LG Ultrafine 5K M1 Mac spurious vertical shift in a 2 inch band on screen

Here are some more clues.

The vertical band is unchanged and still vertical even when the rotation is set to 90 degrees. Namely, it still runs between the top and bottom of the physical monitor - it does not rotate along with the windows, menu bar, etc.

The left edge of the band sometimes flickers as if the pixels are toggling between the correct value and the shifted value. The right edge does not exhibit this.

Thanks for the clarification, Ross. With the USB-C cable, I can get it to show the same 2560x1440 resolution that was the native resolution I was using before with the Thunderbolt cable, but the list of resolutions that show in the Display settings is slightly different and with the USB-C cable 2560x1440 is considered a "Scaled" resolution whereas I get 1920x1080 if I pick "Default for Display".

Steve, I believe you should be seeing the exact same options and defaults regardless of USB-C or thunderbolt cable being used. But I can only speak to my 2019 MacBook Pro and the most recent version of the LG display (ver 2).

This certainly could make the USB-C option too much of a sacrifice for someone stuck with 4k or lower resolutions due to limitations in version 1 of the display as I've heard from others.

Ross, thanks. Besides the difference in list of resolutions shown above, the only other difference I notice in System Info for the LG 5K display is that when connected via the USB-C cable the speed shows as "Up to 20Gb/s" while when connected via the Thunderbolt-3 cable is shows speed of "Up to 40Gb/s".

Does the "Device Revision: 0x2" show below mean that I have a "ver 2" of the LG 5K ?

Steve,

Correct. The only difference I know of is the data speed limitation of 20 GB but that that doesn't really mean anything for a display as far as I know of (most modern displays have USB-C and not thunderbolt). I think this is just apple pushing for their technology, which yes is capable of higher speeds for some devices and a small power bump to laptop charging ability.

I don't think that "0x2" relates to version at all. (I could be wrong though)

The only way I know of checking if you have the first or second version is by model number. I can tell you that mine is ver 2 and the model is LG 27MD5KL-B. I'm not sure what ver 1 is. Its on the box and I assume probably printed on the monitor or somewhere in the system info.

> Its specifically related to the thunderbolt 3 cable spec. As other users have said, replacing it with another Thunderbolt cable won't resolve it.

Thanks! Just wonder if the thunderbolt pro cable can solve this?

Does this only happen on this 5k display? Or other LG display will have the same issue if that only allow thunderbolts/usb-c to connect?

> -Both LG should let everyone know about this purchasing the monitor and the Mac Mini.

I agree. Have you guys aware of anything changes when you switched to usb-c from thunderbolt cable? I notcied the bandwith from 40GB/s to 20GB/s, does it cause some feature on this display not to work properly?

Thanks for confirming. Great news. Is there any kind of bug number I can reference in my own Apple Support case? I used to work in tech support and think closing that loop might be useful to whomever is still thinking about my open case. Thanks.

Sorry, no I wasn't given a bug number just advised to apply all updates as they come through. The third support guy I chatted with seemed quite confident it would be fixed fairly quickly. My screen and Mini are less than a month old but the first support person told me to talk to LG and the second wanted me to take the Mini in for repair!

I have the same problem. Mine occurs in a band that is about 3-5 pixels wide, but the "bump" creates a long vertical column. Super annoying! It appears to be a problem within the monitor somehow, because like you said, you can't record the effect. I really would like to see this addressed since it appears many people are discovering the same issue. You pay over a grand for a monitor, you want it to work correctly, you know?

Same issue here for 6 months already with my Macbook Air M1 on a 2020 LG Ultrafine 5K screen.

Still not fixed with OS 11.3...

Never happened with my older Macbook Pro.

This is very annoying and totally unacceptable on such an expensive external monitor that's recommended and sold by Apple.

In my case, both Apple and LG act already for 6 months as if they never heard about this problem before.

Good to see that so many people are experiencing the same issue. Hopefully the more of us talking about this, the faster Apple and/or LG will take their responsibility.

Hi Holger,

Why do you think this monitor is discontinued? It still seems to be in stock in the Apple Store: https://www.apple.com/us-hed/shop/product/HMUB2LL/A/lg-ultrafine-5k-display and I can't find any info on it being discontinued today.

As far as I know the Ultrafine 4K and 5K have been THE external displays officially recommended by Apple for several years and unfortunately there wasn't much of an alternative (and as far as I know there still isn't except their super expensive XDR monitor) so I would assume a huge amount of their customers are still using them. Why would you think then that they are only used by a tiny portion of the market? I personally know a lot of people using Macbooks in combination with the Ultrafine external displays because unfortunately there wasn't much of a better alternative since 2016...

I read indeed about a new consumer level priced monitor in the works but I also read they will probably only be available somewhere next year...

I would say if enough of us complain about this, eventually a solution might be provided...

sunshine...you are mixing up getting rid of inventory and new production. The monitor is no longer in production and LG no longer plans on software updates for it. See screenshot. Yup Apple and other retailers still sell their existing inventory but that's it.

You might be right about the monitor no longer being in production and I read about Apple working on a consumer level priced monitor (due somewhere in 2022?) but Apple endorsed those Ultrafine displays for 5 years, there isn't a decent alternative yet and probably hundreds of thousands of Apple clients are using them in combination with their Macbooks because there was no decent alternative and there still isn't one.

So I still think that if enough of us complain about this, eventually a solution might be provided...

Apple isn't LG. They have a certain reputation to live up to... Like G5amo said, a lot of people would be disappointed if Apple would just abandon us on this.

So if other people are experiencing this problem, definitely click on "I have this question too"!

Hello reportaman,

your post is wrong because:

• The standard USB-C cable does not provide 5K resolution. 3840x2140 as you stated is not 5K. The LG Ultrafine 5K has to be used with the Thunderbolt 3 cable to unleash it's full potential with an M1 Mac

According to this you are forced to take the "Solved" status back and LG and Apple have to work together to resolve these issues. The LG Ultrafine 5K is marketed as an official Mac product and we as Apple consumers love the high quality Apple standards. Apple and LG have to resolve these issues no matter what.

OK - I had it. I just sold my Mac mini and my LG display and got an iMac. yeah its the 24" but I'll upgrade when the larger one comes out later this year. BTW - despite my LG Ultrafine 5K monitor only being 5 weeks old - I had to sell it way below usual market price. There seems to be no market for it. Places like SellYourMac and Cash for you Mac didn't want it for all the reasons we have posted here - they can't re-sell them. Between the pixel shift and the build-in camera quality not being up to par if you use an M1 computer....this really leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. Good for Apple that Windows is such a horrendous operating system that I do not see any alternative. But yeah for a company touting its wokeness at every opportunity - not cool.