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amazon LG UltraFine 4K Display (24MD4KL-B) reviews
While Apple’s laptops and desktops have many advantages, the ease of finding compatible peripherals is not one of them. We’re excited to have the opportunity to review LG’s $699.99 4K UltraFine Monitor (24MD4KL-B), one of the few Mac-focused monitors to hit the market. This 24-inch display shows seamless compatibility with the MacBook Pro we’ve tested, and it’s also compatible with the recent iPad Pro. It provides some essential, forward-looking ports (while eliminating some of the other, more common ones), and it’s geared toward supporting Apple’s standard color space. It’s a bit pricey, but it’s a good choice if you have a Mac desktop setup and need a sharp, not-too-large display. Be forewarned, though: It won’t work as well in lighting as a Windows-PC connected display, and the chassis’ interface won’t.
An underserved niche
You won’t find all those 24-inch 4K (3,840 x 2,160 pixels) monitors — that native resolution is almost exclusively available on monitors with larger screens. The available ones tend to retail for under $500. Even fewer screens have been introduced specifically for the Mac. In addition to the 24MD4KL-BL, LG has a 27-inch, 27MD5KA-B 5K monitor, but that’s all you’ll find.
Really, what makes a good Mac monitor is largely the same set of things that make any monitor good: sturdy, adjustable frame, complementary native resolutions and screen sizes, accurate colors, and useful port selection. Throughout the review, I’ll discuss how the 24MD4KL-B holds up against these criteria, but let’s go through some of the specific benefits this offers to a Mac.
As has been mentioned, you can work with this display having a recent MacBook Pro and iPad Pro; conversely, one even goes as a second display for an iMac Pro and an iMac. (If it is a Mac, however, you want to connect to it through a Thunderbolt 3 port; otherwise, the latest iPad Pro uses a USB Type-C port.) Furthermore, since the monitor is well integrated with macOS, you can even adjust its settings from the Show dialog box on your Mac. It covers more than 97% of the DCI-P3 color space version Apple has selected as its standard for wide-gamut color space.
Note that the 24MD4KL-B is Mac-centric and therefore it is not one to be considered when buyers want a Windows monitor (or even two-way Windows/Mac). We could use this with Dell XPS and Razer laptops that use DisplayPort over a compatible Thunderbolt 3 / USB-C port, but I don’t see the glitz in buying a laptop that won’t have this kind of connection in the future.
The display turns on right after the laptop is connected to the display via the Thunderbolt 3 port. There is no dedicated on-screen display (OSD) on the monitor to control settings. The Mac users have a few display settings they can adjust within macOS, but Windows users have no such option. (On my Dell XPS 13, really the only thing I can control is the volume of the monitors’ built-in speakers.)
A 24-inch IPS panel (measured diagonally) is what the 24MD4KL-B sports, with native resolution of 3,840 by 2,160 pixels in 16:9 aspect ratio. This means it has a pixel density of 186 pixels per inch (PPI). While good on paper for a monitor of this size category (as an example, the two 27-inch 4K monitors we’ve tested-Predator X27 from Acer and ViewSonic VP2785-4K-have a pixel density of 163ppi), it is quite low by Mac standards. (In general, the greater the pixel density, the sharper the image.)
To compare, there is, for example, the screen of 2019 Apple iMac 27-inch with Retina 5K Display. It measures 228ppi. On the other hand, the latest 15-inch MacBook Pro measures 220ppi while the iPad Pro (12.9-inch 2018 version) measures 264ppi. Granted, you will be viewing content close-up on your iPad (much in the same way as your laptop), so this very high-pixel density surely makes a lot of sense. 186ppi for the 24MDKL-B, however, is not very surprising-it is way ahead of any other monitor we have tested at this size in terms of image sharpness.
Minimalist screen
The design of the 24MD4KL-B is simple and refined, though not unattractive. The cabinet and stand are both matte black and look classy enough. Including the stand, the 24MD4KL-B measures 41.6 x 55.3 x 22.9 cm (HWD), with a height increased to 54.4 cm when fully extended and weighs 6.8 kg.
