LG's UltraFine 5K Display Back in Stock on Apple's Website After Shielding Fix

[craig1410]

Happy you got good service, but the rest of your post is
That reduced price was to entice people to buy and wait. It's pretty easy to offer a reduced price when there's no product to be had. Then the product turned out to be insufficiently shielded. It's debatable whether the monitor was worth the original asking price. The product they put out definitely wasn't. I'm more inclined to believe Apple's not stupid. They'll leave the current price alone in the hopes that people will actually buy it.

Got to disagree. The reduced price is actually to compensate people for taking the plunge into the world of USB-C peripherals and doesn't just apply to the 5K monitor but also to dongles and cables. The 5K monitor has been available for quite some time as well.

Yes the product has a technical flaw but at least it just disconnects for a few seconds a couple of times a day and doesn't spontaneously combust! I know there are some other software glitches but I'm sure those will be fixed in time too.

The monitor is without doubt worth the full RRP and is an absolute bargain at the reduced price. I'm not going to bore you with my credentials in this area but rest assured I know a bit more than the average bear about LCDs.

Anyway, my comments about hoping the price goes back to normal were mainly made in jest but I guess that was too subtle for you. Perhaps you missed the bright pink emoji with the sticking out tongue.

 

[69Mustang]

Got to disagree. The reduced price is actually to compensate people for taking the plunge into the world of USB-C peripherals and doesn't just apply to the 5K monitor but also to dongles and cables. The 5K monitor has been available for quite some time as well.

Yes the product has a technical flaw but at least it just disconnects for a few seconds a couple of times a day and doesn't spontaneously combust! I know there are some other software glitches but I'm sure those will be fixed in time too.

The monitor is without doubt worth the full RRP and is an absolute bargain at the reduced price. I'm not going to bore you with my credentials in this area but rest assured I know a bit more than the average bear about LCDs.

Anyway, my comments about hoping the price goes back to normal were mainly made in jest but I guess that was too subtle for you. Perhaps you missed the bright pink emoji with the sticking out tongue.

Can honestly say I didn't even see the emoji on the 2nd and 3rd read. And we can agree to disagree. The market will dictate the worth of the monitor and time will be the true arbiter.

 

[fyun89]

I have a LG ultra wide monitor 29um58-P and it also suffers from random temporary screen off. I tried to contct LG and all of their online contacts (email, chat) dont work, literally.

It really is sad they have such a bad QC.. They used to be better

 

[craig1410]

Can honestly say I didn't even see the emoji on the 2nd and 3rd read. And we can agree to disagree. The market will dictate the worth of the monitor and time will be the true arbiter.

Sure, no worries.

From what I can gather, those who have bought the display are generally very happy with the display build quality and especially the image quality and once the shielding fixes are in place and a few software glitches resolved, this will be a good display.

Until some competition arrives which can display 5K at 60 Hz over USB-C then I guess this is the best we can expect.

 

[grennis]

I'd buy a 32" version in a heartbeat. 27" is just a tad too small for my needs.

Good to know.

 

[CedricT]

That first picture looks like a pond storing toxic effluent from a mining operation.

 

[aaronhead14]

Are you...are you asking Apple to sell something at a reasonable price?

They already are, and have been for almost 6 months. But raising the price of a 6-month-old product by $300 (which is what's going to happen at the end of this month) is REALLY ridiculous.

 

[MrX8503]

You can't buy another TB3 5K DCI-P3 monitor anywhere.

 

[theluggage]

That first picture looks like a pond storing toxic effluent from a mining operation.

If you've ever flown into SFO in a window seat you might recognise it as the salt pans at the southern end of San Francisco Bay.
Possibly with the colour saturation cranked up a bit.

 

[jimthing]

I bought two for my 15" MBP delivered in early Jan with manufacture date "December 2016". Then another two delivered a couple of days ago (early Mar 2017) with manufacture date "February 2017".

Just testing currently, and the Feb ones seem to work perfectly well with none of the flicker issues. (To be honest, even the Dec ones work pretty well, only flickering a bit for the first few minutes after plugging into the MBP, then working flawlessly.)

