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

[Brookzy]

Okay, so how are they dealing with it?
Ship it to us, wait for how many days or weeks while not having a monitor and get a repaired unit?

How they SHOULD deal with this:
Ship out new units to customers and provide return labels for the old ones, so you don't have to be without your product for potentially weeks.

Precisely. They should do collect-on-delivery, so the courier will collect the old one at the same time as delivering the new one. The faulty ones can then be refurbed and sold as refurbs at a discount, kept to be used as warranty replacements for faulty units, and for display/promotional purposes.

The present solution is pathetic.

 

[69Mustang]

LG do indeed make fantastic TVs. But making a computer monitor that can't be placed within two meters of a router is...well...I'm trying to think of a word that won't confuse Mr. Mustang. Silly?

Words don't confuse me. The way they're sometimes used can annoy me. LG knew the RF interference was a possibility. That's why they put the warning in the user manual. Shortsighted is a good word. They didn't think that scenario would crop up as much as it did.

 

[inmotionnow]

For anyone in Canada, I tried chatting with LG and they weren't exactly helpful. I live in downtown Toronto and the nearest service centre is a 40 min drive (despite me telling the rep that I don't own a vehicle).

I was also told "The unit that you have is not even released officially by LG Canada sir. We are not officially supporting your unit yet sir. We are currently investigating right now how did they managed to sell the monitors ahead of the official launch. Right now, we are not officially supporting it, but since it's there already we are willing to have the monitors checked yet. All you need to do is to bring it to the service centre."

I'm going to try to escalate the issue further but talk about punishing your early adopters.

 

[hussainh1]

Ever since the new night mode feature came to 10.12.4, one of my 5k monitors will always turn it's brightness all the way down, it's random which monitor will do it. So annoying to have to squint and turn up brightness every day for a $6k setup.

 

[SoN1NjA]

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.

I mean engineers
Engineers usually use the products they're developing so they can get feedback from real world experience

 

[Jim Lahey]

You have absolutely no reason to apologize. Your choice of words is your own, as is mine. I just have a bee in the bonnet about hyperbole and how pervasive it is. Everything on the internet seems to be turned to a volume of 11 when most things can get by at a 4. We're not breaking up, but I will borrow a phrase from a dissolved relationship. "It's not you, it's me." Unfortunately, I have two issues: hyperbole and scotch, and the issue with scotch only surfaces when I'm out of scotch. Cheers.

Hyperbole would have been along the lines of using capital letters and exclamation marks. I was merely articulating my point using the Queen's English. Oh and I ****ing hate Scotch

 

[milliepuppy]

to be fair its not like Apple haven't had their own share of 'non-shielding' fails ... i give you the late 2012 mac mini ... appalling blue tooth and thunderbolt port interference ...

 

[netwalker]

Every flatscreen TV/LCD TV I've ever owned are LGs.
I've got nothing but great things to say about them "today".

So you don't have anything to compare them with.

I've used monitors and TVs from Samsung, Acer, Asus, LG, iimaya, Panasonic,...
Samsung was usually crap as most of their products.
LG is affordable but never really great.

Of course internally all monitors and TVs now rely on the same few panel makers (LG, Samsung, Sharp, AU Optronics).

 

[Grolubao]

So if I'm interested in buying the screen, which timeline should I shoot for? End of this month?

 

[simonmet]

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.



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.

I much prefer the black plastic and black electronics over Apple's garish white.

Kind of wish they'd give up on white.

 

[inmotionnow]

Ever since the new night mode feature came to 10.12.4, one of my 5k monitors will always turn it's brightness all the way down, it's random which monitor will do it. So annoying to have to squint and turn up brightness every day for a $6k setup.

I think this in issue with 10.12.4 (which is still in beta) and not the display itself. Night shift would cause my 5K screen to beachball and rendering it unusable (rebooting or unplugging and replugging the screen doesn't solve the issue). I've opted to disable Nightshift for now and have reported the issue to Apple.

 

[cult hero]

Weird. I have one and it's parked next to a router. I had read about the issue but never once bumped into it. Still makes sense to get it repaired though.

You guys can gripe about these things all you want and talk about low build quality and whatever, but I've got one and it is unquestionably the more gorgeous display I have ever seen. I keep it at my office and have the old 27" LED Cinema Display at home. The colors aren't even in the same universe and, obviously, 5K is... awesome. Same goes for the Thunderbolt Display, the color quality is just... t's not even close. (And no part of me is sad to be able to adjust height and have easy VESA mounting.)

I much prefer the black plastic and black electronics over Apple's garish white.

Kind of wish they'd give up on white.

I like the monitor a lot, even in terms of the aesthetic. It's extremely clean and minimalist looking. Mine's been trouble-free thus far after a week of daily use. The only downside is that I might have to get a second for my house because after working on one most other monitors are not very inviting. Haha.

The only other knock isn't really on the monitor but on the fact that the 13" MBPs struggle with them.

So if I'm interested in buying the screen, which timeline should I shoot for? End of this month?

Get one before the end of March when the prices go back up.

 

[bdkennedy1]

If I shipped this back, it would be because I was returning it for a refund.

 

[wxman2003]

I remember the good ol days when Apple use to test products before release.

 

[teknikal90]

Of course internally all monitors and TVs now rely on the same few panel makers (LG, Samsung, Sharp, AU Optronics).

I usually choose based on price then read up reviews.
Most of the time theyre in the 4/5 star range. good enough for me.
In college I used to work for Sony in marketing when they were launching Bravia 2 back in the day. LG made a lot of their panels back then.

