Owners of an Apple LG UltraFine 5K monitor complain about wake up and connection problems. Apple has started to delete the large number of (negative) reviews on the product page of the nearly $1,300 costing display.
Both in the Apple forums (1,2,3) and in the Review & Ratings section of the LG Ultrafine 5K monitor in the online Apple Store, users complain about the display, that is manufactured by LG, but directly sold by Apple complementary with the MacBook Pro. Their main complaint, the display doesn't reliably work when the computer is put to sleep and has to wake up.
Users report that the screen may only flicker briefly when it wakes up through a movement of the mouse or by pressing a key but the entire system isn't waking up. The only way to get the screen back on is to plug the power cable in again. That sometimes also causes problems, it can cause the entire MacBook to freeze or hang. Sometimes a reboot is necessary. There are also reports that the MacBook's Touch Bar doesn't work properly after the 5K monitor is connected and users also complain that awakening the Mac and the monitor when macOS' file encryption feature FileVault is enabled. It causes the computer to behave unreliable.
Apple does allow users to complain on its forums, but it has deleted complaints from the review section of the LG UltraFine 5K monitor on its web store. Later it even removed the entire section, so it's no longer possible to leave reviews on the device. Users have therefore resorted to the review section of the cheaper LG UltraFine 4K Display.
It's unclear how many users are affected by the issue, the LG UltraFine 5K has been for sale since the end of December last year (for an introductory price of $974), but many users had to wait up to a month to receive it.
Whether it's a software or hardware problem also remains to be seen.
While Apple manufactured its own displays in the past, this 5K display is manufactured in cooperation with LG. The monitor also doesn't carry the Apple logo and neither has a design expected from an Apple product. Apple does however prominently advertise the device in the Apple store and recommends it as a companion of the MacBook Pro. The 5K UltraFine also comes with a Thunderbolt 3 cable, which supports 5K video, audio, and data simultaneously and which can supply up to 85W of charging power to the MacBook Pro.
Instant Update: Also on the LG website users complain about the UltraFine 5K now.
