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   Retracting Criticism of LG UltraFine 5K Display Review Removal

   Adam C. Engst

   TidBITS recently published an ExtraBITS link pointing at a Reddit
   thread claiming that Apple had removed reviews from the Apple Store
   page for the LG UltraFine 5K Display (see '[1]Apple Pulls LG UltraFine
   5K Display Reviews,' 23 January 2017). We have since learned that Apple
   never turned reviews on for that product, possibly because it was
   available only for pre-order for some time before shipping.

   Hence, the claim on Reddit that Apple removed negative user reviews
   cannot be entirely true. For confirmation, and this is what we should
   have done before publishing, we looked in the Internet Archive's
   Wayback Machine, which showed that from the time the LG UltraFine 5K
   Display page was first crawled on 5 November 2016 until now, [2]there
   have never been any user reviews. In addition, we confirmed that other
   products in the Apple Store with user reviews do show those reviews in
   the Wayback Machine, so it's not just an anomaly with the Apple Store
   site.

   In other words, we should never have published that ExtraBITS link. We
   regret both the error and calling into question behavior on Apple's
   part that never took place. It's important that readers be able to
   trust that we can back up any criticisms that we make, and while we
   were certainly not alone among news outlets in publicizing that Reddit
   thread, we should have checked more carefully before believing it.

   That said, the question about whether the LG UltraFine 5K Display is
   suffering from an untoward number of problems remains valid. There may
   not be any user reviews on the Apple Store page for the product, but
   [3]it has come up quite a few times in the Apple Communities discussion
   boards. Most of those posts are compatibility questions, and there is
   no way to know how many users of the LG UltraFine 5K Display are
   experiencing no troubles, but a non-trivial number of problem reports
   remain unresolved:
     * [4]LG UltraFine 5K monitor ' external devices not detected
     * [5]Macbook pro 13 t/bar with Lg ultrafine 5k charging
     * [6]Issues with 13' MBP Touch Bar + LG Ultrafine 5K Display
     * [7]MacBook Pro (2016) black screen after unplugging from LG 5K
       Display
     * [8]MacBook Pro 15' (2016) Crashing while connecting/disconnecting
       the LG 5K Monitor
     * [9]Macbook Pro 13' Late 2016 has issues connecting to LG UltraFine
       5K Display
     * [10]Does your LG Ultrafine 4K display turn on and off continuously?
       mine does
     * [11]MBP15' (late 2016) and LG UltraFine 5K monitor
     * [12]LG UltraFine 4K Display issues macbook pro Sleep
     * [13]New LG 5k display not working
     * [14]LG UltraFine 5K monitor sharpness issues
     * [15]LG Ultrafine Display Sound / Camera Problem

   It would be inappropriate for us to recommend for or against the LG
   UltraFine 5K Display without formal testing. Since it's a new and
   unusual, if not unique, item that's currently available only from
   Apple, the burden is on Apple to ensure that it works. If you're
   interested in buying one, [16]check out iMore's review (particularly
   the compatibility information that points out you'll get 5K only on a
   2016 MacBook Pro with Thunderbolt 3) and be aware that you may
   experience more issues as an early adopter.

References

   1. http://tidbits.com/article/17011
   2. https://web.archive.org/web/20170415000000*/http://www.apple.com/shop/product/HKN62LL/A/lg-ultrafine-5k-display
   3. https://discussions.apple.com/search.jspa?q=LG%20Ultrafine%205K%20Display
   4. https://discussions.apple.com/message/31174597
   5. https://discussions.apple.com/message/31271735
   6. https://discussions.apple.com/message/31237541
   7. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7830447
   8. https://discussions.apple.com/message/31267982
   9. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7814550
  10. https://discussions.apple.com/message/31180433
  11. https://discussions.apple.com/message/31276908
  12. https://discussions.apple.com/message/31299973
  13. https://discussions.apple.com/message/31282412
  14. https://discussions.apple.com/message/31305915
  15. https://discussions.apple.com/message/31278840
  16. http://www.imore.com/lg-5k

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