Gadgetory

Sometimes I put off doing the review because newer, more interesting products arrive, and another times I just get too busy and I don't have time. But LG's 34UM95, I've been putting it off, because I just didn't want to take it off my desk for long enough to capture a video of the thing. Spec-wise this 34-inch, 21 by 9, “Cinematic-aspect-ratio” monitor weighs in its massive 3440 by 1440 resolution, about 34% higher AND bigger than 20 by 60 27-inch monitor. It features IPS panel rated at 5 mili-seconds in response time and uses 8-bit panel control and frame rate bit dithering to achieve 10-bit color, but only on the display port connection. Speaking of connection, it's got a headphone jack, integrated USB 3.0 hub and power jack to go along, with its dual HDMI display port and Thunderbolt2 video inputs. Please note that the two Thunderbolt2 ports there are for daisy-chaining, not as two separate inputs. And the HDMI inputs are limited to 50 Hertz. This is an HDMI spec limitation and all the difference from 60 Hertz is noticeable. It’s not as nearly as bad as the 30 Hertz that 4K monitors will run at over HDMI. Now physically the monitor is a unique specimen. I've never seen anything quite like it and since it's the first of its own kind and only available in a couple of regions, I guess neither have for a lot of people. And I think that the coolest thing about it is how many different ways it can be used and very effectively. For 16:9 content, it's 27-inch 2560 by 1440 monitor with black bars on the side. For side-by-side pseudo-dual monitor use, it's two 20.5-inch monitors, each with the 1720 by 1440 resolution, a throwback 5:4 aspect ratio that really is better for some tasks than the newer 16:9 standard. And then finally, for 21 by 9 content, it's a truly field-of-view-filling 34 inches of immersive bliss. The stand is branded “Crystal Float”, because it’s clear, so that combined with nice thin bezel is supposed to make the screen seem like, it's just hanging there. But, um, I found the effect was somewhat diminished by the fact that it only supports 10 degrees of tilt. And to adjust height, I had to jury rig the monitor stand on the box. With that said, at least LG had the consideration to include the VESA mount on the back, something that I'll likely use. On the bottom, we found a couple of integrated speakers and the joystick for navigating the on-screen menu. It allows picture-by-picture control, input switching, input lag adjustment in a variety of image adjustments, including the unusual Reader mode, which reduces the “Blues” for theoretically less eye fatigue. Back to the front, the screen uses the anti-glare coating that is perhaps a little bit more matt than I would normally prefer but ended up being great for me, since I sit next to the window at my desk, where I'll be using the monitor moving forward. Now, this is where the review deviates from the formula a bit, because I didn't know how to approach a review of something that is so different other than to draw your attention to the fact that I just said where I'll be using the monitoring moving forward. Because I've officially been converted. I'm ditching my dual 23-inch 1080p monitors for this at work and I will really like to replace my Proart PA279Q at home, as well. This is just flat out, the best solution for productivity and gaming IMHO(in my humble opinion). And this is coming from someone that came into this review with pretty closed-minded attitude. I was sure, a very short time ago, that 4K was next big revolution. And the first time I saw a 21:9 desktop monitors at CES 2013, I didn't even ask for samples. I thought they were a silly, “because-we-can” factor that took everything that was wrong with 16:9, that is to say, not enough vertical real estate compared to the older 16:10 widescreen standard, and meted even more ridiculous. They felt like an expensive step backwards, and I didn’t care at all. because I've only recently just getting 4K monitor samples, so that “the first time” experience of 4K is actually still very fresh in my mind. I mean, to be clear, sitting in front of a 4K monitor is great. The sharpness and clarity of images is fantastic. And the amount of stuff that you can fit on it at the same time is amazing. But somehow it still feels like so many things in the PC industry, it’s like, “Yes, it’s more pixels at a lower price!” or “More mega herts at a lower price!” Whatever. But it’s the stuff we’ve seen for a hundred times before. By contrast, the first time I sat in front of the 34UM95, the feeling reminded me of 8 years ago- the first time I sat in front of Dell 2004fpw, and a few years before that when I first fired up my viewsonic p95f+b. I mean, I’ve reviewed some fantastic monitors in the past 10 years, Asus PB287Q, so beautiful, 2420te delivers untouchable gaming experience, and my Samsung 305T blew me away with its sheer size the moment I turned it on. But this one stands out from the crowd. It's not like sitting down at my computers. It's more like, sitting down like at command station, when you sit in front of it. It's a very different experience. I tried to find some drawbacks in LG's design and I had a hard time. On anything but a high-quality IPS panel would have