So buy without hesitation.

P.S. just the minor volume control issue with it being slightly miscalibrated, but a software fix should sort that, so it's hardly a problem.

 

[Spectrum]

Absence of a coherent "Mac-like" design + QC issues + lack of AppleCare = Questionable reason to purchase.

The only good thing I see about this monitor (compared to regulars) is that it recognises the brightness controls on a mac keyboard.

I just think it will be odd to pair one of these with a 2017 iMac. The two screens have such a different finish to them.

 

[Brian Y]

IMO, the only monitors worth buying are Dell.

They're basically bulletproof, and if they do go wrong, they have a 3 year advance-exchange warranty.

 

[craig1410]

The only good thing I see about this monitor (compared to regulars) is that it recognises the brightness controls on a mac keyboard.

I just think it will be odd to pair one of these with a 2017 iMac. The two screens have such a different finish to them.

So are you saying there are other better 5K displays out there? I'd love to hear about them.

Also, can you show me pics of the 2017 iMac you refer to? I'd love to see what sort of finish it has and how many USB-C ports it had.

IMO, the only monitors worth buying are Dell.

So do Dell have a 5K display I can connect to my 2016 MBP? How about 2 of them at the same time? Both with 60 Hz refresh rate?

 

[Brian Y]

So are you saying there are other better 5K displays out there? I'd love to hear about them.

Also, can you show me pics of the 2017 iMac you refer to? I'd love to see what sort of finish it has and how many USB-C ports it had.


So do Dell have a 5K display I can connect to my 2016 MBP? How about 2 of them at the same time? Both with 60 Hz refresh rate?

Yes, UP2715k.

About the same price as the LG (they were massively more expensive but they're around the same price now).

 

[meaning-matters]

Had a look at this garbage in the Apple Store. Not for me.

 

[craig1410]

Yes, UP2715k.

About the same price as the LG (they were massively more expensive but they're around the same price now).

Um, you might want to have a read of this thread, especially the last post.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/2016-macbook-pro-and-dell-up2715k-5k-display-mst.2016437/

Also, unless I'm mistaken, that Dell display does not cover the P3 colour gamut like the LG does. That's one of the main attractions to the LG display for me as that colour gamut matches my 2016 MBP.

 

[manu chao]

Having recently built a Kaby Lake Linux box, I can tell you that at least for existing motherboards and i7 CPUs:

1) No integrated Thunderbolt
2) intel HD integrated graphics max out at 4K/24 Hz or WQHD at 60 Hz.

The 2016 13" MBP has Skylake processors with either an Iris 540 or 550. And they can do 5K. If that matters, they are rated at 806.4 and 844.8 GFLOPS. The Kaby Lake Core M comes with an HD 615 and is rated at 350 to 400 GFLOPS.

Now, the 13" MBP is also listed as supporting up to the internal display (2560 x 1600 @ 60Hz) + 2x 4096 x 2304 @ 60 Hz. That is 22.9 MP @ 60 Hz (and 10-bit aka billions of colours as well).
A Kaby Lake 12" MB + 5K monitor would need to support 2304 x 1440 + 5120 x 2880 @ 60 Hz, or 18.1 MP @ 60 Hz. If we back out the 10-bit support of the MBP, a Kaby Lake Core M 12" MB would need 63% of the graphics power of the 13" MBP to be able to drive a 5K monitor (if two 4K-ish monitors use the graphic power of the 13" MBP completely, if it only needed 75% of the 806.4 GFLOPS for it, the 47.4% of the 13" MBP graphic power would be sufficient).

So, things might just about fit, but I think it is more likely than not that the 12" MB cannot support 5K.

 

[jimthing]

I bought two for my 15" MBP delivered in early Jan with manufacture date "December 2016". Then another two delivered a couple of days ago (early Mar 2017) with manufacture date "February 2017".

Just testing currently, and the Feb ones seem to work perfectly well with none of the flicker issues. (To be honest, even the Dec ones work pretty well, only flickering a bit for the first few minutes after plugging into the MBP, then working flawlessly.)

