All resolutions are scaled to a 5K display except 5K or 1440p HiDPI. If 4K wasn't scaled, it would have a 640 pixel wide border on the left and right edges and 360 pixel wide border on the top and bottom edges.
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LG UltraFine 5K - Owners Thread
- Thread starter iBrooker
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As found earlier for 3840x2160 the scaling is not done in the Mac. When that happens it is done in the monitor and uses different algorithms. Different algorithms produce different slightly different display characteristics. The LG blanks for a second as it syncs to the new signal being fed to it.
Yes,
If you select a 4K timing then the scaling is done in the display.
If you select a 4K scaled mode then the scaling is done in the GPU and it outputs a 5K timing.
Same with my 2560x1600 Apple 30" Cinema Display.
I can select a 1280x800 timing, and the scaler in the display copies each pixel four times making it look really pixelated.
I can select a 1280x800 scaled mode, and the scaling in the GPU does some blurring stuff and outputs a 2560x1600 timing.
SwitchResX can tell you what kind of mode each option is.
Anyone using this monitor with an m1 and dock? The monitor freaks out if I run it to my dock and my dock to my m1 MacBook Air. Im wondering what the best way to wire it and what cables. Should I use a standard usb-c cable from the monitor to the dock and a thunderbolt 3 from the dock to my laptop?
Considering purchasing one of these, is it really worth it? I can get it with a EPP discount so it would be $1170, still a ton to spend on monitor. I also here that apple is working on new displays that are more consumer focused? You know how that goes...
It is not cheap, but if you want a 5K display with built in camera and speakers, there really are not any other options. I have been happy with mine.
Bought mine last month (the latest L model) from Apple UK and am delighted with its performance.
Was a straight choice between Ultrafine 5K and Apple's Pro XDR. I had the funds for the latter but decided to save money and wait to see what Apple now does in terms of Micro LED adoption.
The Ultrafine 5K is more than ample for my image editing workflow in the interim. Not exactly a design classic, but an excellent workhorse display all the same.
That was my conclusion as well, I was surprised to not find anything else with these characteristics.
Can one recommend a way to calibrate two 5K LG displays? I have the latest L series and an older first generation LG 5K display. I bought them around 3 years apart. The newer one has a slightly different tint. I've tried to adjust the color profile under display settings, but it is insufficient. Is there any specific anyone can recommend or some sort of hardware device that would make calibration easier?
Cheers,
Mr.PS
Cheers,
Mr.PS
Sorry to bump this - wondering if you got the USB 3.1 hub on the monitor working on windows? I have the Titan Ridge but was having issues on a 27MD5KA on an unsupported motherboard with the header jumped, going to try on a 27MD5KL with a proper motherboard.Yes. TitanRidge Thunderbolt 3 card.
GIGABYTE GC-Titan Ridge 2.0 (Titan Ridge Thunderbolt 3 PCIe Card Component)
Intel Thunderbolt 3 Certified add-in card Intel DSL7540 Thunderbolt 3 controller Dual Thunderbolt 3 Ports (USB Type-C) Max Bandwidth 40 Gb/s DisplayPort 1.4 Capable with 4K Video Throughout Daisy-chain up to 12 Devices (6 devices per port) Support PD3.0 standard (up to 100W)www.amazon.com
Couldn’t be easier to set up: The TB3 card has 2x miniDP ports and 2x TB3 ports. Connect the included two short miniDP-to-DP cables from the TB3 card to the GPU. And then one TB3 cable from the TB3 port on the TB3 card to the LG display’s input.
Works a treat. And yes, full 5K. Not 4K.
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Good question. I haven’t actually tried that. I don’t really need to given the computer itself has so many ports. But I guess I should, eh?
I had similar issues before, and there are certain settings about security that needs to be off in order for it to work properly for the USB hub behind the monitor.
So when I did this it was a rather strange scenario as my Windows machine was a VM running under unRAID (KVM/QMEU). Passing the entire card through to Windows never worked for me at all. If I passed the individual USB controllers through to the VM though they worked fine. It wasn't very hot pluggable though for me so yanking the TB3 cable out of the back of the titan ridge card caused all sorts of issues. It did work though.
Interestingly, the video aspect of it can be used without either my unRAID or Windows box knowing about the card, it just works a bit like dongle with the DP cables from the gfx card being converted to a video signal in the TB cable, the titan ridge card effectively only getting power from the PCI slot.
