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LG UltraFine 5K Display Works at Lower Resolution With Older Macs Using Adapter

Everybody bitches this and that. Boycott blah blah the reality is that this is in high demand. Wait 2-4 weeks if you want to get one. For people with the new MBP, this is the only one cable solution monitor on the market as well as the cheapest 5k monitor on the market.

Clearly this monitor is built for the new MBP and the future systems. If you have the Mac Pro, too bad stick with the Dell 5k or just run the cheaper 4k monitors.

It seems like a lot of the deep pocket mac users are pretty tech challenged. If your system is 4 years old, doesn't support TB3, it's common sense that this monitor is not for you. Wait for CES for better options.

I personally ordered one for my tbMBP and can't wait to get it next week. I'm upgrading from an old 1920x1200 24" Samsung monitor this is going to be huge jump in picture quality to my eyes.
 
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pier said:
Well...

1) It doesn't have a "monster GPU"

2) Why did you buy an overpriced machine you knew couldn't be expanded or upgraded?
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So for example dual AMD D700 cards do no equal a "monster GPU" of any kind eh?
Interesting, seemed like a pretty good combo to me when I bought mine.

And beyond that, re: #2, what's the point of being mean spirited when people are just sharing a discussion and trying to figure out a possible solution to a problem? Does it really make YOU feel better to make jabs like that?

Either way, espite your comments and others I've read this past year or so, my experience with this particular Mac Pro series has been excellent and I can have honestly say its one of the best computers (certainly Mac wise) I've ever owned, and that's going all the way back to my first Apple II+ & Atari 800 computers starting in 1979, which funny enough are both still working fine all these years later.
 
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Felix01 said:
Au contraire, that came directly from the Apple support document:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207448

3840 x 2160 @ 60Hz

  • Mac Pro (Late 2013)*
  • MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014) and later
  • MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2014) and later
  • iMac (Retina, 27-inch, Late 2014) and later
  • iMac (Retina, 21.5-inch, Late 2015)
  • iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2015)
  • MacBook Air (13-inch, Early 2015)
  • MacBook Air (11-inch, Early 2015)
[doublepost=1482324682][/doublepost]

How do you figure? No currently-shipping iMac has a Thunderbolt 3 port (which you need to get the bandwidth for 5K).
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Oh, I know.
Apple got it wrong themselves.

No such thing as an Early 2014 13 inch Pro Retina. Early 2015 yes, Mid 2014 yes, Early 2014 no.
 
hollandog said:
I personally ordered one for my tbMBP and can't wait to get it next week. I'm upgrading from an old 1920x1200 24" Samsung monitor this is going to be huge jump in picture quality to my eyes.
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Probaby like me, you've been scratching and clawing for at least a year in putting off refreshing your laptop so you could wait for real 5K support to come along. I would have upgraded to a 2015 rMBP if it were not for this. It took some homework to understand what I was dealing with, but I suspect most people didn't look ahead that far.

Fair enough though... people have gotten accustomed to Apple making their solutions easy to adopt and have theif stuff "just work" (when used with Apple branded equipment). If I didn't read this site, I probably would have been clueless about what monitors could work with what and the technologies behind them.

I think we're hitting one of those junctures in technology deveopment where new protocols just aren't interchangable with the old ones. We enjoyed a good number of years where stuff just worked (on the PC as well), but we've had disruptive periods before and lots of stuff didn't just work then either.
 
dannys1 said:
Ummm, because neither of those connections offer enough bandwidth to drive the display properly obviously.
[doublepost=1482320214][/doublepost]

You don't seem to get Thunderbolt 3 ports at all...
[doublepost=1482320417][/doublepost]

Considering all iMacs and all MacBook Pro's are 60hz I don't think this is an issue for anyone.
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I get them fine thanks. If you can use an external adapter and use a lower res they could have implemented the same with an inbuilt one. Not much to ask for a high end screen.
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SDAVE said:
Thunderbolt 3 via USB-C is standard...Even Windows laptops have it now.

You can transfer DisplayPort data via a TB3 connection (USB-C type connector) and many others, including USB3/2/1, FireWire, Ethernet, etc. etc.

Also eGPU is a TB3 standard from Intel, it's no more a "workaround".
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You miss my point, only a tiny fraction of machines have TB3 and both tb1 and tb2 are not backward compatible without an expensive adapter. USB didn't have this issue and neither did the different versions of DisplayPort. It's only now that USB 3 / TB3 can share a port that it might catch on, but it's too soon to solely rely on it.Just had a look for some TB3 equipped windows laptops and they are really only on the high end ones going to be at least 3 years before its standard.
 
smirking said:
Probaby like me, you've been scratching and clawing for at least a year in putting off refreshing your laptop so you could wait for real 5K support to come along. I would have upgraded to a 2015 rMBP if it were not for this. It took some homework to understand what I was dealing with, but I suspect most people didn't look ahead that far.

Fair enough though... people have gotten accustomed to Apple making their solutions easy to adopt and have theif stuff "just work" (when used with Apple branded equipment). If I didn't read this site, I probably would have been clueless about what monitors could work with what and the technologies behind them.

I think we're hitting one of those junctures in technology deveopment where new protocols just aren't interchangable with the old ones. We enjoyed a good number of years where stuff just worked (on the PC as well), but we've had disruptive periods before and lots of stuff didn't just work then either.
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Right I was waiting for the 4k monitors market to saturate more before jumping in.
What a bonus the new MBP and Ultrafine supports 5k. The ultrafine is also the best value 5k monitors on the market (with discount). Before they annouce the Ultrafine 5k I was looking at various 4k monitor like Dell/Benq, etc but nothing on the market offers the same package.

