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Apple Teams Up With LG for 4K and 5K Displays Designed for New MacBook Pro

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During today's event, Apple announced that it has teamed up with LG to create 4K and 5K UltraFine Displays specifically designed to work with the new 13 and 15-inch MacBook Pro models that debuted this morning.

Priced at $1,299.95, the 27-inch 5K LG UltraFine Display features a 5120 x 2880 resolution and P3 wide color gamut. It uses multi-stream transport so it's powered by a single Thunderbolt 3 cable, which can also charge the MacBook Pro at the same time with up to 85W of power delivery.

lg5kmonitor-800x725.jpg

Three downstream USB-C ports are built into the back of the display to power additional devices and accessories, and it includes built-in stereo speakers, a camera, and a microphone. The 5K display is only compatible with the new MacBook Pro, as it requires a Thunderbolt 3 connection.

Apple and LG are also offering a 21.5-inch 4K monitor, with a resolution of 4096 x 2304 and P3 wide color gamut for $699.95. It's able to connect to the MacBook Pro or MacBook using a single USB-C or Thunderbolt 3 cable, which can also provide 60W of power for charging.

lg4kmonitor-800x642.jpg

It too includes three downstream USB-C ports to power additional devices and accessories, plus it includes built-in stereo speakers. Because it doesn't require Thunderbolt 3 connectivity, the 4K LG display works with any Mac that has a USB-C port.

The LG UltraFine 4K Display is currently available for purchase from Apple's website and will ship out in 5 to 6 weeks. The LG UltraFine 5K Display is currently listed as "Unavailable" on Apple's website and cannot yet be purchased. Apple says it will launch in December.

According to the technical specifications listed for the new MacBook Pros, which are equipped with Thunderbolt 3, the 15-inch MacBook Pro can power two 5K displays at one time or four 4K displays. The new 13-inch MacBook Pro can power one 5K display or two 4K displays. All external displays are able to run at 60Hz.

It is not clear what the LG partnership means for the future of Apple-branded displays. Apple discontinued its Thunderbolt Display earlier this year, but there were rumors suggesting a 5K display with an integrated GPU is in the works. It is not clear if the LG monitors have replaced that rumored product, or if Apple is making them available until it can produce a new Apple-branded display.

Article Link: Apple Teams Up With LG for 4K and 5K Displays Designed for New MacBook Pro
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2016/10/27/apple-4k-5k-lg-displays-new-macbook-pro/
The rear USB-C ports on the 21.5" model are 480mbps; or USB 2.0 speeds. That's really disappointing. The thunderbolt display had USB 3.0.

EDIT: Nope. Thunderbolt displays were USB 2.0 (Whoops!), and only the 4K display has USB 2.0 via C, the 5K display has full USB C.
 
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So for $1499 + $1299 , or $2798, you can run the base model 13" device with a 5K monitor.

A better option might be $1499 + $1799, or $3298, you could get a base model MacBook and a whole separate iMac which is a lot more powerful than the MacBook, lol.
 
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el-John-o said:
The rear USB-C ports are 480mbps; or USB 2.0 speeds. That's really disappointing. The thunderbolt display had USB 3.0.
Click to expand...

The TB display didn't have USB 3.0 ports: they were USB 2 ports. Yes, you can start laughing now.

P.S. Since TB 3 is still hamstrung by DP 1.2, you're not going to get full bandwidth from all three of those USB-C ports on the 5k display. Once you use the two DP 1.2 channels running over TB 3, I don't believe there's a great deal of bandwidth left.
 
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This definitely means Apple is waiting on releasing a display of their own in 2 or 3 years time. I doubt we will see one within a year. This gives enough usage time for people who buy this LG or others like it before they are enticed to buy yet another display (perhaps an 8K model to really upsell these 4K and 5K displays)
 
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el-John-o said:
The rear USB-C ports are 480mbps; or USB 2.0 speeds. That's really disappointing. The thunderbolt display had USB 3.0.
Click to expand...

There isn't enough bandwidth available to run a 4k+ display at 60hz while simultaneously supporting full USB 3+ speeds over a single cable.
 
phairphan said:
The TB display didn't have USB 3.0 ports: they were USB 2 ports. Yes, you can start laughing now.
Click to expand...

I stand corrected. Thank you!

Seems pretty ludicrous. If you're going to provide neither of the peformance advantages of USB-C, at least make them USB A ports. At USB 2.0 speed it's essentially going to be for things like input devices and older devices. All of those are going to use USB A. USB-C at USB 2.0 transfer speeds just makes absolutely no sense.
 
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phairphan said:
The TB display didn't have USB 3.0 ports: they were USB 2 ports. Yes, you can start laughing now.
Click to expand...

Where do you see that? On Apple's website it says: "Ports: One Thunderbolt 3 (input), three USB-C (USB 3.1 gen 1, 5Gbps)"

....
 
Why no new iMac no wonder the Apple stock is doing terrible and wasted their time once again to have huge convention over just a MacBook. When will Tim Cook be replaced with someone who's innovative.
 
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alazhaarp said:
Does it mean that apple won't release any display themselves?
Click to expand...

el-John-o said:
Don't bet on it. Apple wouldn't be pitching another company's product only to release their own. I doubt very much we'll see another Apple Display.
Click to expand...

While I would agree with that, it does sound like they have their own in the works, and it's based off of the internals of this LG.
 
el-John-o said:
I stand corrected. Thank you!

Seems pretty ludicrous. If you're going to provide neither of the peformance advantages of USB-C, at least make them USB A ports. At USB 2.0 speed it's essentially going to be for things like input devices and older devices. All of those are going to use USB A. USB-C at USB 2.0 transfer speeds just makes absolutely no sense.
Click to expand...

Where do you see that? On Apple's website it says: "Ports: One Thunderbolt 3 (input), three USB-C (USB 3.1 gen 1, 5Gbps)"
 
To all the people who insisted I was wrong when I said there will not be anymore Apple displays.....still think that? It looks very clear that Apple is not interested in making displays anymore.
 
zhenya said:
There isn't enough bandwidth available to run a 4k+ display at 60hz while simultaneously supporting full USB 3+ speeds over a single cable.
Click to expand...

I was mistaken in believing the thunderbolt display had USB 3.0 which led me to believe Thunderbolt 3 had the bandwidth for it. Thunderbolt 3 supports 40gbps, and USB 3.0 is 5gbps. Even a single shared 5gbps USB 3.0 setup running across three or four ports, seems like it would work fine; and leave enough room for a 5K display. HDMI 2.0 supports 18gbps; or less than half of the speed of Thunderbolt 3, and supports up to 4k. 5k is a LOT more pixels than 4k, I realize that; but I was just under the assumption that it could still work.

But I'll stand by the criticism that if they cannot support Thunderbolt or USB 3.0 through USB-C, than the better option is USB 2.0 USB-A ports. Ethernet would be nice, too, if even 1gbps could be spared.
 
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