LG’s new UltraFine displays are clearly aimed at Apple’s latest MacBook Pros. However at the end of the day, they are still monitors which means that if you have the necessary ports, you should be able to use it just fine. In fact you’ll be pleased to learn that if you have an older Mac, the displays will work just fine with them.
In a support document posted on Apple’s website, the company revealed that the new UltraFine displays will play nicely with older Macs. All users will need to do is purchase a Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adapter and they should be good to go. However the only downside here is that your resolution will be lowered.
This means that the 27-inch 5K LG UltraFine display, which should display a resolution of 5120×2880 @ 60Hz on Apple’s latest laptops, will instead display a resolution of 3840×2160 @ 60Hz on the older Macs. These older Macs includes the 2013 Mac Pro, 13- and 15-inch MacBook Pros from mid-2014 or later, the 27-inch iMac from late 2014, the 21.5-inch iMac (Retina and non-Retina) from late 2015 or newer, or the 11- and 13-inch MacBook Air from early 2015 onwards.
Presumably devices not listed above will not play nicely with the new LG UltraFines. That being said the decrease in resolution is a bit of a bummer since the 5K resolution is probably one of the reasons customers purchase it in the first place, but if you’re not too fussed then we guess this is a setup you could check out. Also keep in mind that Apple’s discount on the displays has been extended to March 2017, so you still have time to take advantage of it if you choose.
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