it a bit fuzzy or is it quite sharp?
 
pubmsu said:
Those who are using the 4K 27-inch monitors, how's the text sharpness on 2560x1440 scaled resolution? Is it a bit fuzzy or is it quite sharp?
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I find it quite good. Not as crisp as looking at the MBP display, but you'll forget about it within less than a minute of using it
 
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rkwon said:
Hey everyone, I'm thinking about getting the base model 13" 2018 MacBook Pro and also picking up the LG Ultrafine 5k as an external monitor. I've seen people say good things about the setup with the Blackmagic eGPU but wanted to hear if anyone with the 13", monitor, and NO eGPU has experiences they'd like to share. I know the 13" can definitely run the monitor but not sure how much performance will suffer being attached to a 5k monitor.
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I just upgraded mine from 2017 13' to 2018 15' alone with Blackmagic eGPU.

Since 2018 13' are not so different about Intel's Graphic card, I can tell you you can drive a 5K display but it will be like dog laggy.
My 2017 13' drives a 4K display and it can't even open a Launchpad folder smoothly.

Get a 15' or eGPU.
 
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airlied said:
I just upgraded mine from 2017 13' to 2018 15' alone with Blackmagic eGPU.

Since 2018 13' are not so different about Intel's Graphic card, I can tell you you can drive a 5K display but it will be like dog laggy.
My 2017 13' drives a 4K display and it can't even open a Launchpad folder smoothly.

Get a 15' or eGPU.
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That's very disappointing. I was planning to get the 13-inch for portability.
 
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pubmsu said:
That's very disappointing. I was planning to get the 13-inch for portability.
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The 2016 13" mpb no Touch Bar can drive the 5k at 2560x1440, but when scrolling it lags a bit. Anything higher and the dropped frames are pretty noticeable. At native resolution, the performance is barely ok for the average person, definitely not OK for anyone who cares even a little bit about smoothness. Since you are visiting this forum, I'd say you will be disappointed.
 
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YouTube is full of videos about the MacBook Pro 2018 – Too bad I haven't found any that show 4K or 5K display performance on the 13" models (without eGPU).
 
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Zippy99 said:
I've had a 2018 MBP 13 TB (i5/16G/1TB) with 5K UltraFine for a few weeks now. My plan was to return the monitor should it not meet my expectations given the price. It works flawlessly, no complaints.
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This is very encouraging!

So you're not noticing the type of lags or framedrops that others are referring to for 2017/16 models? Are the mission control window animations super smooth?

And by any chance did you use any other additional monitor while also using the 5K with the 2018 13-inch? For example, I plan to use at least one 1080p monitor and if possible another 4K, too. I know that's definitely asking much, but at least an additional 1080p could work well if the main 5K is handled by it smoothly.
 
pubmsu said:
This is very encouraging!

So you're not noticing the type of lags or framedrops that others are referring to for 2017/16 models? Are the mission control window animations super smooth?

And by any chance did you use any other additional monitor while also using the 5K with the 2018 13-inch? For example, I plan to use at least one 1080p monitor and if possible another 4K, too. I know that's definitely asking much, but at least an additional 1080p could work well if the main 5K is handled by it smoothly.
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All the OS animations are all silky smooth, with the exception of one issue: sometimes the genie effect on the Mail app stops mid-stream for a few seconds. That is the only hitch I've noticed. Seems more like a Mail bug since its specific to that app. I don't run an external monitor so I can't comment on that.

Overall the 2018 MBP 13 + 5K monitor has been excellent (as it should given how expensive the package is compared to an iMac). The only thing missing (and I didn't know this until shortly before the purchase) is that MacOS doesn't support automatically dimming the UltraFine monitor based on ambient light. Its an unfortunate short-coming, but minor in the grand scheme of things.
 
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Just chipping in - 2016 i7 13" TB and LG 5k display.

I've generally been happy with performance over the past few years. I use the 5k display at the native resolution and it's been fine. Occasionally I have noticed some choppiness with mission control, but not all of the time, and in no way interferes with my everyday work (software development).

Can only imagine its even better with the 2017/2018 models.
 
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I don't understand how people can have such wildly different experiences with these monitors.

I have a 2018 MBP 13 i5. Was planning to upgrade my old Thunderbolt Display since the connectors no longer work and I don't feel like buying adapters. I was planning on buying a 4k monitor which I assume would be fine, but this thread is kind of discouraging. Still will likely buy the LG 4k once I sell my Thunderbolt Display. 5k monitor is too much of premium at the moment with somewhat diminishing returns for the extra dollar. Plus all the apparent performance issues...
 
DL16 said:
I don't understand how people can have such wildly different experiences with these monitors.

I have a 2018 MBP 13 i5. Was planning to upgrade my old Thunderbolt Display since the connectors no longer work and I don't feel like buying adapters. I was planning on buying a 4k monitor which I assume would be fine, but this thread is kind of discouraging. Still will likely buy the LG 4k once I sell my Thunderbolt Display. 5k monitor is too much of premium at the moment with somewhat diminishing returns for the extra dollar. Plus all the apparent performance issues...
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You should have no problem with the 4K. The problems if at all, start with dual 4K or 5K.
 
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I'm actually seeing quite much lag with my MacBook Pro 2016, Radeon 455. Especially as I drag a corner of an application window and resize it really fast back and forth. It won't lag when just moving a window, but resizing it is very laggy. Also sometimes dragging and dropping things. These problems are only with the 5K monitor. Does anyone know if these things is better with an egpu?
 
old thread I know, but I'd like to throw my 2 cents in here as well

MB Pro 13 inch 2017 fully spec'ed (3,5 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i7, 116 GB 2133 MHz LPDDR3, 1TB SSD, Iris Plus 650 1.5GB Graphics) attached to a 5k2k LG Monitor (34WK95U)

works as expected and no problems whatsoever. few comments though:
- native resolution not doable for me (5120x2160@1x)
- default for the screen 2560x1080@2x looks awsome but the interface looks a bit to big
- scaled "more space" 3360x1417@2x looks perfect size wise but although sharp I still feel is not as sharp as the default one.

i keep going back and forth between scaled and default and always I'm amased by the sharpness of the default. but i have to admit i'm still not sure if it's also 'cause being bigger I see better 😀

anyway getting back to performance i looks like scaled really eats in performance. 4k youtube in scaled is choppy while in default plays butter smooth so i can only assume that this is the impact in performance highlighted in the settings (basically it drives a 6720x2834@1x resolution scaled back to half of it)

i thought egpus and stuff but don't really need them. i'd like though to run 4k youtube w/o the fans maxed out or to watch 4k60p youtube but there an egpu would not help due to VP9 which is CPU decoded on mac (AFAIK)
 
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