Hi All,
First post here, thanks for the useful information people have put together in these forums, I have often found them very useful! I do have a definitive question to ask, so here it is first:
Should my MacBook Pro be compatible with LG38wk95c monitor to be used as external display (details of the connections I tried to follow!)?
My MacBook Pro: 16" 2.3GHz 9-core i9, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD, not far off top spec. (purchased Dec 2019)
macOS: Catalina 10.15.5
LG monitor: 38" ultra wide, code LG38wk95c
If someone have a similar setup and it works for them, please let me know, then at least I know it SHOULD work. You may have guessed by now that it does not work for me, and I have tried a great deal.
This is some of what I have tried already to get them to work:
(1) MBP -> usb c cable -> monitor: very poor colours, and unable to adjust contrast or sharpness on the monitor!
(2) MBP -> USB C to HDMI adopter -> HDMI -> monitor: very poor colours, and unable to adjust contrast or sharpness on the monitor! However, I can set the monitor to "hdmi compatibility mode" which improves the colours a great deal, but that results in 30 Hz refresh rate. Also the monitor manual says "hdmi compatibility mode" is intended for legacy / old machines. It should be noted I can adjust contrast and sharpness in this mode. 🙂
In an attempt to solve the problem, I splashed more cash on a Razer Core X + amd radeon rx 5700 xt. So adding this to the mix:
(3) MBP -> Thunderbolt 3 -> eGPU -> DP cable -> monitor: very poor colours, and unable to adjust contrast or sharpness on the monitor!
(4) MBP -> Thunderbolt 3 -> eGPU -> HDMI cable -> monitor: very poor colours, and unable to adjust contrast or sharpness on the monitor!
In fact, my problem started before this LG monitor! Last week, I actually bought an MSI 34 inch optix mag341cq, and tried all 4 setups above, the results, we worse than the above, for example (3) produced no picture or constantly flickering picture on the monitor. I was furious with...MSI of course, for producing such a defective rubbish monitor, since I thought my MBP is very obviously not the issue. So I returned it and bought the LG! Well, it didn't turn out as I thought after all!
My attempts to make it work didn't stop there, I also:
* Reset PRAM
* Reset SMC
* All of the above has been tried on both Catalina 10.15.14 and 10.15.15, with the latter after I done a complete erasure factory reset
* Install Windows 10 bootcamp on a partition. (Also did not function correctly, could not get above 30 Hz refresh rate)
I have also tried the monitor with my Windows PC, and it worked fine, correct resolution at 60 Hz. I don't think I am asking for much here...🙂
I have also been in contact with Apple, who after some rambling finally decided to book a repair job for me, so I am currently waiting collection from Apple.
I still have the MBP for now, if anyone has similar experience, or have ideas for a solution, please let me know. This has been an epic fight, I feel exhausted and frankly mystified and bemused that it has turned out like this. I bought 2 iMacs and a MBP prior to this, previous 3 times, I was stingy and only bought refurbished ones on the cheap. They worked so fabulously that this time around, I committed myself to treat myself to my own MBP, all mine! 🙂 Then this happened, hahaha 🙂
Well, a long post, I hope my reading my experience has provided some entertainment value!
First post here, thanks for the useful information people have put together in these forums, I have often found them very useful! I do have a definitive question to ask, so here it is first:
Should my MacBook Pro be compatible with LG38wk95c monitor to be used as external display (details of the connections I tried to follow!)?
My MacBook Pro: 16" 2.3GHz 9-core i9, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD, not far off top spec. (purchased Dec 2019)
macOS: Catalina 10.15.5
LG monitor: 38" ultra wide, code LG38wk95c
If someone have a similar setup and it works for them, please let me know, then at least I know it SHOULD work. You may have guessed by now that it does not work for me, and I have tried a great deal.
This is some of what I have tried already to get them to work:
(1) MBP -> usb c cable -> monitor: very poor colours, and unable to adjust contrast or sharpness on the monitor!
(2) MBP -> USB C to HDMI adopter -> HDMI -> monitor: very poor colours, and unable to adjust contrast or sharpness on the monitor! However, I can set the monitor to "hdmi compatibility mode" which improves the colours a great deal, but that results in 30 Hz refresh rate. Also the monitor manual says "hdmi compatibility mode" is intended for legacy / old machines. It should be noted I can adjust contrast and sharpness in this mode. 🙂
In an attempt to solve the problem, I splashed more cash on a Razer Core X + amd radeon rx 5700 xt. So adding this to the mix:
(3) MBP -> Thunderbolt 3 -> eGPU -> DP cable -> monitor: very poor colours, and unable to adjust contrast or sharpness on the monitor!
(4) MBP -> Thunderbolt 3 -> eGPU -> HDMI cable -> monitor: very poor colours, and unable to adjust contrast or sharpness on the monitor!
In fact, my problem started before this LG monitor! Last week, I actually bought an MSI 34 inch optix mag341cq, and tried all 4 setups above, the results, we worse than the above, for example (3) produced no picture or constantly flickering picture on the monitor. I was furious with...MSI of course, for producing such a defective rubbish monitor, since I thought my MBP is very obviously not the issue. So I returned it and bought the LG! Well, it didn't turn out as I thought after all!
My attempts to make it work didn't stop there, I also:
* Reset PRAM
* Reset SMC
* All of the above has been tried on both Catalina 10.15.14 and 10.15.15, with the latter after I done a complete erasure factory reset
* Install Windows 10 bootcamp on a partition. (Also did not function correctly, could not get above 30 Hz refresh rate)
I have also tried the monitor with my Windows PC, and it worked fine, correct resolution at 60 Hz. I don't think I am asking for much here...🙂
I have also been in contact with Apple, who after some rambling finally decided to book a repair job for me, so I am currently waiting collection from Apple.
I still have the MBP for now, if anyone has similar experience, or have ideas for a solution, please let me know. This has been an epic fight, I feel exhausted and frankly mystified and bemused that it has turned out like this. I bought 2 iMacs and a MBP prior to this, previous 3 times, I was stingy and only bought refurbished ones on the cheap. They worked so fabulously that this time around, I committed myself to treat myself to my own MBP, all mine! 🙂 Then this happened, hahaha 🙂
Well, a long post, I hope my reading my experience has provided some entertainment value!