Use of rMBP and LG monitor with Thunderbolt 3

[aengelbrecht]

I currently have the first rMBP 15 with the 27" Apple Thunderbolt display and liked the single wire to the display with it acting as a docking station. Though the lack of USB 3 made backup drives a pain (have to plug it directly into the MBP).

The new MBP looks interesting with a single TB3 wire that serves as both charging and connectivity to display, etc. However the reviews of the LG 5K 27" display that Apple sells seems less than stellar for this purpose. I do have occasional issues with my old TB display and the MBP, when I unplug and plug back in, but it has been OK.

I'm looking to upgrade the display to 5k and a new MBP, but would like to have a good solution to dock/undock the MBP with a single cable. The 5k display looks attractive, but want to see if anyone has experience with a similar type solution/use case. I don't want to pay a small fortune for a setup that doesn't work well in practice.

 

[poorcody]

I have the LG 5K display connected to a 2016 15" MacBook Pro. Works well. There were some issues with the display not coming on when I first booted, but that was finally fixed in a software update. I plug a USB-3 hub into the back of the monitor, and connect the monitor by the single cable. The screen is gorgeous. It is nice having one connector instead of three or four like I used to.

I have had this setup about 18 months I think. Haven't had any of the EM interface issues reported with the monitor either, even though it was the first batch without shielding.

Oh, I sometimes have one issue: connecting it while the machine is already on. Sometimes the monitor isn't recognized and I have to reboot. It's occasional and a little annoying, but not a deal-breaker.

 

[aengelbrecht]

Thanks for the feedback, that sounds promising. I need a very solid setup as my wife uses it sometimes, and she is not patient with computers.