LG Ultragear 34GS95QE Curved OLED Gaming Monitor Review: Big Curve | WIRED

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8/10

I’m really starting to like ultrawide monitors. I’m the kind of guy who usually prefers to work in full-screen mode to reduce distractions, and a 21:9 aspect ratio is a bit silly for that. But the LG Ultragear 34GS95QE monitor has been persuading me. It’s stylish and dramatic, but it took me a while to realize why this screen resonated.

This Ultragear monitor has an 800R curvature. That number refers to the radius, in millimeters, of the circle the monitor’s curve conforms to, and let me tell you, 800R is a low number for ultrawide monitors. Like really low. That means this monitor is exceptionally curved. The MSI QD-OLED model I tested a while back had a much more subdued 1,800R curvature, which is a more common number for curved monitors.

That made the LG Ultragear striking the moment I pulled it out of the box. The longer I used it, the more it just felt right. It’s not without its annoyances, but now that I’ve used such a curved OLED display, it’s hard to go back.

The LG Ultragear 34GS95QE achieves perfect black levels and striking contrast, which isn’t too surprising given its OLED panel. The 800R curve made it feel a little sharper than I was expecting. It took me forever to figure out why, but it’s because the sides of the monitor are physically closer to my eyes.

That might not sound like a huge deal, but consider how often you’re looking at something other than the center of your screen, especially while gaming. In Overwatch 2, one of my most-played games, the elimination feed is a crucial element that sits in the upper-right corner of the screen. Meanwhile, my health is on the bottom left, and my abilities are on the bottom right. Heck, almost all of the game’s HUD elements are in one of the four corners.

It’s an extremely subtle change, but with curvature this stark, all those elements felt easier for my eyes to focus on. This is likely true in a literal sense, since my eyes are roughly the same distance from every part of the screen, something that’s not quite true of flat-panel displays. Making micro-readjustments in fast-paced games dozens of times a minute can wear on the eye muscles.

LG Ultragear 34GS95QE Curved OLED Gaming Monitor

Rating: 8/10

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I also found myself using more of the screen real estate for normal work than usual. Even when I've used large, ultrawide monitors, I've mostly kept my windows in a central area of the screen. I never thought much about why until I felt myself spreading out more on this display. Again, those micro-adjustments when looking at different parts of the screen felt less harsh on my eyes. It might not be as exhausting as it would be while gaming, where my eyes are flashing across the screen several times a second, but it still felt more comfortable than most other monitors I've tested.

Speaking of placement, the stand that comes with this monitor is excellent. It has a sturdy, flat base with plenty of space for all your desktop clutter. I prefer this to the monitor stands that have long, sharp legs that get in the way of my mouse.

The stand can raise the monitor about a foot up and swivel 10 degrees in either direction from the center. It can also tilt upwards about 10 degrees, and down about 15. At its most extreme, I was able to raise the monitor just a little above my eyeline and tilt it slightly down toward my face. It made the monitor feel almost looming. On the rear, there are two HDMI 2.1 ports and one DisplayPort 1.4. There's also an upstream USB-B port that enables a small hub with two extra USB-A ports.

During my play tests, I had almost no complaints while using this display. The 3,440 x 1,440 resolution is plenty detailed. The display supports HDR10 and adheres to the DisplayHDR True Black 400 standard, which simply means it's capable of at least 400 nits of brightness for light patches, while still maintaining extremely deep blacks (less than 0.0005 nits) in the darker parts of the image—an achievement I was able to confirm with my trusty Spyder X2.

The 240-Hz refresh rate isn’t the absolute fastest of any monitor I’ve tested, but it was plenty to make even fast-paced shooters feel buttery smooth. Like most gaming displays, this one boasts a 0.03-millisecond response time and I never detected any noticeable lag during my games. It supports both AMD FreeSync and Nvidia G-Sync to prevent screen tearing.

The colors are bright and vivid, and the curved display accentuates them all the more. Having an ultrawide display that wraps around my face so much helped me really feel the games I was playing. I caught myself noticing enemies flanking me a little more because they were lighting up my peripheral vision.

LG Ultragear 34GS95QE Curved OLED Gaming Monitor

Rating: 8/10

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There was just one odd issue I had. Remember that elimination feed I mentioned in Overwatch 2? Well, during my first couple of games, I could swear it looked different than it should. Everything else on the monitor looked great, but just this spot seemed … off. So I pulled out my Spyder and ran some tests.

The Ultragear performed admirably for the most part. In my color accuracy tests, it had an average Delta E level of 2.08, which means you could make out color inaccuracies if you look closely, but not at a glance. That’s mainly relevant if you plan to use this for design work, but for everyone else, it’s good enough. In the color uniformity test though, I uncovered a small issue. At the highest brightness levels (which I was using), colors in the upper right quadrant got a little less accurate. Not a ton, but enough to be noticeable. I honestly don’t think I would’ve even clocked this if I weren’t looking for it, and turning the brightness down just a smidge evened everything out. But it goes to show how important those edge cases are—pun intended.

I don’t want to ding this display for that too much. While I did notice this quirk right away, I quickly resolved it. By my third game, everything looked normal again. I’m not sure I’d recommend this monitor for the kind of design work where color accuracy is extremely important, but for gaming and regular work, it’s phenomenal.

There aren't many other monitors that reach the 800R curvature of this LG Ultragear, and certainly not at this price. The Asus ROG Swift PG34WCDM comes close, but it costs a couple of hundred dollars more. Dell's Alienware AW3423DWF is more affordable, but it has a lower frame rate and a much more gentle 1,800R curve. On price, curve, and performance, the LG Ultragear 34GS95QE manages to stand out from the competition.

LG Ultragear 34GS95QE Curved OLED Gaming Monitor

Rating: 8/10

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