I purchased this monitor as someone who wanted to get back into the Ultrawide market - my first one decided during a move that it didn't want to work anymore. Tragic, really but it was a 3 year old X35 that ran at 2560x1080. I knew this would be expensive, but based on reviews by some of the different tech YouTubers I've seen, I opted to pull the trigger on this one over the Predator X35, as it was a couple hundred cheaper with the main tradeoff being HDR400 on this vice HDR1000 on the Predator - more on HDR later.
My overall impression - it's worth it if you've got the money to burn, but if not I'd suggest something at a lower price point. There's a 34" variant of this that's 3440x1440 with HDR and most of the same features that's about half the MSRP of this one.
Pros-
- Ultrawide, but a little taller. This is a 38" ultrawide monitor with a 24:10 aspect ratio as opposed to the traditional 21:9 or 32:9 of other ultrawides, which gives a bit more vertical screen real estate at 3840x1600. Normally, the 35" monitors that this competes with run at 3440x1440. It's not a massive difference, but it helps for productivity.
- This display is GORGEOUS. Bezels are unoffensive, the light ring on the back is pretty easy to tweak (or disable), and gets REALLY bright. HDR looks fantastic (provided you know what settings to use, more in the cons). The included stand is hefty but doesn't take up my whole space or have an overpowering gamer aesthetic. I have a monitor arm, so I don't use the included stand but I wouldn't mind using it if I couldn't use the arm.
- I/O is pretty standard - HDMI and Displayport with an integrated USB hub. You need to use the USB hub if you want to control the RGB software from your PC. There's some nifty features there and a couple of modes that aren't accessible through the OSD.
- Includes everything you need. All of the display input cables and USB are included, and the packaging isn't absolutely massive like other ultrawides.
Cons-
- The 24:10 aspect ratio can throw off some games that normally do support ultrawides and result in small black bars on the left and right of the screen. I don't notice in-game, but it's definitely there in some big titles like Call of Duty. This isn't LG's fault, but it's a consideration to take that this isn't a super common aspect ratio.
- Though the monitor officially supports 144hz and 175hz (on overclock), there's some pretty significant tradeoffs. Chroma subsampling and coronas can become a pretty serious problem if response time is set too high or the refresh rate is 175. This can also impact HDR performance. For me, the sweet spot is 120hz, Response time set to "fast", with HDR enabled (10bpc, YCbCr444). HDR Disabled I'm okay going up to 144, but that can be tough to achieve even with a 2080ti on modern AAA titles. Microsoft is terrible about HDR within Windows, so I generally disable it outside of games.
- HDR400 is a fair bit dimmer than HDR1000 on competing monitors. It still looks fantastic and I'm 100% down with it, but if you want the best possible HDR experience, this ain't it, chief.
- This display has a hefty price tag. I don't think its totally unreasonable given the feature set, but I'm of the mindset that they really need to do better on the marketing for this one to make sure people know what they're getting into with the different modes, HDR settings and so forth.
- It's 2020 and this monitor doesn't have an internal power supply. I get that it would have added weight to a monitor that's already pretty hefty, but come on, the power brick on this thing is a literal brick. I used some command strips to slap it onto the underside of my desk and forgot about it, but it's frustrating that I had to do that at all.
| Standing screen display size | 38 Inches |
|---|---|
| Screen Resolution | 3840x1600 |
| Max Screen Resolution | 3840 x 1600 Pixels |
