Today I purchased the LG 27" 27ud88 4k display with usb-c port. It retails for $699. I know a few of you were wondering about using a 4k display with the rMB so here goes...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=2437869742&pf_rd_i=desktop
In the box
The box includes the monitor (of course), base and stand, 1 USB-C to USB-C cable, 1 HDMI cable, 1 DisplayPort to DisplayPort cable (full size, not miniDP), ~140W power brick and cord (in a word, it's huge), and a USB-C to USB A male cable. This is nice if you have a newer USB-C hard drive and can plug it directly into the monitor. I assume you could use it to charge a phone as one of the ports can be configured for quick charging, although you lose the ability to transfer data from that port if you select that option. I have an iPhone so I can't test the port for quick charging.
Look and Finish
The display is minimalist and goes quite well with my Apple gear. It features a curved base that has a nice silver finish. The color is close to the aluminum on my MacBook. The display itself has a very thin silver frame surrounding the screen. There isn't much black bezel to speak of. A very small LG logo sits at the bottom of the display in the center. An tiny energy star sticker is in the lower right corner. I tore it off. Around back the monitor is entirely white glossy plastic as is the stand. As with all glossy plastic, it attracts fingerprints so keep that in mind if your desk is facing away from a wall.
Specs and Ports
On the back of the monitor there is 1 USB-C port, 2 type A USB 3 ports, 1 USB service port (for firmware updates only), 2 HDMI ports, and a headphone jack. I do wish they placed the USB ports more to the bottom of the monitor as they are quite high. The monitor has a height adjustment and at the highest setting the ports are about 14 inches from the desk surface. This is troubling because my external SSD came with a 12 inch cable. As of now I have it resting on its edge as the cable isn't long enough for it to lay flat on my desk. When the monitor is completely lowered the cable still isn't long enough.
Display wise it's a 27" IPS 4k with 99% sRGB coverage. It has a 350 nit rating and 5ms response time. I don't have the equipment to test these claims from LG so you'll have to take their word for it. The display is semi glossy and I didn't notice any annoying glare from the lights on my fan overhead. Colors and contrast seemed great out of the box. LG says they calibrate the monitor at the factory and I believe them. I didn't notice any large differences in color compared to the MacBook's own display. Having used many third party monitors with my Macs over the years, this is the first time I wasn't disappointed with the colors and spent hours trying to get the colors and text to look as good as they did on my Mac. The brightness was higher than what my Mac was at, given the ambient lighting.
In Use
In addition to the standard tilt, the monitor has a generous height adjustment and you can also turn the display 90º. I tried the monitor this way for about 30 minutes before my neck started hurt from craning to look towards the top of the display. Situated in this manner the display is 2 feet tall. Using the monitor like this unpractical in my opinion but it's nice to have the option.
Controlling the display settings is a breeze. A single joystick button sits underneath the monitor in the center and can be operated without having to look at it and can be found in the dark. Holding down the button turns the display on an off.
USB-C. One port to rule them all? Also the 60hz question.
The monitor came with the necessary USC-C to USB-C cable. Plug one end into the monitor and the other into your MacBook and you're good to go. This is the best part of this monitor and the future of all MacBooks I'm certain. This one cable carries the DisplayPort signal to the monitor, USB 3 to the two ports on the back of the monitor, and also supplies power to charge the MacBook. I can't tell you how elegant and Apple-like this solution is. The only thing missing is ethernet—and Thunderbolt. Ethernet can be added with a USB 3 to ethernet adapter from the back of the monitor if it's something you really need. Thunderbolt can't be added of course but in my opinion having everything else go through the USB-C port kinda negates the need for Thunderbolt. If you rely on having Thunderbolt accessories, then the MacBook was probably never the machine for you to begin with. Both of the Thunderbolt external hard drives that I own also have USB 3 ports so I haven't had to buy new gear. One thing to keep in mind; if you are using the MacBook in clamshell mode, make sure you are in close range to your router. The MacBook isn't as RF friendly due to it being an all metal design. On older Macs the antennas were by the glowing Apple logo and also around the black plastic strip at the hinge. The MacBook has neither and the antennas are solely located on the front of the display. Putting the MacBook in clamshell mode literally blocks the "window" and signal strength does drop a bit. Surprisingly the built in speakers were still rather clear and loud when played while in clamshell mode. The MacBook didn't run any warmer driving this monitor than it did running only the native display. The MacBook ran fine driving both displays at the same time. I ended up keeping it in clamshell mode, connected to the Magic Keyboard and Magic Trackpad 2.
