Not sure if this is a PSA or a rant 
I bought my Ultrafine 5K at the same time as my 2020 Intel Mac Mini and the combo worked flawlessly.
I just switched to a 256GB iPad Air 5 (M1) as my primary computer and the 5K is worthless with it. For almost every connection, the 5K mirrors rather than extends (i.e. running Stage Manager) the iPad’s display, while eliminating the option in Settings to mirror/extend. Worse, it stretches the mirrored display horizontally to fill the screen. The only “fix” is to reboot the iPad with the display attached, after which it extends the display properly (i.e. Stage Manager behavior as expected). But this isn’t a “fix,” it’s a bug (reported to Apple, not that that ever accomplishes anything). FYI I’ve tried different USB cables, removed USB-C peripherals, no change.
I since downgraded to a leftover UltraFine 4K I had and it works flawlessly… but it sure is hard to read anything on a 24” 4K screen running at 4K. And I’m having to add a USB mic/speaker combo to get back the mic functionality built in to the UltraFine 5K.
I didn’t want to have to shell out for an Apple Studio Display but 3rd-party options pale in comparison (non-glossy screens, lower brightness, minor incompatibility issues). At least Apple has some ASD refurbs available, and Amazon has started running discounts.
I guess I’ll get the ASD now, and iPad Pro (and a TB dock) later ..?
I bought my Ultrafine 5K at the same time as my 2020 Intel Mac Mini and the combo worked flawlessly.
I just switched to a 256GB iPad Air 5 (M1) as my primary computer and the 5K is worthless with it. For almost every connection, the 5K mirrors rather than extends (i.e. running Stage Manager) the iPad’s display, while eliminating the option in Settings to mirror/extend. Worse, it stretches the mirrored display horizontally to fill the screen. The only “fix” is to reboot the iPad with the display attached, after which it extends the display properly (i.e. Stage Manager behavior as expected). But this isn’t a “fix,” it’s a bug (reported to Apple, not that that ever accomplishes anything). FYI I’ve tried different USB cables, removed USB-C peripherals, no change.
I since downgraded to a leftover UltraFine 4K I had and it works flawlessly… but it sure is hard to read anything on a 24” 4K screen running at 4K. And I’m having to add a USB mic/speaker combo to get back the mic functionality built in to the UltraFine 5K.
I didn’t want to have to shell out for an Apple Studio Display but 3rd-party options pale in comparison (non-glossy screens, lower brightness, minor incompatibility issues). At least Apple has some ASD refurbs available, and Amazon has started running discounts.
I guess I’ll get the ASD now, and iPad Pro (and a TB dock) later ..?
Last edited: