Ultrawide monitors, anyone have one want to share their thoughts?

[JimKiler]

I ordered an ultrawide last friday, a LG 34CB88-P Black 34" class (34" diagonal) 5ms (GTG), 14ms (On/Off) Widescreen LED Backlight LED Monitor Curved IPS Built-in Speakers. I had never seen them in person until last Thursday but lo and behold the next day newegg had a sale so I bit.

So do you guys & girls love ultrawide or is it overhyped?

 

[ddogg]

I have a predator x34 ultrawide GSync. It is absolutely gorgeous while playing games. Let's just say I'm never going back to regular monitors for gaming purposes

 

[EXCellR8]

i have the freesync variant of the predator... aside from the initial issues with DP cables I certainly recommend it. i was previously using 3x 1080p screens and this replaced that setup; I wouldn't go back.

if you're not a gamer you can still enjoy all of the desktop space

 

[JimKiler]

i have the freesync variant of the predator... aside from the initial issues with DP cables I certainly recommend it. i was previously using 3x 1080p screens and this replaced that setup; I wouldn't go back.

if you're not a gamer you can still enjoy all of the desktop space

I am a gamer and the monitor i ordered supports freesync 55-75Hz. I see online i can hack the drivers to do freesync down to 35Hz which is much more useful IMO.

I am also excited to use this monitor with photo editing software.

 

[jackstar7]

For me the best part of 34" Ultrawide is that you can add a 27" next to it and have a smooth additional workspace experience if you find that 3440x1440 isn't quite getting the job done.

I ended up flanking 27"s on both sides on mine for work stuff and then game on the 34" by itself and it has been great.

My only temptation these days is 4K + Freesync, but that would require a significant investment to make that full jump. In the meantime I'm good with what I have.

 

[JimKiler]

For me the best part of 34" Ultrawide is that you can add a 27" next to it and have a smooth additional workspace experience if you find that 3440x1440 isn't quite getting the job done.

I ended up flanking 27"s on both sides on mine for work stuff and then game on the 34" by itself and it has been great.

My only temptation these days is 4K + Freesync, but that would require a significant investment to make that full jump. In the meantime I'm good with what I have.

i was thinking to wait for 4K but at 27" i can do 1440p albeit text is not ideal. I presume i would need 38" or greater to do 4K and use the 4K as my desktop resolution.

 

[jackstar7]

i was thinking to wait for 4K but at 27" i can do 1440p albeit text is not ideal. I presume i would need 38" or greater to do 4K and use the 4K as my desktop resolution.

I'm not totally sure of the right "size" for the 4K monitor to effectively match the 34" 3440x1440. I would guess maybe the 40" 4K's might be close.

Hopefully someone else can weigh in who has both.

 

[xthetenth]

For me the best part of 34" Ultrawide is that you can add a 27" next to it and have a smooth additional workspace experience if you find that 3440x1440 isn't quite getting the job done.

I ended up flanking 27"s on both sides on mine for work stuff and then game on the 34" by itself and it has been great.

My only temptation these days is 4K + Freesync, but that would require a significant investment to make that full jump. In the meantime I'm good with what I have.

This dude knows what's up.

I bought two 27s for home and an ultrawide 34 at work. The ultrawide was so much better I bought one for home. I've since gone to two setups with an ultrawide matched with wing 27s at home and a wing 27 and my surface screen at work.

The only monitor I would consider for a main monitor if I was going to spend that much money is a 34" ultrawide or a 38"+ 4k (or maybe one of those slightly bigger 1600 ultrawides).

Also unless you sit far away, get the curve. The curve is really good. It doesn't distort the image, but it prevents the corners from being at too sharp an angle to your eyes and the luminance being different.

 

[JimKiler]

I'm not totally sure of the right "size" for the 4K monitor to effectively match the 34" 3440x1440. I would guess maybe the 40" 4K's might be close.

Hopefully someone else can weigh in who has both.

I could do 30" for 1440p, i just don't want to squint so much like i do now for the 27" 1440p. Not that it hurts but at night when my eyes are tired i have to focus sometimes. getting old problems.

 

[Malogeek]

I went from 3 16:9 24" monitors to a 34" ultrawide a couple of years ago and will never go back. They're just amazing for gaming with excellent support for the 21:9 in most games (despite what people might tell you) and you can just use 16:9 in the middle of the screen anyway for those that don't. It's also very handy for general non-gaming use. I snap all windows to left and right letting windows size them to 50% automatically so most applications I use are either left or right.

