Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

LG 27" UltraFine 5K Replacement

M

MarketingGuy

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 6, 2010
113
11
Hillsborough, NJ
I purchased the UltraFine 5K when I got my new 2017 15" MacBook Pro about 3 years ago. I upgraded to a fully loaded 16" MacBook Pro as soon as they were announced. While the monitor has served me well, I have been experiencing issues for months with it not waking up from sleep requiring a variety of troubling shooting steps (unplugging and plugging back in the USB-C cable, opening and closing the laptop lid, and restarting the computer). It seems to be getting worse or I'm loosing my patience. Either way, it's a well documented issue on this forum.

My wife just started working from home because of COVID-19 and her company issued her a 34" Dell Ultrawide monitor (U3419W). I tested it with my MacBook Pro and it turned on instantly when waking from sleep. That coupled with the fact that I definitely need more monitor space (I own an advertising agency and have tons of windows / apps open all the time), got me thinking about what alternatives might exist. I'm not keen on dual-monitor configurations as I prefer to have my main work content dead center with other items pushed to the sides.

So, does anyone have any recommendations?

Dell U3419W is nice, but I'm struggling with giving up HiDPI (lack of mic and camera are not deal breakers). Has anyone moved from the LG Ultrafine 5K to a 3440x1440 UltraWide and are happy with the tradeoff? What about one of those 49" beasts that runs at 5120x1440 (Samsung CRG9, Dell U4919DW, or LG 49WL95C-W)?

Another option is the LG 5K2K monitor (34WK95U-W) in scaled mode (3440x1440). Any experience with this monitor? This might be close enough to full HiDPI (heck MacBook Pros now run scaled be default) but want to check on artifacitng.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated -- thanks!
 
Hey MarketingGuy, I don't have a great answer for you but I'm interested in other responses as well. FWIW I use both a LG5K Ultrafine (displayed @1440 resolution) and a LG Ultrawide (34" @ 3440x1440). So what I end up with is a whole lotta real estate which is necessary for my business use case, kinda like yours; and one HiDPI monitor (LG5K UF) and one 'LowDPI' monitor (LGUW) sitting beside each other. The difference for me is noticeable enough that I've been thinking about getting rid of the LowDPI UW and going to two LG5Ks in a dual monitor setup but I can't quite make myself do it because I don't want to lose the real estate. I also think about the LG 5K2K occasionally but it's a half-way solution - better than the UW but not as good as the UF. Running it scaled to 1440 is how I'd do it but I'm not sure I want to put that 'scale tax' on the GPU so I keep looking for a magic solution.

So - no good answer for you, sorry, but I do notice the difference with the two monitors sitting beside each other. Every couple of days I stare at the UW and think "could I live with just this?...I could live with just this, right?" but then I pull something up on the UF and it looks like butter and I say "nope, HiDPI matters".
 
I'm also curious to hear some suggestions. I've been spending more time on my Macbook Pro's Retina display rather than being tied to my monitor, and now I'm craving a monitor that can do 4k/5k.
 
Hey WP31 -- I think you and I have very similar reactions to DPI vs size. I just walked by my wife's desk and I'm definitely jealous of all of the real estate. But, then I sat down at my desk and the Dell 34" UW just looks so grainy and dull in comparison to the crisp text and beautiful color of the LG 5K UltraFine.

Unlike you, I'm not so keen on dual displays. I hate having a bezel right in middle and if I center one display, the other seems far away. Maybe I just haven't tried hard enough. How do you have yours oriented -- one centered and one to the side or both centered? Do you pitch in the displays?
 
After careful consideration, I've decided to order another 27" LG UltraFine 5K. I'm still not sure exactly how I will set it up (one flat directly in front of me with one next to it at an angle or both in front centering the gap between them) but I really need the extra monitor space. My desk is huge so it can support any configuration.
 
The logical setup is having one dead centre, and the other at the side, toed in at maybe a 40 degree angle.

