Well fudge... After a long debate on what to upgrade my Mid-2010 iMac, I was about to settle for the i5 iMac with a 27" 4K monitor (LD 27UK850). Many reassured me that for my basic multitasking needs the blazingly fast CPU that the Mac Mini has would be enough (as I plan on using a new computer for at least 6-8 years). However, I'm not about to drop $1k on something that cannot even drive a monitor properly. The thing is that there are these reports (even from people with 8 gigs of RAM) that say they have experienced no issues with their 4K monitors. I wonder if this is just a 4K vs. 5K thing or something, then...
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Mac mini 2018 bad UI-performance with LG 5K-Display
- Thread starter johnscully
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Well fudge... After a long debate on what to upgrade my Mid-2010 iMac, I was about to settle for the i5 iMac with a 27" 4K monitor (LD 27UK850). Many reassured me that for my basic multitasking needs the blazingly fast CPU that the Mac Mini has would be enough (as I plan on using a new computer for at least 6-8 years). However, I'm not about to drop $1k on something that cannot even drive a monitor properly. The thing is that there are these reports (even from people with 8 gigs of RAM) that say they have experienced no issues with their 4K monitors. I wonder if this is just a 4K vs. 5K thing or something, then...
I went to the Apple Store yesterday as well and (same as you) tested a new Mac Mini with Core i5 which was connected to the LG UltraFine 5K display. The Mac Mini had 8GB of RAM. I noticed similar choppy UI-animations (switching 4K YouTube video to full-screen, switching between desktops, etc.). It was disappointing and convinced me that I didn't want to try to run the LG Ultrafine 5K from my Mac Mini which arrives tomorrow. I think it's a little strange since Apple clearly wanted to demo that configuration. They didn't have any LG UltraFine 4K displays around to try.
Once my Mac Mini arrives, I'm going to hook it up to a 27-inch Dell Ultra HD 4k Monitor P2715Q that I own and see how that runs.
Did anyone who went to the trouble of going to a Store and experience the "choppiness" ask one of the Blue-Shirts (or whatever the color is these days) about it?
I mean, you lot really want to buy it - they can maybe fit one of the demo-units with 16GB or ask at their internal tech-support hotline. Or just do something for the money you intend to hand over to them ;-)
I also plan to buy one, eventually, and intend to run it with a lot of screen real-estate, too.
Before I spend the equivalent of the price of the Mini on displays, I'd like to know what I'm getting into
I mean, you lot really want to buy it - they can maybe fit one of the demo-units with 16GB or ask at their internal tech-support hotline. Or just do something for the money you intend to hand over to them ;-)
I also plan to buy one, eventually, and intend to run it with a lot of screen real-estate, too.
Before I spend the equivalent of the price of the Mini on displays, I'd like to know what I'm getting into
I am only interested in the LG 4K and they didn't have any on display. When I asked the Blue-Shirt guy, he took me on a roadtrip around the store, also couldn't find any LG 4Ks and then told me "Sorry, bro".
By the time I was checking out the 5K, I didn't think I was going to get a technical explanation better than I could find out on my own.
Hi, I have the new LG 5k widescreen (lg 34wk95u) monitor. In standard mode it is choppy and in the smallest scaled one ist is very choppy. So I downloaded EasyRes and changed the resolution to 1:1 mode (5120x2160 at 60Hz) as it is mentioned in another thread. Now everything is very smooth. It is a huge difference I did not expect!. The problem is the up/and downscaling for retina. The monitor is fantastic by the way.
but wait how is that possible though? a Mac Pro driving a 5K display over one cable? wasn't it a scaled up resolution you were looking at? If the Mac Pro can actually drive an LG Ultrafine 5k display I have no reason to buy a Mac mini 2018 anymore. I can get a refurb Mac Pro for like 1600 and a 6 month warranty.
Pretty much all stores have the LG 5k connected to a Mac Pro. It cannot drive the display at 5k, it’s scaled.
I guess it’s the only desktop they have in most stores. All the MBPs are on their own table so no chance of them being permanently hooked up. Maybe they will switch to using the Mac mini now.
This sounds like the same problem 6 years ago when the first rMBP 15's came out. Some of us were switching to 1:1 and turning off scaling entirely for better UI performance. Over time, the MacOS got good enough that the UI stutter was reasonable. Even then, my 2015 rMBP's Iris Pro pushes the screen much faster than my 2012 rMBP 15 does on Mojave. Hopefully this can be fixed in software, but if not, then the 2018 MM is more a 1080P-3K monitor machine unless UI stutter doesn't bother you or have Millenial eyes and can read 1:1 4K text!
well guys, upgraded to 32GB this morning. So far everything is super smooth. It's even usable at 2 4k displayed scaled! I can even use Chrome now
Wow, so you think going up from 8GB to 32GB really made a difference on the graphics front? Good intel. Thanks for posting.
This might be a stupid theory but I think when it starts swapping it might start swapping video memory??? Which should not happen, but results in significant stuttering to the point of being unusable.
On previous hardware, the amount of main memory used by the integrated GPU has depended on the total amount of memory installed. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204349 indicates that those machines would only allocate 512MB of memory on an 8GB machine.
For newer iGPU's it just says "dynamically allocates up to 1.5GB" but it's hard to imagine it'd dedicate 1.5GB to video if it only has 8GB total.
I think it's more likely that it just didn't have enough total memory to allocate the full 1.5GB, combined with the system generally taking a hit as it starts to swap.
Also, thanks for reporting back with the update, removes any doubts I had (I'll be ordering BTO with 64GB so no memory issues there)
I. AM. AMAZED!well guys, upgraded to 32GB this morning. So far everything is super smooth. It's even usable at 2 4k displayed scaled! I can even use Chrome now
Watching YouTube fullscreen on one of them results in about 50% GPU utilization
I was thinking 16gb too, for 1 4K monitor in 1080p (so no extra GPU power required). Tempted by upgrading to 32gb myself vs paying Apple for 16gb (not much more as i have student discount). I think 32gb is overkill for light use and a 4k monitor though.
Curious as well.....especially running 2560x1440 on the LG 5K.
I'm planning to sell my MacBook 15" 2.9GHz/16GB RAM/560 Radoen Pro, while it drives the LG 5K UltraFine perfectly smooth. I'm sitting on the desktop 99% time. That's my I'm interest in the new Mac Mini with 3.2GHz i7 and 32GB ram. Will this run the 5K UltraFine smooth even if it has a weaker GPU?