Best 27" monitor and hub for the new m1?

[coolguy4747]

I have a naive question about connecting the monitor to the mac mini M1. The mini has USB-C and HDMI connections, so does the monitor (LGF 27BL85U-W). My friend might want to connect to his TV at times, so I'll reserve the HDMI for that, and use USB-C.

I'm confounded a little by USB-C cable descriptions, I want to make sure I have the right cable before the hardware shows up Friday. I ordered a 2m USB-C cable from Apple, along with TB-3 to TB-2 and TB-2 to Firewire, the cables showed up today. When looking at the USB-C cables, a lot of them said "charging cable", and I wondered if it meant "a complete USB-C cable that is capable of charging" (maybe meaning adequate current-carrying capability, assuming some such cables might not have suitable wire gauge). I assume I don't need a full Thunderbolt cable.

The cable I ordered noted it was suitable for charging, syncing, and data, on the Apple site. Though the package itself calls it a "USB-C Charge Cable (2m)", and doesn't claim to be more than that. Is this suitable for video? For my Mac Pro and XDR, I used the supplied cable, so don't have experience buying them.

I'm not sure, I had heard that the cables Apple ships with iPads w/USB-C are meant for charging and not data, but since the one you ordered says data then it could work. It's also possible it won't provide enough bandwidth for 4K, only one way to find out! But, at least according to one retailer I saw, the monitor comes with a USB-C cable in the box, so I imagine that one will work just fine.

 

[phrehdd]

I have a naive question about connecting the monitor to the mac mini M1. The mini has USB-C and HDMI connections, so does the monitor (LGF 27BL85U-W). My friend might want to connect to his TV at times, so I'll reserve the HDMI for that, and use USB-C.

I'm confounded a little by USB-C cable descriptions, I want to make sure I have the right cable before the hardware shows up Friday. I ordered a 2m USB-C cable from Apple, along with TB-3 to TB-2 and TB-2 to Firewire, the cables showed up today. When looking at the USB-C cables, a lot of them said "charging cable", and I wondered if it meant "a complete USB-C cable that is capable of charging" (maybe meaning adequate current-carrying capability, assuming some such cables might not have suitable wire gauge). I assume I don't need a full Thunderbolt cable.

The cable I ordered noted it was suitable for charging, syncing, and data, on the Apple site. Though the package itself calls it a "USB-C Charge Cable (2m)", and doesn't claim to be more than that. Is this suitable for video? For my Mac Pro and XDR, I used the supplied cable, so don't have experience buying them.

I can understand the challenge here with USB-C cables. They are not all alike.

First, I have a similar situation - HDMI for my monitor is dedicated to a streaming device (Nvidia Shield TV) while I hook up the M1 Mini via USB-C to DisplayPort. Save for some occasional minor issues, it has worked quite well.

USB-C Power cables are promoted to be cables used for power or charging. Most do not provide data speeds needed for monitors. In fact, they tend to be rather slow if used for data. There are some exceptions and the maker will make mention fo that. What you want is a USB-C 10gig cable. Any of the cables that spec at 10gig would be a decent starting place.

Here is a rather generic article that perhaps will help you out.

How To Get The Right USB-C Cables For Your Monitor | Image Science

USB-C was supposed to make life simpler. It has not. We offer some guidance on USB-C cables that will reliably work with monitors.

imagescience.com.au

 

[codehead1]

Thanks, coolguy4747 and phrehdd. It was late and I wanted to get in the order to be sure it got here by Friday (it ended up coming earlier than forecast), so I didn't have a lot of time to, but I did scramble to read a few articles and check youtube. Frustrating how none of them elaborated on the cables and data rates, which is what I was trying to find. I even found a video when the guy was hooking up the equivalent monitor and mac mini via USB-C, and he gave links and details to every component...except the cable ?

Apple's description of the cable is "This 2-meter charge cable — with USB-C connectors on both ends — is ideal for charging, syncing, and transferring data between USB-C devices." I considered the mophie cable they are selling, which is braided, only $10 more, but it doesn't even mention data in the description, while the Apple cable did. Yet in Apple's article on Thunderbolt and USB-C cable differences, it specifically mentioned the mophie cable ("mophie USB-C Cable with USB-C Connector") for connecting devices, and give the LG UltraFine 4K as an example. Probably needed that one. Both have USB-C connectors, but the mophie is described additionally as a USB-C cable.

Strange that it should be so tricky. I get that USB-C is a connector type, but it would seem all the more reason to be more specific about cable specs, or at least listing suitable uses.

PS—I see now that besides the frustration of Apple not stating data rate specs, was the confusion that searching Amazon for a USB-C cable results in getting buried in charging cables. It took a little more work to find cables suitable for video...

PPS—I just got the bright idea to see if B&H lists what comes "in the box" with the LG. I was concerned it would come only with HDMI, but it comes with both.