One cable, power delivery, P3, 5K, under $1000.
 
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MH01 said:
Can I ask what Xeon has to do with this? it's the GPU, and you can get up to 7680x4320 with one cable depending on the GPU you put into your sever.
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I think you had this answered, but since you asked me: Thunderbolt displays don't connect to the GPU, they connect to the system bus via Thunderbolt, which in the MacPro is driven by the Intel Xeon and chipset.
 
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Question, I'm way out of the loop on GPUs as I'm still running a 5870 in my Mac Pro. If I were to upgrade to something more modern could I use this display with say DisplayPort or does it only work with Thunderbolt?
 
Analog Kid said:
I think you had this answered, but since you asked me: Thunderbolt displays don't connect to the GPU, they connect to the system bus via Thunderbolt, which in the MacPro is driven by the Intel Xeon and chipset.
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Cool, I get you now. Yes there is a MB/Chipset requirement. On PC side you can easily add a TB3 expansion card to the right chipset along with a Xeon. Though yeah, PC side will just connect via the GPU....
 
Not sure why someone would spend the $$$ for a 5k display if they don't need it, but I suppose this gives flexibility to use it with multiple machines.

What I don't understand is the thunderbolt 2/3 compatibility. I thought 3 was backwards compatible with 2, no?

Of course that wouldn't be consistent with Apple's "there's a dongle for that" vision for the future.
 
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Analog Kid said:
I think you had this answered, but since you asked me: Thunderbolt displays don't connect to the GPU, they connect to the system bus via Thunderbolt, which in the MacPro is driven by the Intel Xeon and chipset.
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No, they don't connect via the Xeon, CPU chipset, nor PCIe lanes.

In the nMP, the GPU outputs connect to the TB2 ports via three Intel Falcon Ridge chips. The Falcon Ridge chips are independent of the CPU. They don't care if the CPU is a Xeon, Atom, Core-i, or Core-m.

The nMP cannot drive the Ultrafine 5K at 5K because all of it's outputs are limited to DP 1.2 bandwidth. Currently, nobody makes an adapter that aggregates two TB2 signals into a single TB3. And don't hold your breath waiting for such an adapter.
 
MplsP said:
Not sure why someone would spend the $$$ for a 5k display if they don't need it,
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Can't speak for others but I am now considering it for my now suddenly supported Mid 2014 MBP 13 because A) I don't currently have external display and have been in market for one and B) I'd be willing to put up with 2560 x 1660 res until I can afford new MacBook Pro in near future.
 
There’s always something new on the horizon. However, the more things changes the more...
 
bryanw said:
Can't speak for others but I am now considering it for my now suddenly supported Mid 2014 MBP 13 because A) I don't currently have external display and have been in market for one and B) I'd be willing to put up with 2560 x 1660 res until I can afford new MacBook Pro in near future.
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I think you should buy a cheap 1440p monitor now if you don't plan to upgrade new MBP within 1 year.
There will be better monitors come out next year. No point in buying what you don't need now.
 
mkeeley said:
Only if you're planning on upgrading your computer soon. Otherwise seems a bit pointless, you're paying a premium for 5k that you're not using and prices will continue to fall. Unless you have fallen in love with its design...
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Older machines can use 5Ks. I believe 2014+ 15" MBPs and Mac Pros can. The Dell UltraSharp 27 Ultra HD 5K is usable on these machines via MST—you're going to have to use a pair of outputs, which means two DisplayPort connections (meaning, Thunderbolt ports on these machines) to do it. I imagine even an older cheese grater Mac Pro with updated video could do the same. And in reality, that's all the new MBPs are doing. They're using MST (two DisplayPort streams) over a single Thunderbolt 3 connection. If, like the Dell, this monitor had a pair of DisplayPort (or Mini DisplayPort) inputs it could be used by other machines.

This is typical Apple though, for better and for worse. I imagine the reason probably stems from simplicity. It's not like their monitors (and this isn't specifically Apple, but it's specifically for new Apple laptops) have traditionally had a wide range of inputs. This is to showcase "one cable does it all." (And again, as someone with a new MBP, that is VERY appealing.)

But when you look at the price of the Dell—and there just aren't a lot of 5K options out there—the price on this monitor is fantastic and it would be nice to use on an older machine with 5K support. The upside is that we're probably going to see more players jump into the 5K world at prices that are a little more geared toward mere mortals.
 
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vmistery said:
going to be at least 3 years before its standard.
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USB-C is standard NOW for me, it cost all of £20 to upgrade my cables to USB-C, and yes that us upgrade - if someone had given the choice 15 years ago to use USB-C connector instead of USB-A for £20 extra i'd have snapped their hands off, and now I can.
 
I thought my MacBook Pro 15" 2014 could only do 4K at 30hz? Does that mean the mid 2014 15" mbp can do 4K @60hz with this monitor and others too?
 
the article did not listed the 2015 / 2016 - MacBook Retina; does it mean there is no support at all?
 
Wilson1313 said:
The Mac Pro can't support 5k resolution. Apple sure has their priorities straight... :rolleyes:
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To it´s defense it´s built on 5 year old hardware and even 4K monitors where hard to find back then @ $3000 and with horrible issues.. :)
 
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