Hands-On With the New 4K 23.7-Inch LG UltraFine Display

[NMF]

It's a monitor. A black rectangle with an aluminum base. Anything more complicated than that would be bad.

I'm super tempted to get this. Literally the only thing keeping me from pulling the trigger is the hope that Apple's next display will have Face ID.

Makes absolutely no sense that you wouldn't want to use native resolution.

macOS always uses the native resolution. He's talking about scaling.

 

[T.j.p.]

RE: "Unfortunately, Apple's 6K display is rumored to be super pricey,"

Personally, I find that very hard to believe !

Unless it is twice the cost of similar featured 4K monitors it’s a good buy... to me at least. ‘Been waiting since 2016 to replace my 2013 Mac Pro and 2 thunderbolt displays with ‘new Mac pro’ And a single ultrawide display.

 

[JetTester]

Um, no thanks. Maybe if I wanted it for a desktop setup for a MBP, but that's the only reason I might want one. And even then, I'd rather have a larger size.

 

[JesterJJZ]

Glossy? Eww...Pass.

 

[MauiPa]

By not noticing the design at all. This is exactly how professional video monitors are made.
View attachment 838506

I'm confused. You make an argument about an ugly design by showing an even uglier one? Oh, you got me good one

 

[lec0rsaire]

Good quality displays but why are these still so expensive for their size? I picked up an LG C8 for $1500. MSRP for that was above 3 grand and these monitors aren’t on sale often, if at all but still. How can these IPS LED LCD panels still be so expensive? They don’t even go past 500 nits.

 

[PickUrPoison]

So does the larger size and lower resolution mean that it isn't technically "retina"? Because this display has a PPI that is not the same as the usual retina displays. All the retina displays have a PPI (at native resolution) of around 220, but this one has a PPI of 185.

Maybe someone will do the math, but to the extent the 24” is positioned [some unknown distance] farther away from you than the 21.5” would be, the 24” will be just as “Retina” as the smaller monitor.

Similarly the iPad’s 264 ppi looks the same as the iPhone's 326 ppi (and both are Retina) if the iPad is held a certain distance farther away from your eyes than you’d hold an iPhone.

Update: there are online calculators for viewing distance vs. ppi; for this 24.7” monitor, you’d have to be 18.5” away to be Retina, as opposed to only 15.75” for the 220 ppi 21.5” 4K and 27” 5K monitors.

So basically if you had a 21.5” monitor at a 16” viewing distance, you could replace it with this monitor and it would have the same apparent pixel density as long as you positioned it 3” farther away.

 

[WatchFromAfar]

So does the larger size and lower resolution mean that it isn't technically "retina"? Because this display has a PPI that is not the same as the usual retina displays. All the retina displays have a PPI (at native resolution) of around 220, but this one has a PPI of 185.

There's no such thing as "retina" it's a dumb buzzword made up by Apple

 

[everythingapplerainbow]

so Apple just happens to sell a display that doesn't follow Retina resolution, which is currently ~220p on Mac and the previous Ultrafine 4k/5k

 

[mrdoodle]

I don't think it's fair to say "Apple quietly released..." this monitor.

I've noticed MacRumors saying this lately for non-Apple products (eg. BlackMagic Design eGPU). Apple is not the one releasing these products. These are 3rd party product developers and companies that are releasing their product FOR Mac. Maybe there is a partnership, but these aren't Apple products.

Maybe "Apple quietly replaced the LG-branded 4K UltraFine Display to its online store" doesn't quite have the same effect.

 

[T.j.p.]

Um, no thanks. Maybe if I wanted it for a desktop setup for a MBP, but that's the only reason I might want one. And even then, I'd rather have a larger size.

6048x2880 32-34 inches diagonal. 1.5 meter radius curve. Well, and oled but that’s unlikely. And I really want a touchscreen. Mac OS supports several common ones like the acer 27 inch touchscreen but only one touch. Still awesome for testing iOS apps in the simulator. Freaks guests out in my office.

 

[jonnysods]

Oh Apple, please release monitors soon - my Thunderbolt Display's TB2 cable broke, I'm using the spare TB2 port and cable to keep it running - and I don't want to replace it with an non Apple display!

 

[vanillaspice]

Makes absolutely no sense that you wouldn't want to use native resolution.

Absolutely agree. I use the 21.4" at native resolution.

 

[Martius]

Why not just release iMac like Apple-branded aluminium monitors? What is the problem?

This monitor doesn't make any sense for me, because of the macOS scaling. Did they completely forget about that or what!?