So I have the LG Ultra fine at home - the monitors come with a Thunderbolt cable and a USB C to USB C cable - does anyone know if this is a USB C 3.1 cable capable of 10GB? Trying to hook up a USB C doc and want to make sure I have the fastest connection? Thanks in advance for the help - I cannot see anywhere where is says the speed of this extra cable.
The LG UltraFine 4K or 5K only needs the cable to do 5.4 Gbps for DisplayPort but it should be able to do 10 Gbps. If it doesn't, then get a new cable.
I have 3 27" UltraFine 5K's from when they first launched that replaced my 27" LED Cinema Displays running off a Mac Pro (haven't updated to the 2019 model as I'm holding out in hopes the rumors of a mid-range model this year come through otherwise I'll grab one, just can't bring myself to spend $7k for a reasonable base model when they used to be $2499 starting, then $3999, etc).
As these are first gen my warranty is up and LG is "offering" to extend them for 3 more years at $409USD each. I have until the end of the month to decide. All three would put me at the cost of a new LG 5K. I'm wondering if anyone has insight on differences between the first gen (27MD5KA) and current model (27MD5KLB-B) - aside from them being $100 less now. I don't need a $6000 display as I'm not in production and I have been able to get all 3 to run in 5K HiDPI off my trashcan 12-Core Mac Pro with dual D700's.
I've spent the past few hours reading this thread and from what I've gathered there aren't many 5K displays that work with Mac's on the market. Interestingly, Apple's site doesn't list the Mac Pro (2013 or 2019) as a listed device. Course with a Thunderbolt 3 to Mini-DisplayPort adapter it runs perfectly on my 2013/2014 Mac Pro and the 2019 Mac Pro's have Thunderbolt 3 connections.
Haven't updated to Big Sur - running 10.5.7. As a developer I used Big Sur on my MacBook Pro but never thought to attach one of my 5K's to it and have read some are experiencing issues with Big Sur on both Intel and M1 Mac's.
No matter what I'll be running these off a Mac Pro. Should I update my displays as well given their age and warranty or are the new models roughly the same in specs and quality? I'm not a fan of LG's app and I read it's not even Big Sur compatible which would make future firmware updates problematic and one of many reasons I haven't updated to Big Sur. The other issue is lack of HDR10.
Edit: I found this comparison page. Interesting to note it states they are 10 bit (8 bits + FRC) - which isn't true 10 bit thus 1073741824 colors in 30 bits is a frame rate control technique to virtually display the same number of colors as a 10-bit monitor (a bit "shady" of LG). The 2019 models have 94W Thunderbolt 3 connectivity but beyond that I'm not seeing a big difference. It does list incorrect info - both models have microphones with the camera's and it has a matte finish, not glossy. Not sure how accurate this comparison may be:
As these are first gen my warranty is up and LG is "offering" to extend them for 3 more years at $409USD each. I have until the end of the month to decide. All three would put me at the cost of a new LG 5K. I'm wondering if anyone has insight on differences between the first gen (27MD5KA) and current model (27MD5KLB-B) - aside from them being $100 less now. I don't need a $6000 display as I'm not in production and I have been able to get all 3 to run in 5K HiDPI off my trashcan 12-Core Mac Pro with dual D700's.
I've spent the past few hours reading this thread and from what I've gathered there aren't many 5K displays that work with Mac's on the market. Interestingly, Apple's site doesn't list the Mac Pro (2013 or 2019) as a listed device. Course with a Thunderbolt 3 to Mini-DisplayPort adapter it runs perfectly on my 2013/2014 Mac Pro and the 2019 Mac Pro's have Thunderbolt 3 connections.
Haven't updated to Big Sur - running 10.5.7. As a developer I used Big Sur on my MacBook Pro but never thought to attach one of my 5K's to it and have read some are experiencing issues with Big Sur on both Intel and M1 Mac's.
No matter what I'll be running these off a Mac Pro. Should I update my displays as well given their age and warranty or are the new models roughly the same in specs and quality? I'm not a fan of LG's app and I read it's not even Big Sur compatible which would make future firmware updates problematic and one of many reasons I haven't updated to Big Sur. The other issue is lack of HDR10.
