Are LG UltraFine monitors fully compatible with Apple silicon Macs?

[AstonFox]

I just bought a 16’’ MacBook Pro (M1 Pro) and now I need a proper monitor with decent PPI. I’ve narrow it down to the LG 27UP850-W or LG UltraFine 24MD4KL-B.

The UltraFine 24MD4KL-B was specifically designed to be used with Macs and doesn’t have any kind of physical control interface because you’re supposed to control it through MacOS.

Can anyone using a M1 CPU confirm if it is fully compatible?

I currently cannot control my HP monitor brightness (tested with Lunar and MonitorControl apps) because there are many issues regarding M1 Macs and DDC interface. So I’m afraid of buying a display with the same issue.

 

[leman]

I have a 5K UltraFine in the office and it works fine with my M1 Max.

 

[Mike Boreham]

I have been using my M1 MacBook Air with the 23.7 LG Ultrafine (24MD4KL-B) for a year with no problems.

I am very pleased with it....AFAIK the only monitor which is also a true Thunderbolt hub.

 

[loby]

I have a LG 27UL850-W (similar to the 27UP850-W) and use it with both my M1 Mac mini and my 15" MacBook Pro 2021 with no issues.

Yes, you don't have the brightness or audio controls built into the macOS which is VERY convenient, but you can easily adjust it physically on the monitor. I like the screen on the LG non-apple monitor. It is matted and 4K. Looks good for what I need (and the price is much better too).

 

[telo123]

I have the 24" LG Ultrafine for Mac 4k for one year this June, and it's been going great. I bought a Logitech Webcam 1080p to pair with it. The built-in speakers are good enough for general media consumption. I do use clamshell mode for most of the time. If I do more productive things for school and such, I do use the internal display of my Mac as well.

Love the 5 USB-C ports (2 of which are thunderbolt 3) and connecting my Mac with one cable that does video, audio, and charging is great. The internal keyboard or any other Apple keyboard will work perfectly in controlling brightness and volume.

I did break one of the included Thunderbolt cables, and it was completely my fault. Logitech replaced the cable happily, as it happened within the 1-year warranty.

There are 2 Thunderbolt cables included, one for the MacBook Air and Pro, and the other one is for the Pro. Before the new replacement cable was delivered to me, I used the iPad Pro Thunderbolt cable for my MacBook Air, and it worked just as fine. I guess it's because the Air has a smaller battery. I now have a free premium thunderbolt cable in case this one breaks.

 

[Solenoid289]

I've been using the LG 27UP850-W with my Mac Studio for a month and no issues.
You can even enabling VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) if you connect to the DisplayPort with a USB-C to DisplayPort cable.
As others have mentioned you can't control brightness or audio volume on the macOS though.

 

[QuietOC]

I have been using my M1 MacBook Air with the 23.7 LG Ultrafine (24MD4KL-B) for a year with no problems.

I am very pleased with it....AFAIK the only monitor which is also a true Thunderbolt hub.

A Thunderbolt hub would have multiple Thunderbolt outputs which the 24MD4KL does not have. One Thunderbolt output is the standard for most Thunderbolt displays. Only the 5k and 6k displays lack a Thunderbolt output.

 

[chrfr]

There are 2 Thunderbolt cables included, one for the MacBook Air and Pro, and the other one is for the Pro. Before the new replacement cable was delivered to me, I used the iPad Pro Thunderbolt cable for my MacBook Air, and it worked just as fine. I guess it's because the Air has a smaller battery. I now have a free premium thunderbolt cable in case this one breaks.

Unless LG confused something in the box for your display, one cable is a Thunderbolt cable, and the other is a USB-C cable which has lower bandwidth. Either will work fine at 4k resolution.

 

[sylwiusz]

I've been using the LG 27UP850-W with my Mac Studio for a month and no issues.
You can even enabling VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) if you connect to the DisplayPort with a USB-C to DisplayPort cable.
As others have mentioned you can't control brightness or audio volume on the macOS though.

