AKA "32 Inch UltraFine™evo 6K Nano IPS Black Monitor with Thunderbolt™ 5"
The LG UltraFine 32U990A-S 31.5" 6K HDR Monitor offers a fabulous 6144 X 3456 = 21.2 megapixel view. This is considerably more than a 14.7-megapixel 5K display. Immersive, just as I found with the Dell 6K.
The working area at 2:1 Retina resolution is a “looks like” of 3072 X 1728. That is a LOT more working area than 2560 X 1440—44% more area for spreadsheets, images, etc.
Vastly superior image quality to the disgraceful Apple 6K Pro Display.
Specifications
- 31.5" viewable diagonal 16:9 IPS Black Panel
- HDMI | DisplayPort | Thunderbolt 5
- UHD 6K 6144 x 3456 at 60 Hz
- 5 ms GtG Response Time
- 2000:1 Static Contrast Ratio
- 450 Nits Brightness
- 1.07 Billion Colors with HDR10
- 98% DCI-P3 & 99.5 Adobe RGB Coverage
- Thunderbolt 5 Out Port
- Integrated Speakers, USB-C Hub & KVM
- Physical measurements: 28 5/16" wide X 16 3/16 high, diagonal 32.25"
Physical design.
There is no center hole in the stand to run the power cord through. The power input should be centered, with a hole to run the cord through. It might have cost another 25 cents. Inelegant at best, since on my setup the cord then has to run around the stand instead of through it.
The ports are also together vertically: input power mixed with USB-C mixed with Display Port. This gives no physical or visual separation as to functions that are quite different.
Nor do the USB-C ports acknowledge the realities of cabling drives, many of which come with with very short cables: the ports are tightly packed and grouped half-way up—things now dangle, with cords on top dangling on top of the others and the short-cable drives dangling in mid-air. This is just plain stupid design.
For my desk, the minimum height of the adjustable stand is still about 1 inch too high (6.5 inches to bottom of screen from desktop, 22.5" to top of display). Even with my desk chair at maximum height, it forces my head to angle up, causing neck pain after an hour or so. I was forced to add a cushion from an outside deck chair to accommodate this range limitation of the height adjustment. Again, poor design in practical terms, elegant as the adjustment mechanism is otherwise.
IMO, these are all the same root cause: sloppy design inattentive to real-world usage. And needlessly so; doing it right would cost would change little or not at all.
macOS requirements
To get it to work on my 2023 Mac Pro, I had to "upgrade" to macOS Sequoia, which has severe internet problems with Safari — works fine while it does, then fails outright with even quit/restart and reboot not fixing it. Or is the LG 6K causing the problem? Unsure, but Chrome works fine when Safari is totally unresponsive (rebooting, etc will NOT fix Safari's behavior). Recent versions of macOS are cockroach software design—bugs pop out all over the place.
USB-C ports non-functional (!)
Unlike the trusty LG 5K which I've used for years, the LG 6K is a compatibility headache.
※ Monitor Software Update Notice ※
The use of Studio Mode requires updating the monitor software to version 3.05 or later via the LG Switch software, which will be available in October 2025. The update can be performed automatically or manually via LG Switch when the computer is connected to the internet and the monitor using either (1) a USB-C to A or USB-A to B cable, or (2) a USB-C to C or Thunderbolt cable.
Conclusion
Fantastic image quality. No reservations there.
I was dead set on buying this display and making it my primary. But with the USB-C failures, I am wondering whether to send it back and wait a few months. Maybe I’ll just live without the USB-C ports and hope LG gets its act together.