Edit: I found this comparison page. Interesting to note it states they are 10 bit (8 bits + FRC) - which isn't true 10 bit thus 1073741824 colors in 30 bits is a frame rate control technique to virtually display the same number of colors as a 10-bit monitor (a bit "shady" of LG). The 2019 models have 94W Thunderbolt 3 connectivity but beyond that I'm not seeing a big difference. It does list incorrect info - both models have microphones with the camera's and it has a matte finish, not glossy. Not sure how accurate this comparison may be:
Comparison between: 27" LG 27MD5KL, 27" LG 27MD5KA
Comparison between: 27" LG 27MD5KL, 27" LG 27MD5KA
www.displayspecifications.com
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Thunderbolt 2 can't do 5K. You've been running three 5K displays at 4K all this time for the last 3 years. Unless you connect them to a Blackmagic eGPU or Sonnet eGPU Breakaway Puck RX 5500 XT or Sonnet eGPU Breakaway Puck RX 5700 or Thunderbolt 3 add-in card. SwitchResX will show that the 5120x2880 or 2560x1440 HiDPI modes are actually scaled modes that use the 4K timing.
Only dual cable 5K displays like the Dell UP2715K and HP Z27q works with the old AMD graphics in the Mac Pro 2013. The LG UltraFine 5K might work if you use the Thunderbolt 3 add-in card method to convert two DisplayPort connections to Thunderbolt 3.
The old AMD graphics does not support displays that are wider than 4096 with a single DisplayPort connection (at least in macOS - not sure about Windows) (e.g. 5120x1440 which is fewer pixels than 3840x2160 but doesn't work because of the width - macOS allows you to select the resolution but it is output incorrectly - the pixels are mixed up a bit).
Page 10 | Mid 2015 15-inch MacBook Pro eGPU Master Thread
Page 10 | Thanks to @nando4's and @itsage's earlier implementations, I was interested in trying out a direct M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 interface of my Mid 2015 ...
egpu.io
It's a Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter. No DisplayPort involved (except the connector is the same as Mini DisplayPort and Thunderbolt tunnels DisplayPort signals to a downstream Thunderbolt controller to be converted back to DisplayPort - the adapter itself does not have the Thunderbolt controller needed to convert the tunnelled DisplayPort back to DisplayPort).
If you run your current displays at 5K, that will seem like an upgrade from the 4K you've been using.
I have every version of macOS from 10.5 Leopard to 10.15 Catalina on my Mac Pro 2008. Hard drives are cheap.
Nailed it. As I stated, I "found a way" and I didn't elaborate on that point as it wasn't necessary to my post - in fact I deleted much of it as it was unnecessarily verbose. But yes, they are running in 5120x2880 which is a requirement for some of the work I do. I simply did not expound on that topic.
As to your other point re: hard drives being cheap. I've been using OS X since Cheetah and worked with Bertrand Serlet on 10.4 - 10.6. I don't know why the snark but yes drives are cheap - I have server racks and numerous arrays with some running in RAID 10 and numerous Thunderbolt 3 and 2 arrays with WD Red and Red Pro drives. Doesn't change the fact Big Sur is not compatible with LG's only app to control their displays. Having to run another OS simply to regulate a display is not an elegant solution for a $399 monitor let alone a $1299 monitor.
You didn't answer a single question of my main point and instead tried to "educate" me. Please stay on topic and be of use, don't attempt to grandstand. It truly is not necessary.
Thanks!
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I am glad you are getting full use of your 5K displays. Many people in the past have incorrectly thought they were getting 5K but were in fact only connected using a 4K signal because nowhere in the macOS UI does it show the actual output signal resolution and pixel format. I thought it may be a possibility in this case since you did not state which method you used to connect the displays. I would like to know which method you used (as a kind of statistical data point) especially if the method is not one of the ones I listed.
I thought the LG app is only useful in updating firmware which is something that rarely needs to be done with a display. Even if there's a firmware update, if you're not experiencing a problem then there's probably little reason to apply the update (the "if it ain't broke then don't fix it" proverb). Since the app doesn't work in Big Sur, I offered the only solution possible - which is to have an older macOS available for when you want to check for a firmware update. Does the app have other uses? I hope the fact that the firmware updater doesn't work with the latest macOS is not the only reason to replace three otherwise perfectly functional displays. That's where your questions come in.
