Macbook Pro 16 Very Slow Performance with OLED TV 55

Hardware:
- MacPro16 with i9 / 32 DDR4 / 512 SSD /Radeon Pro 5500M 4 GB
- LENOVO Y540-17IRH i7-9750H 32GB QVO2TB GTX1650-4GB
- 1st screen LG32UD99-W
- 2nd screen LG OLED55CX TV 2020

Hi everyone, a few days ago I became the owner of a new LG OLED55CX TV.
Due to the parameters of this large display (120Hz screen), I decided to buy it, I will use it for work (mostly coding).

Connecting my new LG screen to a Lenovo Legion laptop (GTX on board with Ubuntu), I was not disappointed, everything looks super sharp, the desktop is super smooth, I'm very pleased. Desktop with Windows on board with 2x GTX 1080TI also do the work.

The situation is different when it comes to the Apple laptop with latest OS (Big Sur).
I have completely poor desktop performance of the graphics card when I connect such a large TV (I mean dekstop, open prgrams, mouse movement, etc. it's all not smooth how it should be).

Now first thing is that 55 inch screen is detected by MacPro as 61 inches with (3840x2160) LGTV SSCR, so so it seems to me that Apple is not detecting hardware correctly.

I use multiport USB-C to digital AV (HDMI) apple adapter. Apple provides the following parameters: 3840 x 2160 on 60 Hz for it.

I try to turn off automatic swith of GPU in OS battery options, but still .. GPU performance is very poor.

Have any of you had similar experiences and somehow managed to solve the problem ?

Best,
Syngress

 

Could be an issue with switchable GPU. I don't own any Macs but I few Windows 10 PCs with Thunderbolt display producing worse display performance and had to always use HDMI which is wired to nvidia dGPU otherwise intel iGPU causes laggy performance.
Another reason could be Apple USBC adapter cannot/isn't supporting high refresh rate of LG CX.
My only concern would be, how is the display performance on MacPro connected to HDMI/USBC adapter? Is it laggy like MBP?

 

I don't quite understand this question

MacPro works fine when disconnected from the TV, desktop is very smooth.
For some reason, the problem appears when connected to such a large TV :-|

 

Could be a driver/OS issue since you're observing the same issue on MBP 16 and Mac pro.

 

Seriously? OLED for coding? Occasional, I presume, or do you want to put those counter-burn-in measures to proper test?

 

What's wrong with OLED? I thought they were the best looking displays? (haven't seen one in person yet but would love to have an OLED screen for my next laptop)

 

No high refresh options, risk of burn-in, and color gamut and power consumption that fluctuate wildly depending on the content on the screen and how brightly you have it set.

 

This + motion stuttering without interpolation (which causes artifacts). Overall I still love OLED on a TV, those blacks and contrast can't be beat, but I would be weary of using this for heavy desktop work due to the inherent risk of permanent burn-in .

 

LG OLED panels in TVs which are supplied to Sony and others unlike a standard OLED use a RGBW color filter over white oleds (basically red/blue/green OLED stacks to make the composite white OLED layer). They’re more burn in resistant but even those despite protection like pixel shifting I think burn in was seen in on 2 TVs by 16 weeks and all 6 TVs by 36 weeks in a Rtings site test if I recall, do take in to account this is like 20hrs a day so not a normal use case. In fact LG was embarrassed by burn in at a TV trade show and an airport in Korea had to replace OLED TVs in like 3 months due to burn in from static contents 24/7. Granted these are more extreme use cases at like max brightness and 24/7 use.
https://m.hexus.net/ce/news/audio-visual/119942-lg-oled-tv-burn-in-woes-evident-trade-show/

OLED for regular TVs for home use is one thing where content and brightness is usually dynamic and protection mechanisms can hold off burn in decently and you likely won’t see any noticeable burn in for years.

However for a computer monitor where you will have lots of static UI elements and likely used longer per day than a TV, burn in could be a real issue / is a more real concern. Not to mention the more resistant RGBW panels I don’t think are used in monitor and laptop OLED panels.

 

OLED might be actually good when you pair with dark mode background with white fonts and you can code for longer w/o getting fatigued.

 

Dark mode would obviously limit the area of possible burn-ins but not the risk, since there would be lots of persistently activated areas on the display. It's a question of whether you'd prefer thick or thin burn-ins.

There are a few more things OLED TVs do to try and prevent burn-ins:
* There some recycling/refreshing activity while the display is on standby, that's why 24/7 operation is more of a problem - if laptop displays replicate this, that means additional power draw during standby/sleep
* Good old screensavers are back during inactivity - I would set that up on an OLED laptop aggresively

 

Yeah power draw is the reason that LGs RGBW method with filters wasn’t ported to phones and Mobile displays, power consumption would be significantly higher than regular OLED.

Also note that high contrast between static elements will make burn in more noticeable since burn is merely uneven wearing of OLED, ie white time/date info on a blackish taskbar. Also until recently full white or mostly white backgrounds ie like when web surfing etc OLED actually would draw more power than an LCD.

 

Well, I already have this TV some time and I can share my experiences with you.
Starting with the main topic, which is MacbookPro and a terribly slow desktop, it turned out that the problem is the original Apple USC-C => HDMI adapters, which refresh max 30Hz in 4K, their new relays are doing much better 60Hz in 4K, unfortunately, they are terribly expensive, and they charge the batteries very slowly.