The screen has a border of more than 1 cm at the edges, top, and bottom. The back of the cabinet is beveled, tapered to meet the base, which helps stick to the screen with a removable plate. The stand supports height and tilt adjustment. It can even be rotated a few degrees for equalization purposes, just like you adjust a warped photo frame. It comes with a 100mm VESA mount if you want to mount it on the wall.
where can you get a LG UltraFine 4K Display (24MD4KL-B) online
LG 24MD4KL-B 24″ Ultrafine 4K UHD IPS LED Monitor with Built-in Speakers, 3840×2160 (Renewed): Buy it now
LG 24MD4KL-B Ultrafine 24″ IPS LED 4K UHD Monitor – Black (Renewed): Buy it now
All USB-C and Thunderbolt
On the back of the device, five ports line up there: three USB Type-C ports and two Thunderbolt 3 ports. All of them share the very same connector, yet where Thunderbolt3 from numbers super fast data transfers up to 40Gbps as compared to only 10Gbps through a normal USB-C. This concept of a USB Type-C / Thunderbolt 3 first appeared in the newer generation of MacBooks. The 2016 15-inch MacBook Pro I used in the test itself only has four USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 ports (except for the headphone jack). My own Dell XPS 13 has two Thunderbolt 3 ports and one USB-C.
How nice of the 24MD4KL-B to equip lightning-fast amounts of USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 ports. (With two Thunderbolt 3 ports, you can chain devices together, connect a display to your Mac via one of the ports, and forward to several other Thunderbolt 3 peripheral devices from the other.) The Thunderbolt 3 port can supply power at up to 85 watts so that late-model Mac laptops can get charged really fast as they stream content from it.
While there are ports on the 24MD4KL-B provided power, plus it can be useful, and with an eye on the future, unavoidably limiting it on the contrast of variety. So your display may be considered future-proof, yet we’re still living in the present, where most devices are devoid of USB-C connectivity, not to mention Thunderbolt 3. They can connect via HDMI, USB Type-A, or even Thunderbolt 2 ports (like my five-year-old 15-inch MacBook Pro), the latter using a completely separate connector from that of Thunderbolt 3. Solutions can be bought, of course; these include adapters and docking stations, though more expenses and depression. You’d only want to use this LG monitor if your Mac and peripherals are USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 ready.
Look, there Is No Button
I have stated earlier that the panel lacks any keys or controls, including an On/Off power switch, in fact! It is directly controlled from your Mac using the Display dialog box. Compared to most monitors, the settings you can adjust are fewer–brightness and resolution, color space switching, and night mode (which makes the colors warmer or less blue light). To switch the 24MD4KL-B On, you have to connect your MacBook to one of the display’s Thunderbolt 3 ports.
You can also enable the 24MD4KL-B by connecting it to a Windows machine, but your experience will be very limited when I tried it with my Windows laptop (Dell XPS 13). It will display the laptop’s screen content, even display video, but without the “seamless” integration of the Mac, I have almost no control over the settings. The monitor won’t charge my laptop over the Thunderbolt 3 connection, nor can I change the brightness or color space. The only thing that worked was the volume control of the 24MD4KL-B built-in speaker.
In the support forums, I’ve seen that some people have gotten this monitor to work with Windows machines, but only by adding a Thunderbolt 3 expansion card to the computer’s motherboard (in the case of a desktop PC). BIOS tweaks and many other fixes. Even then, many had only partial success, with some functions still disabled.
Amazing brightness, video, and photo-friendly
I measured brightness, color accuracy, and black levels with a Klein K10-A colorimeter and SpectraCal CalMAN 5 software.
The brightness of the 24MD4KL-B (that is, its brightness per unit area) is rated by LG at 500 candelas per meter squared (nits); it measured at a brilliant 538 nits, the highest brightness I’ve recorded in a non-gaming monitor. Also, I calculated its contrast ratio to be 1,350:1, which is slightly better than its 1,000:1 rating.
According to LG, this monitor is factory calibrated to cover 98% of the DCI-P3 color space; CalMAN got very close to 97.5% in our testing.
In addition to these official tests, I watched our selection of test clips and was delighted to watch the video on the 24MD4KL-B. It displays vivid colors and has a good dynamic range. A pair of built-in 5-watt speakers provide reasonable volume and sound quality for the in-display speakers. Photos have good contrast, and colors appear to be realistic.
LG includes a standard one-year warranty with the 24MD4KL-B, which is pretty meager, especially considering the product’s price. Most monitors come with a three-year warranty.
A boon for Mac users
The LG UltraFine 4K monitor (24MD4KL-B) has a lot to offer Mac users. (Again, please note that it is a pure Apple game, not designed for Windows users.) Its advantages include bright images with good colors for both photos and videos, Good coverage of Mac’s standard DCI-P3 color space, seamless integration with MacBooks, and compatibility with recent iPad Pro. Its relatively small screen, combined with its high native resolution (4K), produces high pixel density and sharp images. But like most things in the Mac world, you pay a premium for it—though, not as much as you’d shell out for LG’s 27-inch 5K device, the UltraFine 5K Display (27MD5KA-B), priced at $1,299.99.