The LG UltraFine 5K monitor that Apple sells goes crazy near Wi-Fi routers

LG’s sleek UltraFine 5K monitor was touted as a successor to Apple’s aging Thunderbolt display, with Apple even holding it up as the ideal docking companion for the new MacBook Pros last year. But while the 27-inch display is actually quite gorgeous and sports three USB-C ports and additional cameras and microphones for FaceTime, it apparently has one huge flaw – it doesn’t work near Wi-Fi routers.

The monitor only needs to come within 2 meters of a router for problems to occur, in the form of constant freezing, flickering, and disconnects. In fact, it may even crash your computer entirely. The issues reportedly get worse the closer the panel is to the router, and moving the screen away from the router eliminates problems.

9to5Mac first identified the flaws in a user review on Apple’s site, but it isn’t an isolated case because an LG representative has since confirmed that proximity to the Wi-Fi router was the cause.

Other than that, the monitor doesn’t seem to be too reliable, with customer reviews citing erratic performance, like unpredictable wake behavior, crashing when waking from sleep, and the inability to retain sound settings.

At this point in time, it’s not clear if anything can be done to resolve the router problem, or even if LG is working on a fix.

It’s worth noting that this is a display that costs S$1,408, so you’ll want to doublecheck your router placement before dropping the cash. Otherwise, you may want to consider the 21.5-inch 4K model instead, which LG says is unaffected.

Source: Engadget