imagine having two 21.5 inch monitors stacked on top of each other but without any physical
borders between them well that's exactly what lg has done with the dual lock monitor which is a
vertical monitor with a brand new 1618 aspect ratio it was officially released recently and
so i picked one up just to give it a try it's also actually quite budget friendly at 699 us
dollars or 849 canadian dollars bottom line is that this is a very unique productivity
monitor that some will absolutely love and others will certainly question
the first generation of the ergo stand has been my favorite monitor arm for a long time
and i've found nothing that works and looks as good as it does the dual up monitor comes with
the new and improved second generation of the ergo stand it can be attached to any desk using
the c-clamp or grommet setup it's also been designed to be adjustable to fit table tops
with different thicknesses my favorite part is how well the inbuilt cable management system works the
entire arm feels very well built and eliminates the need for a separate monitor arm but it also
means lg doesn't provide any stance for placing this directly on a desk the stand also has a good
range of motion for tilt height swivel pivot extend and retract final thing to note is that
like with other monitor arms this also creates more desk space and reduces clutter the setup
process is fast and easy and a single person can handle a job without any additional help at all
the dual up monitor has a square double qhd 28 inch screen with a resolution of 2560 by 2880
and an aspect ratio of 1618. it also comes with a max refresh rate of 60 hertz and covers 98 of the
dci p3 color space for accurate color reproduction these specs might not work well for everyone but
for the right person this can be very useful as with most lg monitors geared towards productivity
work the dual app uses a nano ips display which means they'll struggle with issues like ips glow
it also doesn't have any anti-glare treatment so be ready to deal with lots of glares also if you
plan on using this in a bright room you might want to reconsider since it's only got 300 nits
of maximum brightness this isn't an issue if you plan to use the monitor in dark rooms or ones with
blackout drapes there's a single button at the bottom center of the monitor that grants access to
the osd menu to control different monitor settings you can adjust the brightness level enable auto
brightness to adjust the screen brightness based on the light in the room select between different
color temperatures choose picture modes and lots more the monitor also supports hdr10 but i
wouldn't say this is one of its strongest features it doesn't work in picture by picture mode so it
only works when using the monitor with a single computer there are lots of picture profiles to
choose from when hooked up to a computer but since the monitor has been color calibrated from the
factory the colors are already great and accurate right out of the box if you plan on using scaling
with this to make content appear more visible on the screen you might end up being disappointed i
tried using lower resolution scaling options on mac and windows and that resulted in text and
images looking blurry even though you can't tell based on the screen recording if you plan on using
it at the maximum 2560 by 2880 with one computer or you know 2560 by 1440 with two computers
then you'll have no issues here there are three ways you can set up the dual monitor for use
the first one is by connecting either a single mac or pc to the monitor through a single usbc hdmi or
displayport cable using the usbz connection with a laptop provides 90 watts of power delivery for
charging at the same time this method also allows you to use the monitor in its full 16
18 aspect ratio which i found can be you know great for editing and watching vertical videos
the same thing applies to editing photos in lightroom and photoshop for someone who primarily
works with vertical content the 1618 aspect ratio alone is a strong enough argument for considering
this monitor i've also found that it's perfect for reading ebooks and i'm sure it'll be a hit
for programmers who work with long lines of codes the second way to set it up is using picture by
picture from the same source computer to split the screen space into this one's probably my favorite
way to use a dual app for video editing with this setup the monitor operates as two screens
with 16 nine aspect ratios each to set it up you have to use two cables between the mac
or pc and the monitor you can use any combo of the video input sources the monitor accepts i use the
combo of hdmi and usbc to split my macbook into two screens on the dual app for multitasking and
editing portrait videos this setup is probably the best using this method in final cut pro x
you can send the viewer to the top screen for a much larger and better view of the content being
edited this also separates the timeline effects transitions and other tools this has definitely
been one of my favorite ways to use the monitor so far while in picture by picture mode make sure to
set up the displays in the display settings on mac or windows for seamlessly moving the mouse
between both sections of the split screen this is my default mode for using the monitor since i can
easily switch between using the full 16 18 aspect ratio and splitting the screen for multitasking
you know in picture by picture mode the third and final way to set up the dual monitor is
by using picture by picture again but this time with two different sources this can be two macs
two pcs or a combination of both using the dual up in this mode also gives you access to the inbuilt
kvm switch on the monitor to use a single set of keyboard and mouse with both connected computers
this is a highly sought after feature in productivity monitors and so it's a nice
feature to have on this just like the second way you have to use two cables between the two sources
and the monitor again you can use any combo of the video input sources that the monitor accepts
i use a usbc connection between my macbook and the monitor and an hdmi between the pc and the monitor
this is great for people that often work with two computers say one for personal use
and you know the other for work you can also set up a user defined key on the quick menu to
easily access either picture by picture kvm switch or picture modes i wouldn't suggest
looking into this for gaming at all as it isn't geared towards those users it does come with
game enhancing features that can improve its 5 millisecond response time as well as black
stabilizer features for improving black levels during gameplay with lots of dark scenes i decided
to set up the dual up with the xbox series x for a quick test to see how it handles high quality
gameplay first off the 1618 aspect ratio does not work for gaming and distorts everything so
you'd have to use the monitor in picture by picture mode if you want things to appear normal
the 4k tv details within the xbox settings also confirms the maximum 60hz refresh rate
which is less than optimal for gaming with tons of options out there offering higher refresh rates
at similar price tags playing assassin's creed in picture by picture mode looked great and honestly
played pretty well it definitely wouldn't be a major choice for me for gaming at all but
if you wanted to mix productivity and gaming then at least you know it's possible with this
finally the monitor comes with two 7 watt stereo speakers which sound like you know you'd expect
from a monitor like this one nothing mind-blowing but it's enough to get the job done especially
if you don't have a pair of external speakers already this is what they actually sound like
in every game the developers design it so you can't hurt the kids no matter how hard you try
the youthful little malaccas take the beatings better than ever after all of that i'm sure we
can all come to an agreement that the dual op is a budget specialty monitor just like ultrawides
and will certainly not work well for everyone but it'll be a great fit for the right people
for me primarily as a video and photo editor i can see this being a solid second screen but
definitely not as a main screen since i prefer more screen space and a higher resolution monitor
for video editing all right if you can get past the low 300 nits of maximum brightness
the ips panel glow issue the lower resolution and the scaling issues then this could be a
solid addition to your setup if you're a content creator that specializes in vertical content
a programmer who deals with long lines of code a designer or any other professional that requires
a vertical orientation for maximum efficiency then you might want to check out the lg dual
up but yeah that's pretty much everything there is to say about the monitor if you're looking to
pick one up or check prices on it make sure to use the link i provided down in the description below
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