The questions were subjective or involved things I have little experience with. I don't know what you know and you don't know what I know, so I type what I know and if it's already known to you it still may be unknown to others. And if it's wrong then I hope someone will correct it. And if it's incomplete then I hope someone will add to it. So I hope somebody, me, you, or someone else will learn something from the exchange. Anyway, consider my first post an attempt to get a better understanding of the situation.
Here's some answers/comments about your questions (maybe not very useful which is why I didn't try the first time):
$409 each seems steep. If you don't get the warranty, the displays will probably still work beyond the end of the month. If one breaks, then you have an excuse to get a new one.
I think the most important difference is that the new model supports USB-C input (4K max) for computers or game consoles or whatever that don't support Thunderbolt. But that doesn't matter if you have a method to output Thunderbolt 3 to the display for 5K.
If you're using the D700's to do three 5K displays, then you must be using an external Thunderbolt 3 controller (three total) to convert dual DisplayPort to 5K over Thunderbolt 3. For three displays, that would use up all your Thunderbolt 2 ports. That's not a problem since the DisplayPort connection can be made at the end of a Thunderbolt chain (up to 6 devices for each port).
I think they all work with some Macs to some degree. There are issues for some Macs. Like the > 4096 width problem with the old AMD graphics like the D700's that I mentioned. Which is different than the > 4096 width problem with Intel graphics (pre Ice Lake).
Yes, the LG UltraFine 5K product page doesn't mention Mac Pro but does mention Thunderbolt 3 Macs. Maybe the Mac Pro 2019 is not listed because it is new (but the product page mentions 2020 Mac models...) or maybe because the Mac Pro 2019 can support it only in combination with a MPX module (but you can't get a Mac Pro 2019 without an MPX module?).
Maybe the Mac Pro 2013 is not listed because it is Thunderbolt 2 and can therefore only output 4K through the Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adapter.
Maybe you're using the Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adapter to connect a Thunderbolt PCIe expansion chassis that contains a Thunderbolt 3 add-in card to convert two DisplayPort connections to Thunderbolt 3. Or maybe you're using the Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adapter to connect a Thunderbolt 3 add-in card that has been flashed to replace its Thunderbolt host firmware with Thunderbolt peripheral firmware to make it act like one of those Blackmagic or Sonnet eGPUs.
Big Sur has problems. There are some strange display behaviours on Intel and M1 Macs (sleep/wake, pixels shifted horizontally or vertically, ...). It doesn't support DSC for many displays and DisplayPort 1.4 MST hubs (Catalina does support DSC).
I don't remember reading about image quality differences between the old and new LG UltraFine 5K displays so I would continue using the old ones. Displays usually last a long time. I'm still using an Apple 30" Cinema Display from 2005 ($2549). Bought it with a PowerMac G5 ($3535). The display is a little bit yellow compared to modern displays but I like the size.
My thoughts on firmware update are above. For HDR10 - if you need it then you need a different display. Only the XDR has the same or more pixels than the LG UltraFine 5K and supports HDR but it's way too expensive. Everyone else makes displays that have fewer pixels and that are not Retina. 4K looks okay even with the resolutions that you would use on a 5K or 6K. macOS doesn't do 8K or it's not fully baked (people have done 4K HiDPI with 8K 30Hz at least - probably too many pixels for what you need it for).
Speakers are a little harsh, I can watch the odd YouTube video with them but I certainly wouldn't use them as the main speakers.
The webcam is actually pretty good I think. It is certainly better than the one built into my M1 MBA. I am happy to use it for conference calls each day.
Thanks. I do conference calls and web meetings most of the time and use headphones for good sound. Thanks so much for the help!
To cut to the chase... as an an owner of two original (insulation fixed 2017) models since near their release...
NO, it's not worth upgrading to anything else. USB-C connectivity on your setup (the only thing really of difference between the newer and older versions of the display) would offer you nothing.
I also wouldn't pay over 1200 bucks to extend the warranty on three displays at this stage either. Waste of money. Just keep your funds and buy a new (or even a used) replacement, if required, should one of your current displays becomes unfixable.
Furthermore, there's always a possibility something new and better may come along (that doesn't cost the earth like the XDR!) that might be a better buy in future. And you're more than likely to upgrade your MP when they do, to accommodate them at that time – likely a future (more affordable than current MP's) iMac or Mac Mini will sooner than later support two or three 5K3K displays natively without even needing an eGPU.
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