So buy without hesitation.

P.S. just the minor volume control issue with it being slightly miscalibrated, but a software fix should sort that, so it's hardly a problem.

So are you saying there are other better 5K displays out there? I'd love to hear about them.

Also, can you show me pics of the 2017 iMac you refer to? I'd love to see what sort of finish it has and how many USB-C ports it had.


So do Dell have a 5K display I can connect to my 2016 MBP? How about 2 of them at the same time? Both with 60 Hz refresh rate?

Um, you might want to have a read of this thread, especially the last post.
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/2016-macbook-pro-and-dell-up2715k-5k-display-mst.2016437/

Also, unless I'm mistaken, that Dell display does not cover the P3 colour gamut like the LG does. That's one of the main attractions to the LG display for me as that colour gamut matches my 2016 MBP.

Can confirm the newer manufactured ones work absolutely fine, without the flicker. So all the complaints on performance are now irrelevant; buyers can ignore the people who don't own them who keep complaining about things they don't know about accordingly – especially the 'Dell is better comment' which fails on so many points it's not worth an answer, as they clearly haven't even bothered to research the basics of it.

And no, there won't be any other displays that offer the single cable (and easy Mac) integration either, in the near future. So people waiting for something better (or bigger: NO, pixel density would be too low) in the next 12 months are kidding themselves.

Having bought FOUR of these LG 5K's, I think owners on here are a more reliable source then those that think they know about them who really don't. Thanks!

 

[craig1410]

Can confirm the newer manufactured ones work absolutely fine, without the flicker. So all the complaints on performance are now irrelevant; buyers can ignore the people who don't own them who keep complaining about things they don't know about accordingly – especially the 'Dell is better comment' which fails on so many points it's not worth an answer, as they clearly haven't even bothered to research the basics of it.

And no, there won't be any other displays that offer the single cable (and easy Mac) integration either, in the near future. So people waiting for something better (or bigger: NO, pixel density would be too low) in the next 12 months are kidding themselves.

Having bought FOUR of these LG 5K's, I think owners on here are a more reliable source then those that think they know about them who really don't. Thanks!

That's good to hear, thanks for confirming. I'm hoping my replacement displays should be here in a week or so. Probably more of an annoyance for me is the sleep/wake issues but I don't expect that will be fixed by the extra shielding. I'm going to switch to the latest Sierra developer preview release to see if it is addressed in that build.

Couldn't agree more about your comments about owners vs non-owners complaining.

 

[kyjaotkb]

[doublepost=1488922313][/doublepost]My Apple Store won't handle the repair, says I should contact LG. That's a sucky solution. I think I should be able to go in and exchange my flawed but nearly new display for the new ones at the Apple Store, given that I ordered from the Apple online store and picked up both monitors at Apple Stores.

That sucks. You would be entitled to do so in the EU as EU laws put the onus of the warranty on the seller.

 

[Spectrum]

So are you saying there are other better 5K displays out there? I'd love to hear about them.

Also, can you show me pics of the 2017 iMac you refer to? I'd love to see what sort of finish it has and how many USB-C ports it had.

Just because there aren't "better" 5K displays out there doesn't excuse the fact that the LG-branded model is a poor replacement for an Apple-branded and designed model, that apart from anything else came with Apple support and AppleCare thrown in when you buy it with a desktop/laptop.

I also severely doubt the 2017 iMac design is going to morph into a plastic design to match the LG display: Come on! That would be insane!

And of course the 2017 iMac will have TB3. I'm not sure your point...?

Or are you suggesting LG (or Apple) will release an updated 2017 retina 5K display to match a 2017 iMac? Doubtful if you ask me.

 

[craig1410]

Just because there aren't "better" 5K displays out there doesn't excuse the fact that the LG-branded model is a poor replacement for an Apple-branded and designed model, that apart from anything else came with Apple support and AppleCare thrown in when you buy it with a desktop/laptop.

I also severely doubt the 2017 iMac design is going to morph into a plastic design to match the LG display: Come on! That would be insane!

