Adding/Including Memories
I lost my dad last year (2023) and have been finding ways to include keepsakes/memories in my workstation. I've dabbled here and there with doing small woodworking projects and attempted a wrist rest from a piece of oak I picked up with him from my great uncles wood shop. I milled it to fit a 60% keyboard as I hadn't decided what keyboard I would be using it on and thought that's where most of my wrist would be in contact even typing on a full keyboard. I gave it a torched/burn appearance as I really was lost in what to do. I found an old shell casing from going hunting with my dad in my hunting pack and decided to imbed it into the end of the wrist rest so it would just have a little difference and a small story behind it as well. I have other things around my workstation from family and friends, but it just feels a little more special having worked on it and adding something small that has a memory for me to it. (Purple was my grandmothers favorite color and I have kinda now...
Apr 8, 2024
I did quite a bit of research on this display before purchasing, but some details were not clear to me before the display arrived. One of the main reasons I bought this display was the advertised convenience of using a single USB-C cable to send video signal to the monitor while simultaneously charging my MBP. However, THIS FUNCTIONALITY DOES NOT WORK FOR THE 15" 2016 MACBOOK PRO.
When connected via a single USB-C cable, the charging icon is displayed over the battery in the MBP's status bar as if it is charging...but clicking the battery icon for more details reveals a "Battery not charging" message. When I discovered this, I began searching to see if anyone else had encountered the same issue. I wasn't able to find any similar reports (early-adopter problems), but more importantly, there was no documentation on the power rating for the USB-C port on this display — not on LG's website or anywhere else. I found this odd considering the fact that the all-in-one USB-C functionality was advertised as a key feature of this product. Eventually, I found my answer on Apple.com while reading about the power delivery capabilities of the LG UltraFine 4k Display (https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207447) — a different display, but THERE IT WAS:
"The UltraFine 4K won't fully power 15-inch MacBook Pro from 2016 and later, which requires 85W. If you try to power your 15-inch MacBook Pro through the display, your notebook's battery will be utilized during times of heavy activity. To fully power your MacBook Pro and charge its battery, connect your 15-inch MacBook Pro to its Apple 87W USB-C power adapter when you use it with the UltraFine 4K."
A call to LG support confirmed my findings: THIS DISPLAY CANNOT CHARGE THE 2016 15" MACBOOK PRO. In the end, a real bummer, but not necessarily a deal-breaker for me. I just wish there had been some sort of documentation on this before I made my purchase.
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Side note 1: this display should have a USB-C to USB-C cable in the box. Mine was missing. If you don't receive one either, LG support should be able to send you the one you are owed.
Side note 2: the USB-C cable that came with your MBP does not support video, so you won't be able to use it with this monitor.
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UPDATE: LG has added a note on the product page for the USB-C charging limitations of this display. It is at the end of the text beneath the "All-in-One Connection" section on this page: http://www.lg.com/uk/monitors/lg-43UD79
No, I didn't forget that, because it's not true.
Apple's market share is over 12% in the U.S., hardly "tiny" (obviously smaller globally, but it's hugely dragged down by old PC use in third world countries where these monitors are not likely even sold).
On top of that, I seriously doubt those sorts of numbers. Feels like they are counting Windows machines from 1995 to get their high numbers. I don't personally know anyone that uses Windows anymore. My entire company is on Macs, my previous entire company was on Macs. All my friends and family use Macs. Where are all these Windows users? Nevermind...I don't want to know.
Anyway, any monitor manufacturer that is making a monitor with USB-C these days should expect that nearly 100% of people that want it for USB-C are Mac users, since there are essentially zero PC users that want it for USB-C, so you know, maybe the USB-C should actually work properly on those monitors for Macs.
And "all that extra effort" is merely pumping out a few more watts of power. Pretty basic for any electrical engineer.
As for wanting to charge my laptop from a monitor, yeah seriously. What are you, some sort of multiple-cable-loving sicko? I HATE extra cables. If your laptop can charge from your monitor, who the hell would NOT want that?
And as for you doubting it will happen soon, I've been charging my 15" MacBook Pro at work for months over USB-C from my monitor. My power cable is sitting lonely at the bottom of my desk drawer where it belongs.
Actually when I see USB on peripherals like monitors I think of phones, other low current devices (mice, keyboards) or thumb drives. The vast majority of consumers will be plugging those into a monitor and using an an actual video port for the monitors primary function - being a monitor.
I also doubt those numbers - the Apple number is too high. And yes I know something about this. Work for a major PC manufacturer and see those numbers on a regular basis.
Seeing USB as only a mechanism for phones, mice and keyboards is a thing of the past. USB-C can transfer 40Gbps, so why not take advantage of it? I plug in one cable to replace power, video, Ethernet and USB. So much cleaner. Next step is to get rid of that cable.
Full disclosure: as recently as last year I purchased a personal gaming laptop from a competitor company because I felt those that my company offered didn't compete well price/performance wise. I even emailed the product manager of said product in my company with a very detailed "review" from a consumer point of view.
As a developer, this is a tool I use 8+ hours every day for 3-4 years before replacing it, so it's certainly worth it to me to get something of better quality. Actually the computer I'm writing this on is a mid-2012 Retina MacBook Pro, which is still running as well as the first day I bought it. I'll probably update it later this year (although it's not really necessary). It's been an amazing machine and well worth the $3,000 I paid for it in 2012.