Have you tried LG 's own MacOS-native OnScreen Control app? It is available under monitor's support web page and provides software brightness control AFAIK.

 

[spiderman0616]

I have the UltraFine 4K and am using it with both my M1 Pro 14" and 16" MacBook Pros. I also used it quite often with my M1 MacBook Air. It does triple duty as a monitor, docking station, and charging station for all my devices. I am using all 4 USB-C slots, the 2 Thunderbolt for anything I want to display on the screen, and the rest for peripherals.

It's a really nice, seamless experience. The peripherals work with whichever Mac I plug in as well as my iPad when applicable. It responds instantly to the lid opening or shutting, and I haven't noticed any weirdness with color inaccuracy or anything like that.

Because Apple actually used to sell both models in the Apple Store alongside the original M1 Macs, you can be pretty confident your stuff will work.

 

[Mike Boreham]

A Thunderbolt hub would have multiple Thunderbolt outputs which the 24MD4KL does not have. One Thunderbolt output is the standard for most Thunderbolt displays. Only the 5k and 6k displays lack a Thunderbolt output.

Yes a proper TB hub would have multiple TB outputs. But having one free output is very useful, especially if you only have a two port MBA as I have. One extra TB device is all I need most of the time.

A single TB port is not a hub at all because it has to be used to connect the monitor, but two TB ports is a poor mans hub.

I hadn't come across any others with two TB ports, but a quick google finds a 32" LG, but maybe there are more than I realised.

 

[AAPLGeek]

I have the 27UP850-W and use it with my iMac 2020 and M1 MBA. If I were to buy again, I would go with UltraFine 24MD4KL-B in a heartbeat.

I love the 2x scaling on the 5k iMac and how CRISP the text looks because of it. To achieve the same resolution on the 27UP850, I have to use 1.5x scaling which makes the text softer and my eyes are never comfortable reading too long on it. Another less talked about reason for softer text on the 27UP850 is the SUPER GRAINY AG coating. Seriously, it's like putting a crappy antiglare plastic wrap on your glossy iPhone screen. It destroys the contrast and makes the text look blurry and grainy. Even at perfect 1x retina scaling it doesn't look good to my eyes.

The 24MD4KL-B has none of these issues as its much higher PPI and has no crappy AG coating which destroys the text legibility and contrast.

 

[Solenoid289]

Have you tried LG 's own MacOS-native OnScreen Control app? It is available under monitor's support web page and provides software brightness control AFAIK.

Thank you! I didn't know there was an app for that. I’m gonna download it.

 

[pshifrin]

100% yes. 24MD4KL-B has been on my desk for a few years, worked perfectly with my previous Intel MBP, 13 inch M1 MBP and now 14 inch MBP.

 

[AstonFox]

Thanks for all the great feedback! After reading all the replies, I ended up buying the LG UltraFine 24MD4KL-B. The price difference was only about 100€.

I'll miss the greater connectivity and better power efficiency of the 27UP850-W but I really wanted a display that would be as similar as possible to the MPB screen (since I’ll be using both simultaneously). And on that front it didn’t disappoint, the image quality is gorgeous.

With this display I can use MacOS to adjust brightness (and toggle auto brightness), and adjust the sound volume. Adjusting the white point requires choosing a different colour profile (or creating one from scratch).

Being a monitor without any physical button and totally dependent on software, I was expecting better options from LG. The only 2 apps I found are severely limited:

• LG Screen Manager only has 2 functions: update firmware or reset display.
• LG On Screen Control only has 1 function available: screen split. All the other usual functions (display presets, image settings, etc) are missing.

 

[LJV]

I just bought a 16’’ MacBook Pro (M1 Pro) and now I need a proper monitor with decent PPI. I’ve narrow it down to the LG 27UP850-W or LG UltraFine 24MD4KL-B.

The UltraFine 24MD4KL-B was specifically designed to be used with Macs and doesn’t have any kind of physical control interface because you’re supposed to control it through MacOS.

Can anyone using a M1 CPU confirm if it is fully compatible?