That thing people do where multiple big monitors are all arranged flat as a board, and additionally with the user sitting in front of a double-bezel is silly. It's natural that one monitor in a multi-monitor setup inevitably becomes thought of as the "main". No point trying to fight it and pretend they are completely equal.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Ledgem
You said: " I have been experiencing issues for months with it not waking up from sleep requiring a variety of troubling shooting steps"

I have the exact same problem with my 5K UltraFine and 16 inch. It wakes maybe 60% of the time. It's super painful if you have a drive attached that you can't see to eject because of the sleeping display.

I'll tell you though, for most of my 5K's life it's been hooked to a 2017 5K iMac and it had ZERO problems waking.

I just think there is something about the laptop's Thunderbolt connection that's causing the problem.
 
I too experience the same issues. I too believe it is the Macbook Pro 16 graphics or T3 issue. I have dual LG's 5K monitors that worked flawlessly when I had the MBP 2018 15" (Vega card). Ever since the 16" I have the sleep wake up issues. I even purchased T3 cables from Apple as the original cables may have been the problem (they were not) I have called Apple and they do not know what to suggest
 
  • Like
Reactions: FrankCataldi14
I actually attributed it to Mac OS but you are probably right, it did start around the time I got the 16” MacBook Pro. The original cable that came with the LG died about a year ago and I replaced it with the Apple one. For some reason, the issue seems to have completely cleared up since my original post. The only thing I changed was turning off the power setting to put hard disks to sleep when possible.

The reason that I decided to double down on the UltraFine 5K monitors is because nothing else seems to check as many boxes. I can’t stand regular DPI monitors anymore. I tried so hard to adjust to my wife’s Dell Ultrawide and couldn’t get past the visible pixels and jagged text. And, yes, it was running at native resolution in RGB color space. I realized I have an old Thunderbolt Display in the basement which was no better. My parents have a 27” 4K that while better was still not nearly as sharp as the 5K. Things then got worse once I scaled it to show the same equivalent as the 5K (2560x1440) since at default HiDPI resolution, everything was too big.

I have been forced to reluctantly conclude that the 5K is the best monitor for me at this time. When they release a true HiDPI Ultrawide, I’ll be first in line to buy it. Until then, I’ll live with a dual 5K setup.

So, here is the irony. The latest MacOS update that came out this week was supposed to fix an issue where the 5K screen wakes up at full brightness. I never had that issue but of course now I do after the update.
 
  • Like
Reactions: FrankCataldi14
Hey MarketingGuy - sorry for my slow response. Yeah, I have once monitor offset to the side so the bezels aren't directly in front of my face. Copuple other notes: My LGUW is curved so I have a curved and flat screen mixed together. I don't really notice it but I occasionally think that I would if I had two of the same and went back to a setup like this. I also have a large desk so there is plenty of space. Enough even for two UWs, which I would do if there were any decent HiDPI UWs. I'm also completely into the Apple ecosystem so it's only Macs for me. Which also means I only want TB3 monitors and I like the ability to control the the 5kUF from my computer, which some people dislike.

It sounds like we may have similar wants/needs so I'm interested in your thoughts on how your 2 x UF setup works out. Let me know if you like it.
 
So, did your new monitor arrive and did you set it up? If so how?

I'm also personally interested in this as I am facing a similar dilemma. I have a 27" 5K iMac dead center and in addition to not wanting a massive thick bezel right in front of my face the speakers would also be off to one side, which adds a whole extra layer of NO! to this idea. On the one hand, a 49" 5120x1440 Ultrawide would be very tempting but I would hate to loose the crispness and beauty of a HiDPI display. On the other, I do have a second 27" 4K display at home that my wife is currently using because I've had no real use for it. I've tried putting it on the right-hand side of my iMac at an angle but it ended up taking up too much desk space even though my desk is fairly large (59" x 29") and my iMac is already pretty far left and pushed all the way back and raised slightly for better ergonomics.

How did you end up setting up your dual 27" configuration?
 
So, it went pretty well. I tried two configurations. First, I tried both monitors side my side with the bezels meeting in the middle right in front of me and the outer edges angled in toward me. As expected, I hated it. My head was constantly twisting which really bothered me. Then, I tried moving one monitor right in front me and the second monitor off to the side. This was actually very comfortable. I learned that the monitor that is not directly in front of me was best on the side of my dominant eye (I'm right handed but my left eye is dominant, so moving it to the left made the most sense).

I'm very happy with this setup! I still would prefer a single curved monitor, but I'd rather have the much higher resolution of the 5K monitors. The one thing that did both me is the colors where different between monitors. Thankfully, I have an X-Rite i1Display Pro which I used to calibrate both monitors and now they are perfectly matched.

The only thing I noticed is that my primary monitor is a little further back than I would like so I busted ordered a dual display stand. https://www.amazon.com/VIVO-Adjusta...rds=dual+monitor+stand&qid=1585755793&sr=8-15 That should help move it forward while the other side monitor hangs of the desk more (can't achieve currently because of the individual stands). I'll let you know how it works.

IMG_3246.jpeg
 
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
  • Like
Reactions: WP31 and mj_
Can I ask you how are you running the two 5K Ultrafine displays? I thought you couldn't daisy chain because this display has only one Thunderbolt 3 port vs the 4K Ultrafine that has two thunderbolt 3 ports...
 
igetit said:
Can I ask you how are you running the two 5K Ultrafine displays? I thought you couldn't daisy chain because this display has only one Thunderbolt 3 port vs the 4K Ultrafine that has two thunderbolt 3 ports...
Click to expand...

You are correct, you can't daisy chain 2 5K UltraFines because Thunderbolt 3 doesn't have the bandwidth to support both displays. I have each display plugging into my 16" MacBook Pro, one on each side. The UltraFine comes with a nice long cable which makes this easy. The original cable on my first UltraFine failed a year ago so I replaced with the shorter Apple Thunderbolt 3 cable.
 
Awesome, thanks! I didn't realize the macbook pro could run to 5K displays if connected directly 🤔 I wonder if my MacBook Pro 15" (2018) can get away with that. If it could, I would probably just get one 5K Ultrafine now and save for a second for later instead of getting two 4K Ultrafine for the daisy chain feature.
 
igetit said:
Awesome, thanks! I didn't realize the macbook pro could run to 5K displays if connected directly 🤔 I wonder if my MacBook Pro 15" (2018) can get away with that. If it could, I would probably just get one 5K Ultrafine now and save for a second for later instead of getting two 4K Ultrafine for the daisy chain feature.
Click to expand...

Use the LG UltraFine 5K Display with your Mac or iPad - Apple Support

Learn about the LG UltraFine 5K Display and how to use it with your Mac or iPad.
support.apple.com support.apple.com

According to this it will.
 

Attachments

  • Screen Shot 2020-04-01 at 10.15.46 AM.png
    Screen Shot 2020-04-01 at 10.15.46 AM.png
    370.9 KB · Views: 219
  • Like
Reactions: igetit
It’s actually deceiving. The keyboard tray puts me far back enough that the displays are more than arms length from me while sitting with my back straight in the chair. I find myself leaning forward when composing That’s why I’m getting the stand to move them a bit closer.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mj_
Tell me you cleaned up before taking that pic. It's so clean it makes me feel bad:). Nice setup Marketing guy. Do you do anything special w/that Apple TV remote or is it just laying around?
 
Haha, no, that’s how it normally looks. I usually have my phone on my desk and sometimes my iPad, but that’s it. I like a clean desk. Now my desktop, that’s a different story.

The remote isn’t for a special Mac use. I have an 4K TV wall mounted in my office with an AppleTV.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back