 

[sowa]

$700 for a 24 inch 4K display? What a joke

List me some other UHD, 500nit, >97% P3 Displays.

 

[smirking]

Oh Apple, please release monitors soon - my Thunderbolt Display's TB2 cable broke, I'm using the spare TB2 port and cable to keep it running - and I don't want to replace it with an non Apple display!

There are plenty of classic Apple Cinema Displays floating around out there. You can easily get one on eBay. I'm not a fan anymore though, but I am sure glad other people still are because I was able to sell a 30" ACD last year for an amazing price considering how old the monitor was. Those aluminum beasts took up so much room and generated a massive amount of heat. I sweat so much less in my office now that I longer have a 30" hot plate in front of my face all day.
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Unless it is twice the cost of similar featured 4K monitors it’s a good buy... to me at least. ‘Been waiting since 2016 to replace my 2013 Mac Pro and 2 thunderbolt displays with ‘new Mac pro’ And a single ultrawide display.

I read somewhere on here that it's rumored that the rumored 6K display would likely have a built in eGPU, which would add to the cost, but also be a welcome addition because the LG 5K displays are already pretty hard to drive efficiently.

I'm willing to spend quite a bit on a really good display. Better monitor = better productivity for me. I'm willing to pay a premium, but I hestitate after all the struggles I've had with getting all of my programs to push buckets of pixels to my 5K. Capture One Pro actually causes my Vega 20 MBP to overheat and shut down when the 5K monitor is being used. Without the external monitor, the fans only spin up lightly.

 

[msteele]

I have the LG 5K version and at first I really didn't like the design compared to my Thunderbolt monitors. But it grew on me over time especially since the bezels are smaller and less noticeable than the Thunderbolt's and I just love love the screen quality!

 

[aakshey]

No thank you very much. I would rather buy a better Dell for much less. And it would be much bigger too.

 

[fokmik]

Unless it is twice the cost of similar featured 4K monitors it’s a good buy... to me at least. ‘Been waiting since 2016 to replace my 2013 Mac Pro and 2 thunderbolt displays with ‘new Mac pro’ And a single ultrawide display.

No way a new Apple 6k miniLED display to be under 1599$

 

[afir93]

Makes absolutely no sense that you wouldn't want to use native resolution.

Why? You are aware that 2:1 resolution scaling that „looks like 1080p/1440p“ is the standard the 4K/5K iMacs are delivered with, so why wouldn’t the same thing make sense here? If this display is set to 1920x1080 then every UI element you see on-screen is four times as sharp than if you are using it at a full „looks like 4K“ resolution, where everything on screen will be very tiny. You are still getting an equally sharp image, the interface is just larger which for many people makes more sense.

 

[basj]

I have the LG 5K version and at first I really didn't like the design compared to my Thunderbolt monitors. But it grew on me over time especially since the bezels are smaller and less noticeable than the Thunderbolt's and I just love love the screen quality!

I have the 4K version. It is really a nice monitor. However, I have two complaints:

- I am having trouble finding an egpu other than the expensive blackmagicdesign egpu because it only accepts usb-c video input. No other videocards support that.

I have an HP laptop as well with both usb- and hdmi video output. Connecting throug usb-c using windows 10 does not work (windows does not recognize the monitor as usb device), I can’t use the hdmi output as I can’t find an hdmi to usb-c video cable.

In short, it only works with mac video output usb-c capable computers. That means I can hardly sell it too.

 

[konqerror]

I have the 4K version.

In short, it only works with mac video output usb-c capable computers. That means I can hardly sell it too.

The original UltraFine 4K works on any USB-C port that supports DisplayPort Alternate Mode. This includes PCs with Thunderbolt 3 ports, and USB-C expansion cards that support DisplayPort. For HP, you can see that some models do not support DP over USB-C while some do.

I believe all of the new Nvidia cards with the VirtualLink connector will work, haven't seen evidence though.

Somebody wrote some Windows software to control the brightness.

 

[Jaekae]

How does one gets past its ugly design?

One of the cleanest design available, many others looks like they want be spaceships..

 

[Royksöpp]

I completely disagree with everyone that says it’s an ugly design. It looks much better in person. It’s simple and unobtrusive. It’s very industrial and straight forward. I find it better looking then all of the LG displays with that hideous curved silver stand and that shiny white plastic back. Now those are ugly!

 

[macpro2000]

No way a new Apple 6k miniLED display to be under 1599$

I could care less, I’m going to get 3 to hook up to the new Mac Pro when it comes out. That should last me another 5 years.