I currently cannot control my HP monitor brightness (tested with Lunar and MonitorControl apps) because there are many issues regarding M1 Macs and DDC interface. So I’m afraid of buying a display with the same issue.

I bought the 27UP850-W a month ago to go with my new Mac Studio and I absolutely love it. The brightness is more than enough, I typically keep it at about 50%. Very sharp and crisp. The LG OSC download has some issues on this monitor (probably because it's fairly recent) but it is not really an issue. I downloaded Monitor Control (free app) and it allows me to control brightness and contrast from my keyboard. Keyboard volume controls work fine. anything else is VERY easy to adjust with the very nice toggle (joystick) control on the bottom of the monitor. The monitor sleeps very shortly after the computer does and wakes up promptly with a touch of the keyboard. Side by side with my wife's 5K 27" iMac, the iMac has a slight edge in the way it looks, but the difference is minimal to me. I think this monitor is a bargain.

 

[LJV]

I have a LG 27UL850-W (similar to the 27UP850-W) and use it with both my M1 Mac mini and my 15" MacBook Pro 2021 with no issues.

Yes, you don't have the brightness or audio controls built into the macOS which is VERY convenient, but you can easily adjust it physically on the monitor. I like the screen on the LG non-apple monitor. It is matted and 4K. Looks good for what I need (and the price is much better too).

Try the free Monitor Control app, it allows Brightness and contrast control from your keyboard

 

[loby]

Try the free Monitor Control app, it allows Brightness and contrast control from your keyboard

How about this one..

‎MonitorControl Lite

‎Control your display's brightness from the macOS menu bar! - Smooth brightness transitions. - Support for custom keyboard shortcuts. - Several customization options. - Modern, stylish customizable menulet reflecting the design of Control Control introduced in newer macOS versions. - Simple...

apps.apple.com

 

[chrfr]

How about this one..

‎MonitorControl Lite

‎Control your display's brightness from the macOS menu bar! - Smooth brightness transitions. - Support for custom keyboard shortcuts. - Several customization options. - Modern, stylish customizable menulet reflecting the design of Control Control introduced in newer macOS versions. - Simple...

apps.apple.com

That’s the less featured version of this, but it’s fundamentally the same app.

 

[loby]

That’s the less featured version of this, but it’s fundamentally the same app.

Is there already a compiled version for download? Just looks like the code only.

 

[chrfr]

Is there already a compiled version for download? Just looks like the code only.

There’s a link to a disk image (DMG) right on that page, version 4.1.0.

 

[anthony8400]

This thread has convinced me that UltraFine 24MD4KL-B is the one to go for with my MBP 14".
I look forward getting it delivered next week!

 

[AstonFox]

This thread has convinced me that UltraFine 24MD4KL-B is the one to go for with my MBP 14".
I look forward getting it delivered next week!

I've been using it for a couple of months and I'm really enjoying it. I've installed the MonitorControl app and I really love the integration with MacOS. The overall image quality is really gorgeous and the Thunderbolt hub and the many USB-C ports are truly useful.
I never use the MacBook power adapter because the Thunderbolt cable is enough for everything (what a bliss).

Adjusting the image to be as similar as possible to the Macbook 16 display was kind of an hassle. LG does not provide any software tools to adjust the image settings. For example, to adjust the white point I had to rely on the ColorSync Utility in MacOS.

 

[Mike Boreham]

LG does not provide any software tools to adjust the image settings.

No software (or hardware) adjustments was a big plus for me. I like that it is all controlled through macOS, just like on the iMac it replaced in my case. You can create and apply separate profiles to the LG and MacBook to get matching, using an eye-one puck or similar. I haven't done that as I use clamshell all the time.

 

[anthony8400]

I agree. The integration is fantastic and the quality of the screen is also phenomenal. Cannot believe it's that "cheap" for what you get.
The first thing my gf told me when she saw it was how sharp everything is. I could not agree less.
I could not be bothered by the black borders either as it just fades away in the background whilst working.