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Wi-Fi Router Issue Fix Coming For LG's UltraFine 27-inch 5K Display

bmot said:
This is why apple used to build their own screens. Because others didn't seem to get it right. Now exactly this is firing back at apple for outsourcing the screen department.
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LOL, reminds me of this poster in the MDF of a school I worked at
sluggo.jpg
 
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Jim Lahey said:
Whilst you're certainly correct, it's nevertheless rather astonishing that this was allowed to happen, either by Apple or LG. It isn't like some fringe case that could easily have gone unnoticed until the hardware was in millions of homes. It seems incredulous that this issue slipped through the net. My view is that it's more likely the problem was known about at launch, but that production were waiting on an engineering fix to come through. But the fact that it happened to begin with shows a rushed development cycle.

Of course, it doesn't really matter so long as their is now a fix, but it does appear unfortunately amateurish on the part of both parties, and pretty inconvenient if you're an early purchaser.
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I understand we're on the internet where it's absolutely necessary for every comment to be turned up to 11. I mean, without that, what would we do multi-syllable words like astonishing, incredulous, and amateurish? That being said, there's a reason that first adopters are colloquially <--syllables, mmmmm, delicious-- known as beta testers. Companies test for as many things as possible realizing real world scenarios that expose issues are only going to come in the real world. That's not to excuse LG, Apple, or any other company. It just is what it is. Think of all the tech products you own. Can you find one that didn't have a documented issue that probably should have been caught in QA (caught according to public perception)? I can't.

I agree with you that they knew the problem existed at launch. They knew before launch*. But as you said, the rush to get product on the street overruled delaying to fix. I'm guessing the business calculus said it would cost more in delays and materials to fix before shipping. Stupid. It's the main reason I almost never buy 1st gen during 1st run.

* A super brief bullet point buried on page 5 of the owners manual tells you to: Install the product where no Electromagnetic Interference occurs. It doesn't specifically mention routers but they were aware some issues could occur.
 
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Quick question. What kind of keyboard and mouse combination is everyone using with these monitors? Any recommendations?
 
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If this statement is true, "...and that it only seemed to occur with the company's Apple-approved 5K monitors." (bold mine) Apple has truly become lazy, reminder of the good ol' pre-Jobs days.
 
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Many thanks to everyone who reported the issues !
Did not find an issue by myself -- positioned the 5k Display far away from the Airport-Router.

Returning the display today. It is the last day of my return period .
 
Brookzy said:
Considering they are going to at least incur the cost of collecting, refurbing, and returning a load of monitors, I think this is unlikely. The actual shielding will cost next to nothing.
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That just means they didn't get away with it.
 
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If I had a 5K and the issues were not affecting me particularly badly, I would wait it out for a few days to see if Apple/LG contacts you rather than contacting them. If you call support now, odds are they won't even know about this issue yet and you'll spend the first 15 minutes of the call educating them.

Even if they don't contact you, in a few days I'd assume they will be more well-versed on the issue and know what the repair process is.

Case in point: the Apple USB-C discount - a few keen beans contacted Apple the moment the discount was announced asking for a partial refund and hit a brick wall or were advised to return and re-purchase. Two days later, emails go out saying customers will be automatically refunded the difference.
 
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SoN1NjA said:
how did nobody notice this in testing? Don't people take these things home for a month to see what actually using them is like?
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No, QA people usually don't take products home to test them there. In QA you want a controlled test environment where you can repeat test under the same test conditions and get the same results.
Obviously running the monitors directly next to a WLAN access point was not on the requirements and QA test list.

Credits to LG for quickly admitting it and improving their product. If this was Apple, they'd deny it for years, blame it on the user and much too late have a replacement program.
 
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mw360 said:
Or up to the point where they decided to kill the Mac Pro and Mac Mini.
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The thunderbolt display has always been, primarily, a MacBook Pro peripheral.

Sure, some people might buy these to plug into desktop Macs (except the classic Mac Pro never had thunderbolt, even after the TB display came out) and Apple stores might use them for Pros and Minis for brand purity, but the real USP was always the docking functionality for a laptop.

The TB Display, with it glossy screen, has always been more of a "Deep pocketed consumer" device than a graphics pro's display (if you look at the prices of high-end monitors designed for graphics pros, the TB display looks a lot cheaper...)
 
netwalker said:
No, QA people usually don't take products home to test them there. In QA you want a controlled test environment where you can repeat test under the same test conditions and get the same results.
Obviously running the monitors directly next to a WLAN access point was not on the requirements and QA test list.
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Ideally your QA department would also have end-user use cases to test against, like putting your router in your work area.
 
An article over at Apple Insider gives a more thorough look at the issue:

http://appleinsider.com/articles/17...-shielding-may-not-completely-fix-the-problem

Apparently the problem isn't black-and-white... some monitors exhibit the problem, others do not. Isolating why it is sensitive to certain combinations of EM interference is difficult to discern.

From the article:
In the course of testing, two of the monitors were disassembled by the team —one afflicted by the connectivity problems, and one not. AppleInsider was informed that there are no discernible engineering or shielding differences between the two, and the monitors are described as "well-put together" and sufficiently shielded, based on other monitors tested in the past.

"It could also be a combination of factors," we were also told by our test head. "There could be a few places that aren't shielded enough, and if 2 out of 3 are impacted, or 4 out of 7, or if this location is hit by 2.4 GHz wi-fi and that other by something in the 800MHz range, the connection problem may only pop up then."
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mw360 said:
Or up to the point where they decided to kill the Mac Pro and Mac Mini.
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In an odd move, I was at my local Apple Store lately and they have two of these LG 5K monitors setup, one attached to a Mac Mini and the other to a Mac Pro, neither running at 5K.

Just from anecdotal reports here in the forums, it appears the vast majority of buyers are owners of the new MacBook Pros, so the in store display makes no sense to me. I wonder how many sales they are missing out on because people don't even realize how nicely this setup works with a MacBook Pro.

iMi said:
Quick question. What kind of keyboard and mouse combination is everyone using with these monitors? Any recommendations?
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I'm using the Apple BT mouse and KB with the 13" Touchbar MBP in clamshell mode flat on the desk to the right. You can see the setup in this photo.
 

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OllyW said:
In the UK you should return it to the retailer who sold it.

http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/consumer-rights-act
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I bought it direct from Apple...

Brookzy said:
If I had a 5K and the issues were not affecting me particularly badly, I would wait it out for a few days to see if Apple/LG contacts you rather than contacting them. If you call support now, odds are they won't even know about this issue yet and you'll spend the first 15 minutes of the call educating them.

Even if they don't contact you, in a few days I'd assume they will be more well-versed on the issue and know what the repair process is.

Case in point: the Apple USB-C discount - a few keen beans contacted Apple the moment the discount was announced asking for a partial refund and hit a brick wall or were advised to return and re-purchase. Two days later, emails go out saying customers will be automatically refunded the difference.
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hmmm I will wait till Monday and see how this pans out...
 
PatriotInvasion said:
Ahhh...$1,000 for a display that took 5-6 weeks to ship and they expect people to ship it somewhere for repair. Yea right. This should result in an extended return window at any Apple Store. Essentially a recall. And, hopefully this triggers Apple to make their own display and stop suscepting Mac users to the black plastic world of PC users.
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The easy alternative is to find a slightly different place for your router. At home, both routers are far away from any display. At work, there are plenty of routers in the ceiling all through the office, and none within 2 meters from any monitor. (Also, you don't have _strong_ routers in an office with many routers to avoid interference between routers, so that probably helps).
 
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