made it a horrible experience. Panel uniformity, especially horizontal viewing angles, are so important in this foreign factor, but they got that right. A different size would have been a drawback, but LG has absolutely nailed it here, as well. At about a hundred pixels per inch? the same pixel density as the 27-inch 1440p monitors that we know I love- it is just right and it helps us with UI scaling issues that are going to be a problem for 4K windows users for quite some time. And the resolution is perfect, too. At about 5 mega pixels is about 35% harder to drive than the 1440p monitors which means the modern graphics cards deliver a great UltraWide screen gaming experience with an anti-aliasing to make things super smooth today as opposed to having to invest in multiple graphics cards just a game on the thing So, for the man who is this product for section in the video? I think content creators are LG’s main target for this product. Given its price that makes sense and they demonstrated the advantages here with a video on their website that, other than some amusingly bad translation covers the benefits of a longer timeline and more sources for video editing. I worry for tools for audio and photo works, etc. pretty darn well. So I'm going to focus on other stuff that gets me really excited about the future and this type of design once prices start to drop. Productivity is amazing. I can put 4 Word documents side by side by side by side without even reducing the text size and work on them all at the same time, even leaving on the side some comments on them. Something about referring from document to document without a bezel in the middle feels more natural and comfortable. And Excel is also a treat, especially if you normally have long descriptions in your headers you can still see awful lot of stuff. Internet browsing? Okay, yeah. Some websites are going to look pretty lonely in the middle of the sea of blank space but if you are a tab monster like me, you're going to absolutely love the fact that you can have over 40 chrome tabs open and still see previews of what's actually in those. Yes! And gaming. It is a 60 Hertz IPS monitor. So, don't expect it to be the fastest thing ever but I always said I prefer the rich colors and the wide viewing angles of the IPS to the lightning-fast response time in TN and this monitor renews my preference all over again. Maybe, it’s not for the professional players out there, but for sheer immersiveness, nothing takes me out of it the way that bezels do and this has none. I mean, to be clear, there are plenty of games that won't work correctly or won’t work well, because for whatever reason, the text file editing for non-native resolution and field of view settings, something I remember needing to do with quaff three for widescreen support back in the day is a black art that's been abandoned by many game dads, who would rather manually update every time hardware changes or better yet just, not update at all! Thanks guys! But for the games that do work at this resolution, well, if you’ll like movies in 21:9 and you'll like games in 21:9 most of the time. Sometimes a more conventional resolution is better, though, and that's where that perfect resolution bit from before comes in. If you decide that you prefer 16:9, you can run 2560:1440 with black bars. Bang! Love it! Movie watchers, I probably don't have to sell you on this at all. From a comfortable viewing distance, this is as close as you're going to get to a theatrical viewing experience, until affordable 100-inch and plus 21:9 TVs start showing up. With one drawback being that you're going to have to do your viewing from your computer chip- something I don't do much, but, hey, some people do and this experience is going to knock those peoples' socks off. So, let's follow up with who is it not for. I mean, well, if you can live with bezels, whether you're a gamer or an office worker whatever else, you can get a multi-monitor set-up that will blow the doors off of this. From a screen real estate per dollar standpoint, and even a nice multi-monitor stand to go with it. But that's actually all I can think of, um, if you can justify the additional cost, but I LOVE this monitor- which I guess leads pretty well into the conclusion. I love this monitor. The only things on my wish list are as follows: 1) If you’re going to have a glossy bezel on a product that is perfect otherwise this perfect,made the entire thing out of glass, instead of going with plastic bottom right here. 2) Thank you for including a VESA mount, but for a thousand dollars, I'll really like a height adjust stand, with more than two settings right out of the box, 3) Again, love it, but it could be much more perfect with a very subtle curve, but I guess you're going to make me wait for that, aren't you, LG? Other than that, guys, 4K is off my wish list, and large-format 21:9 is on it. You heard it here first. It’s friggin’ awesome. Anyway, I thank you for watching. My team and I worked hard on this video. We hope you enjoyed it if you didn't like it and share; if you didn't dislike it, and let us know. Give us a comment with your constructive criticism- we take it very seriously. 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