Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2020
This monitor is a good SDR monitor, with very good response times for an LCD panel. Good contrast, for an LCD panel, and a very high refresh rate for the resolution it offers.
At 240hz, being dual 2560 x 1440 makes this monitor the highest effective bandwidth monitor out there. And it's response time, is among the best for an LCD monitor. And even though VA gets often criticized for black smear, Samsung has solved this completely.
Now, you'll notice I said "for an LCD panel" quite a few times, and that's because for this money, well into the 2020's , I would much rather have this monitor be an OLED.
I have it right next to an LG B9 OLED television, and it just puts the picture quality of this monitor to shame...
All of a sudden, the contrast that seemed good for an LCD monitor, is crap (especially in HDR mode, which I'll talk about later)
Now, I understand that Samsung is simply unable to mass produce big OLED displays, because of poor yields on large sized RGB OLED panels. But it doesn't change the fact, that LCD just feels like an ancient technology at this point, with OLED now being the best for what has now been years, on bigger WOLED TVs, and smaller RGB screens.
So, I get that there's no way that Samsung could've released this as an OLED, so let's move to what they could have, and should have done, to make this monitor all it could be, for a very expensive LCD monitor:
The HDR performance is a bit of a joke for low APL scenes (average picture level) all of a sudden, the decent contrast is horrible, and everything will look washed out when you enable HDR (it goes from like a 2,000:1, to 500:1 contrast ratio)
For the HDR to be usable at all, you have to display high APL content only, where dark scenes are non-existent. And while there's content out there that fits the bill (games like the last two Assassin's Creed for example, that have really bright outdoor scenes, and it looks great on those) most content, has darker scenes, and for that type of content, the SDR mode actually looks better than the HDR mode, and that's a damn shame...
The reason for this unfortunate HDR performance is simple: It packs a really, really bright backlight, but with very few zones, so the panel gets overwhelmed, so the very intense light output tanks the contrast.
10 zones feels like they cheaped out a bit, considering the MSRP the monitor commands, and it's the main reason the HDR performance is so bad (not saying it would be "amazing" even with 1,000 zones, but it would at least be usable)
But at least Samsung had the sense to include a lower brightness HDR mode (Local dimming set to off) which significantly cuts the brightness output off, and makes the HDR more usable for darker content, but I wouldn't call it a big improvement, and then you'd be sacrificing peak brightness for only slightly better contrast.
So, the HDR is mostly bad, but can be usable on high APL content, and look quite good on very bright scenes.
And while I'm talking about the backlight, I have to report that I was pleasantly surprised with the screen uniformity performance.... For such a big display, to have my unit not show any "dirty screen effect" that is very common on LCD panels, is very impressive. This is the most uniform screen I've ever seen on an LCD monitor.
Now, let's talk about the form factor, which is the main reason this thing exists in the first place, and this is where this monitor comes into its own:
This monitor will DOMNIATE your setup. It will be, by far the most noticeable object in the room you place it in, and in all the right ways.
For the people that are worried that this curve will be too much compared to other, less curved monitors, don't be: your brain adjusts to the curve, and will make the curve feel very natural.
In fact, if you stare at a flat display right after having used this monitor for a while, the flat display will SEEM to be curved outwards! Just like those 90's CRT monitors (brains are mysterious objects...)
As big as this monitor is, it now makes the vertical real estate feel a bit gimped for its size... I think this monitor would be even better, if it was 2x 16:10 monitors, instead of 2x 16:9.
Anyway, I'll just add a TL;DR pros and cons section, because I could talk about this monitor a lot more, and the review is already getting too long:
THE GOOD:
-The size, and form factor of the monitor will dominate your setup, in all the right ways.
-Good contrast for an LCD monitor, without the usual VA panel drawbacks.
-Incredible response time for an LCD panel.
-Dual 2560x1440 at 240hz is mind boggling, and the fact that most games will always be under 240hz, makes sure you don't even have to worry about vsync being on, as you'll be under 240 FPS the vast majority of the time.
THE BAD:
-THe HDR mode tanks contrast ratio, because it only has 10 local dimming zones.
-The color gamut, while noticeably wider than sRGB on the HDR mode, is not quite where it should be for a
quantum dot panel, but at least it is better than sRGB.
THE UGLY:
-An MSRP of $1,700 on an LCD monitor in 2020. You can get bigger OLED televisions for similar money!
-Realizing that even though this monitor is very big, you kind of want it to be bigger vertically. (2x 16:10 displays, instead of 2x 16:9 displays would be even nicer IMO, or just release a dual 16:9 30" version...)
One last thought before I wrap this up, and a rating explanation:
In a vacuum, where OLED displays didn't exist, this monitor's price would be a lot easier to justify.
But we don't live in that world, and we're now well into the 2020's... I'm hoping Samsung QD-OLED monitors arrive sooner than later, because LCD has now long overstayed its welcome. This is the last LCD display I'll ever buy.
The reason for my 3 star rating, is mainly because of the very high MSRP for what is, in the end, an LCD monitor. And as good as the LCD panel is (it's VERY good for an LCD!) it just doesn't come close to an OLED display.
If it was cheaper, or at least had more local dimming zones, I wouldn't have a problem with it's price.
I'll just leave you with the fact that, while the VA panel does a lot to make it one of the best LCD panels in the market (good contrast, and the class leading response times) OLED still does that better, and I can't ignore that.