And of course the 2017 iMac will have TB3. I'm not sure your point...?

Or are you suggesting LG (or Apple) will release an updated 2017 retina 5K display to match a 2017 iMac? Doubtful if you ask me.

I would argue that the aluminium and glass look is getting a bit dated for the iMac to be honest and I expect the next model could well have a different look. Hopefully space grey might be an option like it is with the MBP.

You seem to forget that the LG display WAS co-designed with Apple. Sure it doesn't look like a Thunderbolt Display but quite honestly I have grown to really like the design of the LG 5K because the bezels simply disappear in use. To contrast that, I set up my 2014 5K iMac today to show a potential buyer and the design looks really heavy by comparison. Those thick black bezels around the display on the iMac are made much more prominent by the fact they are covered in reflective glass and combined with the chin it made the iMac look a much squarer aspect ratio. I was honestly quite taken aback because I had not given that a moment's thought during the 2 years I used the iMac daily before getting the new MBP.

As for AppleCare, yes it would be nice to have the displays covered for free along with the computer but it's hardly a deal breaker. Not for me at least. In fact, since 2007 when I got my first iMac, I've only claimed on my AppleCare peripheral warranty once and that was for an Apple Time Capsule with a dodgy power supply. I've got a 2 year warranty for my LG monitors by EU law so losing the 3rd year is a minor inconvenience.

Yes the 2017 iMac probably will have a USB-C/TB3 port but I suspect the LG display is mainly aimed at laptop users anyway. I highly doubt I would have bought two external 5K displays for my iMac when it already has a 5K display onboard. I think the number of people buying these monitors to pair with an iMac will be a vanishingly small minority.

As @jimthing above said, with the enhanced shielding in place these displays perform as intended with just a couple of minor software glitches left to sort out. The Apple Thunderbolt Display on the other hand had a wide range of problems throughout its lifetime and it was far less technologically advanced than the LG 5K display. Hopefully Apple will make a first party display again in the future but I can only assume it will cost more than the LG display and will probably have the exact same LCD inside it. If they modernise the design then great but if they kept the previous TBD design then I personally would pass on it.

 

[ghost187]

At one point, I'm sure I heard that the Kaby Lake chips were going to have integrated Thunderbolt - so a MB could have included it without needing to find space for a discrete controller - but I haven't seen it confirmed lately, and can't see it anywhere in the Intel specs, so maybe that didn't materialize.

The other question is whether the GPU would have enough grunt to drive 5k.



That feature seems like a no-brainer - I'm sure it will, but you're not gonna get a guarantee until the machine is announced. Methinks that if the future iMac can't drive an external 5k display via TB3 then buying a future iMac would be a socially irresponsible failure to vote against Apple with your wallet...

The Mac Pro... would you invest in a Mac Pro given that the last one has been left for so long with neither an update nor a price cut to reflect its maturity? The current iMac, by contrast, is pretty up-to-date and only really needs a couple of TB3 ports (preferably not at the expense of everything else).

The dealbreaker for me with this display is that it will only work with Thunderbolt devices. No plugging in other DisplayPort or HDMI devices (even at lower res). If you only have post-2011 Macs then maybe that isn't a problem.

Thank You! At least there is hope.

 

[MrX8503]

Yes, UP2715k.

About the same price as the LG (they were massively more expensive but they're around the same price now).

Seems like the model is discontinued and it's retailing for $1700 now. There's the HP 5K monitor for around $850.

No matter how you slice it though, the LG 5K is an overall better monitor. I prefer the 1 cable solution and DCI-P3 color space

 

[craig1410]

I don't like to cross post as I've said this already in another thread but in case anyone isn't watching the other thread:

I received my replacements today and thankfully both are 702 (Feb 2017) serial numbers and seem to be working fine. It'll take a bit of time before I know for sure if they are okay in terms of interference though. I'm going to run it with my router about 3 feet away and then if it's okay after a couple of days I'll try putting it back where it was behind the left hand display and see if that still works.

I returned the original two displays to my nearest Apple retail store and that only took 5-10 mins to process and refund so all good so far...