LG’s UltraGear OLED gaming monitors look as good in person as I expected | Jobs Vox

Fortunately, I don’t have to wait until CES 2023 in January to share my experience with LG’s two sport-ready OLED gaming monitors. LG’s flat 27-inch and curved 45-inch UltraGear 1440p displays are faster than TVs in terms of refresh rate and response time, and look great.

In case you missed it, this week they took pre-orders for $999 and $1,699. If you want an LG OLED panel, the 27-inch model is one of many options with riffs from companies like Dough and Asus. LG’s 45-inch model uses the same screen as the 45-inch Corsair Xeneon Flex I got my hands on, but it’s the first time I’ve seen LG’s own fixed-curve version.

Considering that LG’s OLED TVs have shrunk dramatically over the past year (now starting at 42 inches), it seemed inevitable that LG Display would make OLED panels just for the purpose. game. Now that they’re finally here, gamers who crave speed don’t have to sacrifice their gameplay for the first time. OLED visual quality. TN plate Resolution, viewing angles, and contrast are still the fastest because of all the great things about OLED. IPS Black and Fast IPS are catching up in some ways, but OLED is still the best with its near-infinite contrast ratio and per-pixel brightness control.

It was fun to watch Courage LG’s OLED was shown off at a pre-CES 2023 press event this week, and I was able to appreciate its sleek, high-contrast art style and fast, accurate gameplay.

I’m partial to the 27-inch version for a few reasons. First, seeing a 27-inch OLED screen rather than a 42- or 48-inch “small” OLED TV is quite a novelty, and in reality it’s still a tall desk hog with a hideous shelf. It might be on the small side for some (not sure about you, but 27 inches fits my studio apartment), and it seems to run pretty sharp. Courage It has a QHD resolution that most people probably won’t mind that it’s not 4K like LG’s OLED TVs. By the way, QHD doesn’t require the latest GPU.

I like that the 27-inch model can rotate 90 degrees if you want to put your OLED in portrait mode (the 45-inch model can’t, but both can rotate 10 degrees left or right). If you prefer not to use the included stand, each monitor has a VESA 100 x 100 connector on the back so you can mount it on a wall or attach it to a monitor arm. Both displays have HDMI 2.1 and one DisplayPort 1.4 port.

The curved 45-inch model will have its fans, but I’m a little disappointed with the Corsair Xeneon Flex. It packs the same 45-inch OLED screen into a monitor that can be flat or curved with a central push or pull. built-in handle. They have the same 21:9 aspect ratio, 240Hz refresh rate and 0.03 response time, but LG’s display has an 800R curvature. But their prices differ by $300, with the Xeneon Flex selling for $1,999 and the LG model for $1,699.

This isn’t surprising: I’ve seen plenty of QHD monitors, but OLEDs can handle almost any resolution well (just look at the 720p Switch OLED, it’s kind of eye-popping). The 27-inch UltraGear OLED makes content look much better than my similarly-sized but less expensive IPS display at home. In the short term, text and images on both screens were slightly sharper on the 27-inch model, which was 110 pixels per inch (PPI, the higher the pixel density on the screen) compared to the 45-incher. That’s 84 PPI. Based on my experience with my 45-inch Corsair Xeneon Flex, games look great, but text can look a little pixelated.

Brightness is one area where traditional OLED can’t compete with LCDs and high-end Mini LED-backlit monitors (Samsung’s QD-OLED panel, like the one used in Alienware’s 34-inch curved AW3423DW)., slightly closes the gap). To hide this limitation, LG monitors are placed in a fairly dark room, which unsurprisingly makes them look very bright.

We’ll have to see what that looks like in the real world, but the OLED specs confirm a typical brightness level of just 200 nits. Each can Display HDR images up to 800 nits, but only horizontally 3 percent total screen size. If, like most people, you like to watch or play your HDR content in full-screen mode, then the maximum brightness of the OLED panel will be all the rage.

In 2023, we’re excited to see more real OLED gaming displays, not TVs, from more companies than just LG. As mentioned earlier, Dough and Asus will launch independently, Corsair’s Xeneon Flex will be released in early 2023, and CES 2023 will undoubtedly bring big gaming announcements from Samsung and other companies. If you’ve been saving up for an OLED gaming monitor, 2023 will present you with plenty of options.

Photo by Cameron Faulkner / The Verge