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

Brookzy said:
I'm sorry, but this is wrong. As per the support article for the 5K display on the Apple website, you can use an Apple Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adapter and a Thunderbolt cable to use the 5K display at 4K resolution using an older Mac with Thunderbolt ports and 4K support.
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Oh, yes. Pardon me. I misread the question. In re-reading the message, that was the question rather than if the 2015 MBP can drive the LG 5K natively.
 
smirking said:
Oh, yes. Pardon me. I misread the question. In re-reading the message, that was the question rather than if the 2015 MBP can drive the LG 5K natively.
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A MacRumors poster acknowledging a mistake without abuse or sulking? What a rare and pleasant sight! :D
 
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Brookzy said:
If you have that kind of expendable income, why not just buy a new MacBook Pro and then buy the refreshed model when it comes out? Most people aren't even having issues with them.
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So you are saying that I can run 2 of the 5K displays at 4K on the 2015 MBPro?
 
Ploki said:
I understand what you mean. How do you think it would be better to handle this? I like the idea of having a single port that can transform into anything I need at that moment, and when MB gets upgraded to TB3 that will be amazing. I was super-excited for TB because that means you can have everything you work with external, meaning its super simple to replace your computer and plug into an existing setup.

I do agree TB roadmap has been hectic. If USB3.0 connector stays for 10 years at least, then this is nothing short of amazing. I can swap laptops with all my peripherals lasting, not to mention its super simple to collab. Need to access my system? Sure, here's a single cable you have to connect to access basically everything. That's pretty neat.
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I don't know how they could've done it better other than making TB1 or 2 originally support 5K video, which should've been possible, and not having TB3 compatibility problems in the rMBP. Those are probably the issues that affect the most users. Anyway, I'm just saying that even if this is the best they can do, I'm staying away until it seems stable... unless I end up making so much money that it doesn't matter.
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smirking said:
Nope, not correct. The only Macs that can drive either the 4K or the 5K monitors are one of their laptops with a USB-C port and only the 2016 MBPs can drive the 5K monitor at all.

The 2015 MBP can support a 5K monitor, but not the LG Ultrafines. It'll need both Thunderbolt ports to do so though.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206587
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Technically, any 2008-2012 Mac Pro can drive a dual DisplayPort 5K monitor with the right GPU installed. Haven't checked on 2006 and 2007.
 
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The 9to5 review of the monitor answers one of the questions here:

Since DisplayPort 1.2, which is bundled with Thunderbolt 3, only supports a maximum resolution of 4K at 60Hz, LG and Apple had to work around this limitation. It’s similar to how Apple had to use its own custom timing controller for its 5K iMac, but exact details have yet to be revealed as to what LG had to do to make this display a reality.

From what I can gather, it looks like the monitor is using two streams and stitching them together to make one 5K image. This becomes apparent when closing the lid on the MacBook Pro, and the monitor briefly flickers and shows the two separate images
​
lg-ultrafine-5k-display-screen-stitching.jpg
 
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Brookzy said:
Because it's literally a different number of pixels.

Hopefully this illustration will help. Each small square represents a pixel.

On a MacBook Pro in default scaling mode you see this:

View attachment 679426

When you put it in larger text mode, it redraws the interface at a bigger size - but the screen has the same number of pixels. The graphics card had the ability to scale the objects into the new size with the same total number of pixels, creating this.

View attachment 679427

Note the 'a' is bigger and now consists of more pixels (covers more squares) than the default scaling.

On the 5K display, on the other hand, the scaling cannot be completed because the older Macs can only put out a maximum of 4K. Therefore, at 4K we see this:

View attachment 679428

And displaying 4K on a 5K screen means the image must be stretched rather than scaled:

View attachment 679429

It's the same number of pixels, stretched to fill a larger area. Hence the image is less sharp.

(Alternatively, the image can be stretched to 5K size and have interface elements kept the original size. The same result happens: inferior image quality, because the quantity of pixels has not increased.)

Hopefully that explains it.

TL;DR: The display can't use the MacBook Pro method because scaling requires a newer and more powerful graphics card and can't be done by the display.
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Do you think the image quality would be OK temporarily?
Until I could update the source from TB2 to TB3 - Coming from an older 1920x1200.
 
aloshka said:
Well if you follow their marketing, he probably uses an iPad pro.
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I'm asking myself the same question. I bet he's sitting at an iMac. It's a real joke that apple is out of the display business.
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Brookzy said:
Yes it will be fine as a temporary solution. There are many 4K 27" displays on the market. :)
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Yes, but they have native 4K panels, not a 5k panel that needs to upscale a 4K signal. I'm really curious how it looks like.
 
Hi Macrumors users, I want to share with you email and case with Apple Care, since Apple doesn't let you know the actual tech specs for using 4K resolution on a MacBook Pro retina 2014, is anyone encountered this? Any solution? They did not fix or replaced my rMBP1-2014 even after a week at the Apple Store Geniuses.

Dear Mr. Tim Cook,
I am writing this email as followup to my Apple Care unsolved case.

In short the issue is about using 4K displays with my MacBook Pro 15" retina mid-2014@3840x2160-60Hz as explained in detail below with LG Cinema 5K displays or any other 4K projector (Benq W1100) or OLED TV (LG).

Because was unconfirmed by many test, and even with tech specs supporting this connectivity there is still lack of that 4K resolution via thunderbolt 3 and Apple adapter - cable.

Personally I suggested as possible solution - for me as customer - due to lack of macOS Sierra release update, a reimbursement or replacement with a new product since Apple support pages and tech-specs confirm the chance of using this kind of 4K resolution on my Mac but no way in reality is possibile to obtain.

More details:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206587

With OS X Yosemite v10.10.3 and later, most single-stream 4K (3840x2160) displays are supported at 60Hz operation on the following Mac computers:
MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Early 2015) and later
MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014) and later
Mac Pro (Late 2013)
iMac (27-inch, Late 2013) and later
MacBook Air (Early 2015)


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

3840 x 2160 @ 60Hz
With the Apple Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter and a Thunderbolt cable, you can use the LG UltraFine 5K Display at 4K and lower resolutions with these Mac models:
Mac Pro (Late 2013)
MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014) and later
MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Mid 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)

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014) - Technical Specifications

2.2GHz - 256GB
Intel Iris Pro Graphics

Dual display and video mirroring: Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display and up to 3840 by 2160 pixels on up to two external displays, both at millions of colors
Thunderbolt digital video output
Sincerely,
 
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