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

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.

It's really a function of how the pin assignments work out on the usb-c connector. There is an extensive thread on this in the MacBook forum where there is even a hack you can apply to get 4k/60hz off the retina MacBook at the cost of your usb speed dropping to usb-2.
 
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)"

Whoops! The 21.5" 4K display has that limitation. When I saw that, I assumed the 5K display was also going to share that limitation. It does not!

However, according to Apple's website, the 21.5" 4K display has a limitation of 480mpbs.

It's really a function of how the pin assignments work out on the usb-c connector. There is an extensive thread on this in the MacBook forum where there is even a hack you can apply to get 4k/60hz off the retina MacBook at the cost of your usb speed dropping to usb-2.

But apparently the 27" 5k display, driving far more pixels, gets 5gbps USB 3.0 speeds? But the 21.5" 4k display does not?
 
Well, the original TB display used an LG panel. So, it's not that much different this time, IMHO.

What I would like to know: can you get "Apple Care" for that LG display?
 
Major miss by Apple

They tout the 5K screen on the iMac and the effort and technology that went into building it. Yet totally abandon an in-house solution for notebooks, which is the vast majority of the Mac business

It makes zero sense to me
 
Whoops! The 21.5" 4K display has that limitation. When I saw that, I assumed the 5K display was also going to share that limitation. It does not!

However, according to Apple's website, the 21.5" 4K display has a limitation of 480mpbs.



But apparently the 27" 5k display, driving far more pixels, gets 5gbps USB 3.0 speeds? But the 21.5" 4k display does not?

It looks like the 27" display uses a Thunderbolt connection, which gives it this capability. It will not be compatible with the rMB, for example. The 21.5" display is using a USB connection which is the cause of this limitation (and it is compatible with the rMB). Both use the USB-C connector type of course.

I could see from the day that the USB-C/Thunderbolt alliance was announced that there was going to be a ton of confusion. :)
 
The 4K display is listed as being compatible with the 12" MacBook.

I wonder if that means Sierra (or perhaps 10.12.1 specifically) added support for 4K at 60Hz.

The comments section on that 9 to 5 Mac article about 60Hz patching seem to indicate this is the case.
 
The 4K display is listed as being compatible with the 12" MacBook.

I wonder if that means Sierra (or perhaps 10.12.1 specifically) added support for 4K at 60Hz.

The comments section on that 9 to 5 Mac article about 60Hz patching seem to indicate this is the case.

Users in the rMB forum have been reporting success with this with some monitors after Sierra, without the patch. It does reduce speed of connected usb peripherals to 2.0.
 
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.
Make you wonder what all the design teams are up to at Apple then?
 
Has anyone ever used USB-C to 3.5mm audio passthrough on a monitor like this? I'd hate to either be stuck sending audio to a monitor speaker, or to have to run a second cable to a stereo system. When running off displayport/thunderbolt, there's generally been an audio-out option in other systems, but definitely no audio out jack here.
 
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.
I agreed. Apple is slowly getting out the Pro business. Sorry to say.
 
It is not clear what this 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.
I don't know why this display with GPU rumor has had so much traction. As I remember, it was just a couple bloggers knocking ideas around on Twitter about how to hack a high resolution display onto a Thunderbolt port when the current supported DisplayPort standard couldn't handle the bandwidth. There was never anything that actually tied it to Apple...

Apple is out of the display business. That's been clear since they discontinued the TB display.
 
Amazing. the nMP was released as a machine with 'fantastic 4K support' yet Apple have never developed a 4K monitor themselves for the product or worked with anyone else to develop a monitor for it. I wonder why Apple even bothered to release the nMP.
 
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