 

[JimKiler]

I could do 30" for 1440p, i just don't want to squint so much like i do now for the 27" 1440p. Not that it hurts but at night when my eyes are tired i have to focus sometimes. getting old problems.

BTW i was wrong my 34" ultrawide is about the same size text as my 27" QHD, the height on the 27" is 13.25 inches and the height on the 34" is 13.12 inches.

 

[Tweak155]

I'm not totally sure of the right "size" for the 4K monitor to effectively match the 34" 3440x1440. I would guess maybe the 40" 4K's might be close.

Hopefully someone else can weigh in who has both.

BTW i was wrong my 34" ultrawide is about the same size text as my 27" QHD, the height on the 27" is 13.25 inches and the height on the 34" is 13.12 inches.

Text size will be directly related to DPI. To compare ANY 2 displays, go to a site like the following:

https://www.sven.de/dpi/

And punch in the monitor details... look at the "PPI" number. The higher it is, the smaller the text will be between any 2 displays at the same scaling level. I would say 80 is the lowest I will go, and 110 which I currently have is fairly small but still readable (27" 1440p is also roughly 110 to give you an idea).

And yes, a 34" at 3440x1440 is also just under 110 PPI (109.68), so it likely looks darn near identical to your old 27" QHD

 

[jackstar7]

Text size will be directly related to DPI. To compare ANY 2 displays, go to a site like the following:

https://www.sven.de/dpi/

And punch in the monitor details... look at the "PPI" number. The higher it is, the smaller the text will be between any 2 displays at the same scaling level. I would say 80 is the lowest I will go, and 110 which I currently have is fairly small but still readable (27" 1440p is also roughly 110 to give you an idea).

And yes, a 34" at 3440x1440 is also just under 110 PPI (109.68), so it likely looks darn near identical to your old 27" QHD

So yeah, using that tool, then a 38-40" 4K is what you want to have to maintain relative PPI to the 27" and 34" 1440 monitors.

 

[Tweak155]

So yeah, using that tool, then a 38-40" 4K is what you want to have to maintain relative PPI to the 27" and 34" 1440 monitors.

Yep!

I typically give the projector example as it's easier for people to understand. You can take a 1080p projector, sit it very close to the wall and have a tiny image / text that looks super sharp. As you pull it away from the wall, you lose sharpness, but it becomes more readable.

The only difference you're creating by pulling the projector back is making the pixels bigger... the "PPI" stand for pixels per inch. The more you have stuffed into an inch, the sharper and smaller text will be.

Buying a larger monitor with the same resolution is effectively "pulling the projector away from the wall". Changing resolutions is what causes the challenge, and these PPI calculators make the comparisons a snap

 

[JimKiler]

I am saddened to learn youtube does not yet support ultra wide, it puts black bars on the sides of movie trailers i tried to watch. I picked new stuff like Transformers 5 just to see if it worked.

But so far so good with the monitor. There is bleeding at the four corners which i wish was not there but do not notice most of the time. Colors are accurate according to LG.

I don't understand why my existing display port cable did not work. I wonder what I need to buy if I ever have to replace the OEM cable they gave me. It better not be proprietary.

 

[chubbyfatazn]

From my (mostly) non-gaming perspective:

Good:
- if you're a browser tab-whore and/or never clean up old tabs
- if you need to have multiple windows open side-by-side (code, spreadsheets, etc)
- simulator games look quite nice with the extra FOV

Bad:
- I find the vertical space lacking at times
- I don't feel the benefits are realized at sizes smaller than 34" (same point on res, should be 3440x1440 or above)
- I sit about 2-2.5 feet away from mine and sometimes have to physically turn my head when reading text (minor)

(In addition to what's in the sig I have 25" and 29" ultrawides, a 27" QHD, and a bunch of crappy 28" 1920x1200 spares.)

Overall for general browsing and light productivity I prefer using one of my 32" 4Ks. Now to go figure out why Chrome is using 18.645GB of memory...

 

[urvile]

I have the freesync variant of the acer predator x34. (34" 3440x1440 curved). There is no way I would ever go back to anything smaller for gaming. I gamed on a 32" 1080p screen for years and the acer Is far more immersive.

Now I have gone back to nvidia. I will probably sell it and get the predator x34.

It's also useful when needing to work on two documents side by side.