Screen burning and working with code.
Firstly, I don't find it inconvenient to work with such a large screen, quite the opposite.
I open many windows on one screen, OLED gives me great viewing angles, it's comfortable!

The screen is configured in such a way that it dims automatically, in addition, there are many options in the settings to prevent burnout.
Additionally, we have a 2-year warranty, so let it burn !

My unit will be replaced with a new one due to another problem, burned out pixels, after talking to the LG service, they deliver a new TV within 2 weeks..

 

That's a great endorsement: it's fine guys BTW my unit is getting replaced due to a burned out pixel. Let it burn lol

I have a 42 inch monitor, I wouldn't want to use anything larger. Reading content at the boundaries of the screen is already noticeably less comfortable. 55 inch would be just painful. Curved might be another story, but then it would take up a ton of space.

 

You miss the facts, the hardware was delivered to me with burned-in pixels and it had nothing to do with its use.
Plus "endorsemen" that's your statement

 

OK, so you basically just got the screen and have very little experience with it. Give it a year.

 

I don't know how you describe your experience with electronic devices and why you assume your own time frames, however, I assure you that a few weeks is enough to describe the experience in using and working with the device.

In a year, I can write to you what my experiences are after a year.

If you have any bright thoughts about this model, please share with us

 

Sure np. Always good to know there is no burn-in on an OLED screen or comfort issues after a few weeks. Enjoy your device, my LG TV has done well over a year, except for the remote.

 

Someone has already linked to an article in which burnout cases were reported after a few weeks on a LG OLED TV.
Anyway, i bought today Satechi adapter USB-C to USB-C PD/2xHDMI

It is 2x HDMI 4k 60Hz adapter, and that solve my problem with slow desktop experience

 

My issue with OLED panels, aside from burn-in risk (which is quite high for PCs....), is the abysmal way they control the backlight. I usually don't have sensitivity to PWM, but on both the Alienware 15 OLED and Razer Blade OLED machines, the PWM was giving me a headache. Upon further research, the PWM frequency was found to be extremely low, like ~ 60Hz. I was getting headache/eye strain from that. By contrast, my Razer Blade Pro 2017 and my Razer Blade 15 300Hz panel don't use PWM backlight control at all. When you're staring at a screen all day, it makes a huge difference.

Personally I am looking forward to microLED displays for TV and laptops. All the benefits of OLED and none of the drawbacks.

 

I try to experiment with external GPU (GTX1080TI on some EGPU Case) with MacbookPro16, maybe I can get 120Hz from my 55OLED Panel.

I have AMD Radeon Pro 5500M on board, and if I read correctly on the net, I am limited by the OSX system to 60Hz on this external GPU ..

 

There is no NVIDIA driver support for macOS - you would need an AMD GPU.

 

For BigSur ? What about Catalina ?

 

Nope. NVIDIA and Apple haven't been on speaking terms since around 2013.

 

That's too bad, what can I get form AMD (cheapest GPU option) with 120Hz support ?

 

so this PWM means those vertical lines that appear on the screen when you film it with a camera but the human eye can't see? that's what's bad and what bothers you on the long run?

 

Kepler was the last officially supported nvidia GPU series.

Some people got the Geforce 10XX series to work in Catalina via workarounds but not sure how well it performs or if it's worth the effort.

 

No it’s basically flashing the screen on/off as a means of brightness control. Lower the brightness, the lower the flashing rate. Higher the brightness higher the flashing rate.

Some people are very sensitive to low PWM levels as one previous poster mentioned. Can have it on LCDs as well.

Much better explanation here:
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Why-Pulse-Width-Modulation-PWM-is-such-a-headache.270240.0.html

 

No, those "lines" you see when sometimes recording a screen with a camera is from mismatch between panel refresh rate and camera capture frame rate. if they are out of sync, you will see those lines (like using a camera capturing at 30fps to a 60hz display)

PWM is pulse width modulation, and is one way to control backlight by rapidly cycling it on/off. At high frequency, it is not a problem to me, as the human eye can only register so many Hz. However if the frequency is low, like example some OLED panels use 55-58Hz to modulate, the eye can detect that flicker of on/off and it can strain over time.

 

I'd look for a used RX 570 or 580. If you're lucky, you may be able to find the former for under $100.

 

I'm confused by this - I thought there is no backlight in OLED screens, at least my TV doesn't have one so there is no PWM issue.

 

Pretty sure your TV likely uses PWM, most OLED panels usually need PWM to control brightness. For brightness OLED panels' pixels generally either turn on or off there's no in between because voltage changes between sub pixels required to maintain proper color representation/prevent color shift while dropping brightness, would be pretty complicated, I think such panels also exist but don't think they are common. In-between voltages are as far as I know used more to change color gradations with the frequency of on/off being the brightness method. With LCDs you can do either PWM, backlight power reduction or a combination with PWM at low brightness. I'm sure someone with more knowledge can add to this or correct my statements.

 

According to RTings my TV doesn't use PWM and indeed I have not noticed any flicker (and would describe myself as slightly sensitive), but reading up a bit more, this seems more of an exception than a rule, and OLED PWM flicker is indeed a common complaint, especially on smaller devices such as phone screens.

 

If you like technical reading:

https://www.oled-info.com/pulse-width-modulation-pwm-oled-displays

 

Thanks I've seen it. Basically LG seem to have a very good brightness control implementation, although this doesn't go into an awful lot of detail on how it works exactly.