 

[Tman152]

They **** things up just like Apple, Google, Samsung, Microsoft, Ford, Toyota, Honda, Ikea, etc. All companies make mistakes... cuz people. How they respond to the mistake is what's important.

Yes how they respond is important. I commend companies like LG and Samsung for owning up to an issue and taking care of it. My last experience with Apple was extremely frustrating because of how terribly it went

My Early 2011 Macbok pro was purchased around launch (sometime in Feb 2011)

- In March 2012 the graphics card failed. After a call to Apple they agreed to replace the logic board even though it was no longer under warranty

June 2013 My Macbook has the same graphics card issue. The Apple store tells me I have to pay a flat fee of $600 to get it fixed. I called Apple support, emailed corporate finally after a lot of work on my part they agree to fix it a second time free of charge

May 2015 - same problem, no amount of bitching worked, I ended up fixing the computer for $600 hoping that since news of the issue was starting to surface they would permanently fix the issue.

Sometime in 2016 - Apple owned up to the mistake, sent me a refund for my out of pocket repair

August 2016 - Graphics dead again, The fix was free under the repair program. I asked them to please give me another machine that wouldn't have this same problem again. They told me that normally they would do that, but that I shouldn't worry about it this time because the 2011 Macbook pro is definitely fixed now that Apple has accepted responsibility.

Last week (Jan 23rd 2017) - Graphics card failed again. My computer is considered "Vintage" as of Jan 1st 2017. Living in California I can still get it fixed for $600 but the repair program is no longer valid so I have to cover the cost. I refuse to pay for an issue that I am positive has not been resolved and will require another fix every 1-2 years.

I didn't mind the first repair too much (things happen) But the way they handled the second and third repair was absolutely terrible. Articles about the issue were starting to pop up, some support threads on Apple's support forum were filling up with thousands of people having the same issue. And don't get me started about last week where they wouldn't even make an exception for a device they fixed 5 months ago.

 

[barthrh]

Okay, so how are they dealing with it?
How they SHOULD deal with this:
Ship out new units to customers and provide return labels for the old ones, so you don't have to be without your product for potentially weeks.

Edit: Oh, it keeps getting better and better. They are still selling displays produced before Feb. They must be kidding.

I received mine yesterday and it's a 701. Still in the box, taking back to Apple. I'll wait a couple of weeks or more and then maybe try again. I received a "purchase satisfaction" survey from Apple and clearly communicated the incredible disappointment that they continue to knowingly ship something with a defect that has been fixed in a later version.

 

[Geohord]

So, LG products lack shielding?

 

[konqerror]

I'm old enough to remember the former Goldstar then Lucky/Goldstar that became LG. There's a reason I don't own a single LG product today...

You own a Mac with a LCD? IPS TV or monitor? Non-Samsung made in Korea front-loading washer (including rebrands like Maytag and Whirlpool)? You own an LG.

 

[69Mustang]

Hyperbole would have been along the lines of using capital letters and exclamation marks. I was merely articulating my point using the Queen's English. Oh and I ****ing hate Scotch

I was completely unaware of that understanding of what hyperbole is. Learn something new every day. I will be sure to add it to my lexicon. Hate scotch? F that. We are breaking up and it's definitely you, not me. The only people who hate scotch are communists, satanic worshipers, and people who don't like puppies. Lot's of great men and women drank scotch, so by association, I am great. Men like Jesus - drank scotch and smoked a cigar every night after dinner. Santa Claus - always carried a flask and took a nip while feeding the reindeer. The Queen - Her Majesty keeps a bottle in a hidden panel in the throne. All heroes in the Marvel Universe - yup, drank scotch. Avengers? - yup and yup. Nuttin' but scotch. People who didn't drink scotch: Napoleon - lack of scotch stunted his growth. Hitler - Had he imbibed, WWII could have been completely avoided. Kim Jun Il - no scotch resulted in his megalomania. Too many Americans - we didn't drink enough scotch aaaaaaaand we got Trump.

tl;dr don't hate scotch.

 

[Jim Lahey]

Blimey.

 

[mtcowdog]

I have this display. I have a router ~4m from my computer. None of the issues described impact me. This issue is clearly a bummer for some, but I have found other issues that are equal bummers. For example. Plug in a USB-c to USB adapter with a USB to Ethernet dongle (and good luck buying the USB-c to ethernet dongle). Now go big on video conference meetings. Now get used to bummer. There are more issues, but life is too short.

Good monitor, just not very polished for implentation.

 

[smirking]

I've got my display about 8 feet away from a router. I suppose that's enough given that I haven't had any issues with my display. It doesn't sound like they're going to make this too easy for us so I may just forego the repair if all they're going to do is fix an issue that doesn't affect me. Does anyone think that there are other possible reasons I should get this fix done? I mean, what else might cause the same RF issue?
[doublepost=1486157576][/doublepost]

(and good luck buying the USB-c to ethernet dongle). Now go big on video conference meetings. Now get used to bummer.

I'm not sure what you're getting at. What happens during video conferences? What does "go big on video conference meetings" mean? Are you unable to find a reliable Ethernet dongle? I got one and it works fine.

I've had a few bummers, but they're pretty mild.

 

[Mjmar]

So is this issue only for the 5k display and not the 4k one? Was thinking about picking up the 4k tomorrow because that one is also on sale at Apple.

 

[Michaelgtrusa]

Wait for the fix then buy.