Display Preferences only gives the option to run the monitor at 1080p retina resolution, as well as some lower resolutions which weren't retina. I didn't bother trying any of the lower resolutions as they're pretty much pointless. Using the 1080p retina resolution—while not ideal for this size of monitor—was not that bad at all due to the text being sharp and legible. I installed Retina DisplayMenu (RDM) utility and was able to set the monitor to native 4k resolution and while usable, the text is incredibly small as is all the UI elements. I'm going to do a little more testing and see how the monitor works with scaled 2560x1440 and will report back.
Apple lists the MacBook as only supporting 30hz at 4k resolutions, while Intel lists the Core M as supporting 60hz. So which is it? Unfortunately the MacBook only does 30hz when plugged into the monitor. For some this may be a deal breaker. For me personally, the lack of 60hz—while a bummer—isn't enough of a hinderance to not enjoy using this monitor. Most all movies are encoded in 24 or 30 fps and they played as smooth as they did on the MacBook's native display. Most of the time I'm using my Mac to write or to code. The only time I really notice the 30hz is when scrolling down a webpage or using Expose. These are brief interactions so the frame rate doesn't bother me as much as I thought it would. I know this will probably drive some people crazy. The monitor itself does support 60hz through the USB-C port, and I'm sure that within a year or two the MacBook will be powerful enough to support this monitor at 60hz.
To buy or not to buy
I was waiting for reviews to come out on this monitor before buying. Seeing it was for sale at my nearby Fry's, I took a short drive and bought it knowing that I could just return it if I hated it. I'm going to use it for the next week or so before making a final decision as to whether I'll return it or not. Right now I'm leaning towards keeping it.
Let me know if you have any other questions. There's some other stuff the monitor can do such as PIP and also simultaneous inputs but I haven't tested any of that out yet.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=2437869742&pf_rd_i=desktop
In the box
The box includes the monitor (of course), base and stand, 1 USB-C to USB-C cable, 1 HDMI cable, 1 DisplayPort to DisplayPort cable (full size, not miniDP), ~140W power brick and cord (in a word, it's huge), and a USB-C to USB A male cable. This is nice if you have a newer USB-C hard drive and can plug it directly into the monitor. I assume you could use it to charge a phone as one of the ports can be configured for quick charging, although you lose the ability to transfer data from that port if you select that option. I have an iPhone so I can't test the port for quick charging.
Look and Finish
The display is minimalist and goes quite well with my Apple gear. It features a curved base that has a nice silver finish. The color is close to the aluminum on my MacBook. The display itself has a very thin silver frame surrounding the screen. There isn't much black bezel to speak of. A very small LG logo sits at the bottom of the display in the center. An tiny energy star sticker is in the lower right corner. I tore it off. Around back the monitor is entirely white glossy plastic as is the stand. As with all glossy plastic, it attracts fingerprints so keep that in mind if your desk is facing away from a wall.
Specs and Ports
On the back of the monitor there is 1 USB-C port, 2 type A USB 3 ports, 1 USB service port (for firmware updates only), 2 HDMI ports, and a headphone jack. I do wish they placed the USB ports more to the bottom of the monitor as they are quite high. The monitor has a height adjustment and at the highest setting the ports are about 14 inches from the desk surface. This is troubling because my external SSD came with a 12 inch cable. As of now I have it resting on its edge as the cable isn't long enough for it to lay flat on my desk. When the monitor is completely lowered the cable still isn't long enough.
Display wise it's a 27" IPS 4k with 99% sRGB coverage. It has a 350 nit rating and 5ms response time. I don't have the equipment to test these claims from LG so you'll have to take their word for it. The display is semi glossy and I didn't notice any annoying glare from the lights on my fan overhead. Colors and contrast seemed great out of the box. LG says they calibrate the monitor at the factory and I believe them. I didn't notice any large differences in color compared to the MacBook's own display. Having used many third party monitors with my Macs over the years, this is the first time I wasn't disappointed with the colors and spent hours trying to get the colors and text to look as good as they did on my Mac. The brightness was higher than what my Mac was at, given the ambient lighting.
