“We connected the LG 34UM94-P UltraWide 3440×1440 IPS display to two different Mac Pros and to the Razer Core Thunderbolt 3 GPU Expander,” rob-ART morgan reports for Bare Feats. “The LG 34UM94-P display we tested came with 1xDisplayPort, 1xHDMI, and 2xThunderbolt input ports.”
“This is not so much a shootout as a spotlight on the ease at which two different Mac Pros running Mac OS X and one Windows laptop can handle the new fad in displays: UltraWide,” morgan reports. “A few older apps choked, but the vast majority handled the 3440×1440 resolution with aplomb.”
“With Apple’s recent announcement that they will be discontinuing the Apple Thunderbolt Display, it’s good to know we have some interesting alternative displays with Thunderbolt input ports,” morgan reports. “Though there is speculation that an Apple 5K Thunderbolt 3 display is in development, it will likely require your Mac (or PC) to have a USB-C port that is Thunderbolt 3 compatible. For legacy Macs with Thunderbolt, mini DisplayPort, DisplayPort, or HDMI connectors, there’s still hope for a snazzy replacement display.”
Read more and see all of the benchmarks in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: We still doing the dual monitor thing with our iMacs. Anybody using an UltraWide with their Mac(s)? How do you like it? Any issues?
It is great this worked. This and the rumor of a new Thunderbolt 5K display with an embedded GPU are very intriguing.
Be careful however. I use an LG 29EA73 with an early 2015 13″ MacBook Pro. Yosemite and El Capitan compatibility is sketchy at best: very fuzzy fonts and very low screen brightness via both Thunderbolt and HDMI.
I found the follow forum post the only ‘fix’ to ensure compatibility: http://embdev.net/topic/284710#3027030
Tim
I have those problems too, but with a different display. The solution is to disable the monitor’s feature such as smartresponse, smart brightness, etc. Mine is a philips display. Just make the setting as ‘normal’ as possible
Sigh… Apples pro efforts recently are dismal at best…
Why ..why ..why. Apple? You are shooting yourself in your own foot !
I love my 34″ ultrawidescreen monitor. I almost want a second one. I have the curved 34″ LG Thunderbolt Display. I also love that it has its own USB ports, I leave a lightning cable plugged into it to charge my new Apple accessories (keyboard, trackpad, mouse). When I switch which laptop I’m using, I just have to plug the accrssories in each for a few seconds and they automatically paid up with the laptop connected to the display. Super easy. If I could just leave the accessories plugged in all the time, I wouldn’t even need to do anything except swap the Thunderbolt cord, but unfortunately for some reason they put the port on the bottom of the mouse instead of the front where cords usually are on mice.
I’ve had an LG 34UM94-P connected to my 2010 Mac Pro for about 9 months. (Video card: flashed EVGA Nvidia Titan X connected to monitor via DisplayPort.) Overall, it’s been a major improvement over my aging 16 x 10 23″ Cinema Display. The main things I love about it: The ultrawide format is fantastic for temporal workflows like Premiere, Nuendo, WaveLab, etc., the display is sharp and has very accurate color, and the anti-glare glass is so easy on the eyes. (I loathe glossy displays.) There’s only a few little things I don’t like: The display is slow to come on from energy saving mode, it sometimes doesn’t display the grey Apple boot logo, and some websites look truly bizarre when graphic elements are stretched to fit the fullscreen width. Together with my UHD 4K display, I have tons of screen real estate for my various workflows. The LG display was one of the best investments I’ve made (next to my 2009 and 2010 Mac Pros.)
I prefer vertical screen space, not horizontal screen space. Moving your line of sight up and down is easier than side to side. Someone should make a large “Retina” display with a 4×3 aspect ratio, something like 5200×3900 pixels. The “5K” iMac is 5120×2880, so it would be similar to that screen, but a few inches “taller.”
Bust since that’s unlikely to happen… For my next Mac desktop config, I’d like a 4K or 5K display. I’ll use my current 1920×1200 display (which has a highly adjustable pivoting stand) in portrait mode to the left of the primary screen. I can use that secondary screen for things that work better with a lot of vertical space.
I have been looking at 4K displays and most if not all Macs with Iris Graphics or better can drive a 4K display. Some with a Display Port to mini Display Port spec 2.1 can drive 4K at 60- the HDMI will only give you 30.
With manufacturers going through a refresh cycle right now, bargain hunters might find done good deals.