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What's the refresh rate on the 5k display? Because Thunderbolt 3's DisplayPort is limited to DP 1.2, which doesn't have the bandwidth to drive a 5k display at 60Hz.
 
What's the refresh rate on the 5k display? Because Thunderbolt 3's DisplayPort is limited to DP 1.2, which doesn't have the bandwidth to drive a 5k display at 60Hz.

The 5k is native Thunderbolt- it does not need to limit itself to the DP channel. It is a full 5k/60hz display.
 
Indeed, I think it's fugly. The LG 27" 4K ultra-slim (27UD68-W @ $400 or 27UD88-W with USB-C @ $500) with thin profile, thin bezels, and a white back is much more attractive.

Exactly. I cannot wrap my head around why Apple would even associate themselves with these things. Either make your own or say nothing other than that the MacBook Pro is capable of driving a 5K display over a single cable.
 
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Exactly. I cannot wrap my head around why Apple would even associate themselves with these things. Either make your own or say nothing other than that the MacBook Pro is capable of driving a 5K display over a single cable.

In their defense, they did barely say anything about it, lol (but yeah, they really shouldn't have said anything at all). But smh @ that design, looks outdated already. LG's design team must of said, "yeah, let's give them the worst thing we've got, to attract sales to our other USB-C monitors."

*sighs*
 
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Exactly. I cannot wrap my head around why Apple would even associate themselves with these things. Either make your own or say nothing other than that the MacBook Pro is capable of driving a 5K display over a single cable.

It's not a bad design. Very simple. Plus, I'm sure Apple wants to provide something immediately that can take advantage of Thunderbolt 3. For example, the monitor itself can charge your MBP through that connection.
 
The thunderbolt display had USB 3.0.

No it didn't - it was USB 2.0. One of the reasons it was so out of date.

With the new displays, its the 4k one that only supports USB 2.0 speeds, the 5k one has "Three USB-C (USB 3.1 Gen 1, 5 Gbps)".

Looks like the two displays are actually using different technologies: the 4k one connects via "plain" USB-C, which means it uses USB-C's "DisplayPort Alternate Mode". USB-C has 4 pairs of high speed data wires plus 1 pair for "legacy" USB-2 signals. In DisplayPort Alternate Mode, some or all of the high-speed pairs are physically dedicated to DisplayPort signals. Unfortunately, Intel's USB-C/TB3 controller only supports DisplayPort 1.2, so to get 4k at a decent refresh rate takes over all 4 of those pairs just to run the display, leaving only the legacy USB-2 channel for other uses.


As for 5k, you can't do that with just 4 DisplayPort 1.2 data pairs - remember the Dell 5k display needs *two* DisplayPort 1.2 cables. However, Thunderbolt 3 works in a different way: rather than physically allocating wires to DisplayPort alone, the displayport *data* gets moshed together with the rest of the Thunderbolt signal so the display & peripheral data shares the same physical wires - the DisplayPort connection is a "virtual" one. Plus, Thunderbolt 3 has enough bandwidth to provide *two* virtual DisplayPort cables (8 virtual "wires") down a single physical cable, so it can can drive a 5k display and still fit some high-speed USB data around the edges.

That said - it probably doesn't make sense to hang your USB3.0 RAID array off the same pipe as a bandwidth-hogging 5k display. If you're gonna go 5k *and* want seriously fast external storage you can probably forget the whole single-cable docking thing until Thunderbolt 4 rolls around (...by which time you'll probably want a 25k display wall...)

USB-C DisplayPort mode *can* support 5k by using DisplayPort 1.3's higher data rate (although, again, that only leaves the legacy USB 2) but *not* when the computer's usb-c controller and GPU only support DisplayPort 1.2 - and that currently includes anything with an Intel USB-C controller (which is part of their Thunderbolt 3 controller). Complaints on a post card to Intel.

That said - while I do like the idea of port unification - I do agree that the *display* could have done with at least a USB-A port to plug your keyboard and mouse into.
 
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It's not a bad design. Very simple. Plus, I'm sure Apple wants to provide something immediately that can take advantage of Thunderbolt 3. For example, the monitor itself can charge your MBP through that connection.

Yea, how about they take their $200B in the bank and piles of aluminum and build their own 5K Thunderbolt 3 Display....sell for $1,299 and watch the money pour in? I simply don't understand why they wouldn't just do this themselves.
 
The ability to charge the notebook from the display is brilliant.

I thought Thunderbolt Displays already did this?
[doublepost=1477603441][/doublepost]If only there was a new Mac Mini with a decent GPU that you could connect to this monitor.

But, having said that, this monitor would bring down the design esthetic of any Apple device, it's fugly.
 
No it didn't - it was USB 2.0. One of the reasons it was so out of date.

With the new displays, its the 4k one that only supports USB 2.0 speeds, the 5k one has "Three USB-C (USB 3.1 Gen 1, 5 Gbps)".

Looks like the two displays are actually using different technologies: the 4k one connects via "plain" USB-C, which means it uses USB-C's "DisplayPort Alternate Mode". USB-C has 4 pairs of high speed data wires plus 1 pair for "legacy" USB-2 signals. In DisplayPort Alternate Mode, some or all of the high-speed pairs are physically dedicated to DisplayPort signals. Unfortunately, Intel's USB-C/TB3 controller only supports DisplayPort 1.2, so to get 4k at a decent refresh rate takes over all 4 of those pairs just to run the display, leaving only the legacy USB-2 channel for other uses.