In Use
In addition to the standard tilt, the monitor has a generous height adjustment and you can also turn the display 90º. I tried the monitor this way for about 30 minutes before my neck started hurt from craning to look towards the top of the display. Situated in this manner the display is 2 feet tall. Using the monitor like this unpractical in my opinion but it's nice to have the option.
Controlling the display settings is a breeze. A single joystick button sits underneath the monitor in the center and can be operated without having to look at it and can be found in the dark. Holding down the button turns the display on an off.
USB-C. One port to rule them all? Also the 60hz question.
The monitor came with the necessary USC-C to USB-C cable. Plug one end into the monitor and the other into your MacBook and you're good to go. This is the best part of this monitor and the future of all MacBooks I'm certain. This one cable carries the DisplayPort signal to the monitor, USB 3 to the two ports on the back of the monitor, and also supplies power to charge the MacBook. I can't tell you how elegant and Apple-like this solution is. The only thing missing is ethernet—and Thunderbolt. Ethernet can be added with a USB 3 to ethernet adapter from the back of the monitor if it's something you really need. Thunderbolt can't be added of course but in my opinion having everything else go through the USB-C port kinda negates the need for Thunderbolt. If you rely on having Thunderbolt accessories, then the MacBook was probably never the machine for you to begin with. Both of the Thunderbolt external hard drives that I own also have USB 3 ports so I haven't had to buy new gear. One thing to keep in mind; if you are using the MacBook in clamshell mode, make sure you are in close range to your router. The MacBook isn't as RF friendly due to it being an all metal design. On older Macs the antennas were by the glowing Apple logo and also around the black plastic strip at the hinge. The MacBook has neither and the antennas are solely located on the front of the display. Putting the MacBook in clamshell mode literally blocks the "window" and signal strength does drop a bit. Surprisingly the built in speakers were still rather clear and loud when played while in clamshell mode. The MacBook didn't run any warmer driving this monitor than it did running only the native display. The MacBook ran fine driving both displays at the same time. I ended up keeping it in clamshell mode, connected to the Magic Keyboard and Magic Trackpad 2.
Display Preferences only gives the option to run the monitor at 1080p retina resolution, as well as some lower resolutions which weren't retina. I didn't bother trying any of the lower resolutions as they're pretty much pointless. Using the 1080p retina resolution—while not ideal for this size of monitor—was not that bad at all due to the text being sharp and legible. I installed Retina DisplayMenu (RDM) utility and was able to set the monitor to native 4k resolution and while usable, the text is incredibly small as is all the UI elements. I'm going to do a little more testing and see how the monitor works with scaled 2560x1440 and will report back.
Apple lists the MacBook as only supporting 30hz at 4k resolutions, while Intel lists the Core M as supporting 60hz. So which is it? Unfortunately the MacBook only does 30hz when plugged into the monitor. For some this may be a deal breaker. For me personally, the lack of 60hz—while a bummer—isn't enough of a hinderance to not enjoy using this monitor. Most all movies are encoded in 24 or 30 fps and they played as smooth as they did on the MacBook's native display. Most of the time I'm using my Mac to write or to code. The only time I really notice the 30hz is when scrolling down a webpage or using Expose. These are brief interactions so the frame rate doesn't bother me as much as I thought it would. I know this will probably drive some people crazy. The monitor itself does support 60hz through the USB-C port, and I'm sure that within a year or two the MacBook will be powerful enough to support this monitor at 60hz.
To buy or not to buy
I was waiting for reviews to come out on this monitor before buying. Seeing it was for sale at my nearby Fry's, I took a short drive and bought it knowing that I could just return it if I hated it. I'm going to use it for the next week or so before making a final decision as to whether I'll return it or not. Right now I'm leaning towards keeping it.
Let me know if you have any other questions. There's some other stuff the monitor can do such as PIP and also simultaneous inputs but I haven't tested any of that out yet.
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