As for 5k, you can't do that with just 4 DisplayPort 1.2 data pairs - remember the Dell 5k display needs *two* DisplayPort 1.2 cables. However, Thunderbolt 3 works in a different way: rather than physically allocating wires to DisplayPort alone, the displayport *data* gets moshed together with the rest of the Thunderbolt signal so the display & peripheral data shares the same physical wires - the DisplayPort connection is a "virtual" one. Plus, Thunderbolt 3 has enough bandwidth to provide *two* virtual DisplayPort cables (8 virtual "wires") down a single physical cable, so it can can drive a 5k display and still fit some high-speed USB data around the edges.

That said - it probably doesn't make sense to hang your USB3.0 RAID array off the same pipe as a bandwidth-hogging 5k display. If you're gonna go 5k *and* want seriously fast external storage you can probably forget the whole single-cable docking thing until Thunderbolt 4 rolls around (...by which time you'll probably want a 25k display wall...)

USB-C DisplayPort mode *can* support 5k by using DisplayPort 1.3's higher data rate (although, again, that only leaves the legacy USB 2) but *not* when the computer's usb-c controller and GPU only support DisplayPort 1.2 - and that currently includes anything with an Intel USB-C controller (which is part of their Thunderbolt 3 controller). Complaints on a post card to Intel.

That said - while I do like the idea of port unification - I do agree that the *display* could have done with at least a USB-A port to plug your keyboard and mouse into.

No, you're probably not going to run a RAID Array via the display. Though perhaps a single external drive or something. However, you WILL likely be hooking up peripherals and the like, which is why USB 3.0 Type A would make more sense, IMHO, on a display. Which, in truth, USB 2.0 could handle just fine.
 
LG makes better looking display cases however:

HOW do they get P3 color gamut without going to OLEDs??? I've noticed this in all of apple's new products for about the last year (iMacs/9.7" iPad Pro/iPhone 7/7+), this is the best feature of these devices displays (plus the cameras in the 7/7+ capture P3 color)...any photographer or cinematographer or video editor would agree with me.

And, at least it has a VESA mount.

And, I seriously doubt apple will come out with their own display any time soon, this appears to be a compromise...iMac 4K/5K P3 panels (21.5" & 27") in LG's cases.
 
Should have teamed up with Nvidia to be able to actually drive a screen with that resolution.

It's not about the graphics chip.

If you read the numerous articles posted here on the matter you'd know that a 5k display would require DisplayPort 1.3 or 1.4 which is not supported by current Intel chip offerings. Rather than wait another year or two, they compromised and used MST to drive the display over DisplayPort 1.2.
 
I must say this monitor situation is getting near to the final straw with me and Apple and our now 18 year relationship.

I hope you are reading this Apple, as I have spent a fortune with you in the past, but not the future.

Funny how Microsoft gets it......
 
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.

Seems to me like Apple is very much "focusing" on what's more important for the company. Everyone on MR accuses Apple of lacking "focus" now, right?

Well you tell me what makes more sense for Apples engineers to spend their limited focus on. Universal displays that anyone else can make just as good, or entire computer systems that have integrated displays? I know which one I would pick if I were Apples management.

Which is why Apple partnered with LG, and basically has one display with Apples seal of approval for those that want an external display with their MBP or MP. Apple doesn't need to manufacture their own for such a low volume product.
 
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.

Yeah, I'm going to hold off and wait for an iMac to be updated to TB3 and see if it can be used in target display mode.
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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)

Who updates their display every 2/3 years? I'm still rocking a 23" 1080p from over 8 years ago.
 
I thought Thunderbolt Displays already did this?
[doublepost=1477603441][/doublepost]If only there was a new Mac Mini with a decent GPU that you could connect to this monitor.

But, having said that, this monitor would bring down the design esthetic of any Apple device, it's fugly.
They did, but it required 2 cable inputs. 1 for Magsafe and 1 for Thunderbolt.
 
Exactly. I cannot wrap my head around why Apple would even associate themselves with these things. Either make your own or say nothing other than that the MacBook Pro is capable of driving a 5K display over a single cable.

But then people would be confused and think they could pick up any display port based 5K monitor. To drive 5K 60hz on single cable requires thunderbolt which most 5K monitors would not support.
 
Yeah, I'm going to hold off and wait for an iMac to be updated to TB3 and see if it can be used in target display mode.
[doublepost=1477606877][/doublepost]

Who updates their display every 2/3 years? I'm still rocking a 23" 1080p from over 8 years ago.
Hah I've got a nice 27" 1920x1200 IPS polarized display from 2008 that I'm still using, but the colors have shifted enough over time that I can't calibrate it for design and photography work any more, along with getting some gouges in the matte display from many moves in college, marriage, and having kids. The connectors are also kind of loose so it blacks out sometimes. It was a great monitor though, but was kind of pricey at $800. Worth it, but I really need to freaking upgrade. Can't wait for that iMac. Sucks that they can't be hooked up to an Xbox or anything anymore though, just another thunderbolt machine from what I can tell. That alone makes me tempted to get a standalone 4K display like that new LG one for $699, and maybe a used MBP from the last two years that can run 4K. Then I can just hook that thing up to the Xbox "Scorpio" next year and try out some 4K gaming.
 
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