What's up guys? Mike here, the DetroitBORG
and recently I've reviewed LG's UltraFine 5k displays
and I can figure them in a two displays-setup.
Although I liked that screen realistic of multiple displays, it's not always the most comfortable setup to use
This is where the LG's curved UltraWide display becomes a really interesting solution:
it provides far more horizontal screen realistic for productivity without adding multiple monitors
and since you're sitting so close to the monitor, the curve of the display actually adds some benefits to the user experience.
Now, the version I'm taking a look at today is the 38-inch UC99 with a 21:9 aspect ratio
so this is a huge monitor.
Now, this retails for around 1499$ and features a USB type-C connector, which makes it a great display for the latest MacBook Pro.
So, when it comes to the unboxing, this is a very large monitor, so there are some handling instructions in the top of the box
which explain how to best set this up and we're gonna go through that here.
So, next up on the top of the box is the accessories which we'll get to in just a moment,
we also have our stand, so this is the foot or base of the stand which is curved to the shape of the monitor.
So, next up, if we look down into the box you'll see that right distinctive curve shape of the monitor in addition to a piece of styrofoam
which they want us to use to protect the display when we install the stand.
Digging into the accessories the first thing we'll see here is lots of paperwork and an installation CD which you probably will not need.
We also get a full set of matching white cables including our power cable, HDMI, Display Port and USB Type-C cable
Also included is a very large external power supply which keeps the heat away from the monitor and allows it to be very thin.
Also thrown here is a USB Type-A to USB Type-C adaptor which is nice to have.
So when it comes to assembling the base it is pretty basic: all i have to do is join them together and towards the bottom you'll see these little toggle screws
that'll allow you to screw these in without any tools.
So, when it comes to installing the stand, they do want us to lay the monitor face-down and they want us to use the styrofoam to protect the screen from scratching up.
I'm also gonna leave the plastic on it so i don't scratch anything up.
So, once i got everything into place, this stand just locks in and snaps into place.
Now, if you wanna use a VESA mount, this is a 100mm VESA mount, so you can attach this instead of the stand that's included.
So, once everything is assembled, I can upright the monitor and pull off all the plastic and styrofoam protecting it.
Now this is a really good looking display especially in my setup:
I have this very large desk and i really like how this kinda fills it out.
So, it's also got a very thin bezel along the sides and i really like this matte screen, which means it's less reflective
which is important in my setup because I film here.
The back of the display is very minimal: it's just very smooth white plastic with a very glossy finish.
So, it looks very nice from whatever angle you're viewing that at.
We also get this very wide base that's curved and kinda replicates the shape of the monitor
and that metal finish also reflects the light from the LED indicator that's on the bottom of the monitor.
I also like how that metal finish is picked up along the edges of the monitor itself.
Now, to keep your setup extra clean we do have some cable management which snaps onto the back of the stand and works pretty well.
Now, like many LG's displays I reviewed, this does have an articulating stand which allows you to raise it up or lower it down.
You can also tilt it -5° or +15° and we can also tilt it left and right if you need to level it out for your desk.
Now, we get two built-in 10W speakers with a nice rich base, although it's not the best sounding speaker I've heard, they are very loud
and they also work with bluetooth: so, if you wanna connect your phone and use the internal speaker, you can do that.
So, let's go ahead and take a quick listen to see how they sound.
Also, at the bottom edge, like many other LG's monitors and TVs we get a little joystick that allows us to bring up the on-screen interface so we can quickly navigate through it.
That joystick also acts as an LED indicator that'll let you know when the display is in standby mode and you can turn this light off under settings.
So, in terms of our ports, you have quite a bit going on back here, so of course we have USB Type-C,
which is a quickcharge connector.
We also get two USB 3 ports, two HDMI 2.0 ports, a display port, which is version 1.2 as well as an audio AUX jack.
So, getting down to the specs this is again a very wide 21:9 aspect ratio with a resolution of 3840 by 1600,
so this isn's as sharp as a 4k or 5k display and it definitely looks softer compared to those displays.
In terms of brightness this peaks out at around 300 nits which isn't as bright as the 5k UltraFine Display which goes up to around 500 nits.
So, in terms of color depth, this is a 10-bit panel, so i can replicate sRGB over 99%,
so this is a great monitor for professionals who need color accurate display for video editing or graphics.
Now, if you're a gamer, this does features FreeSync which support 75hz refresh rates.
We also have 1ms motion blur reduction so it speed up the perceived response time of the display.
So, it knows when it reduces blurring and ghosting and virtually replicates a 1ms response time.
Now, when it comes to using this monitor, It's pretty much like using any other monitor, of course, scaled to this specific resolution
So that means that you have a lot more horizontal screen real estate to open up side by side which is fantastic for multitasking.
But I think the main reason this is so popular among video editors, like myself, is because it gives us this full uninterrupted view of our timeline,
so we get a lot more screen real estate to work with so we don't have to spend as much time scrubbing through, zooming in and out on our timeline,
it also gives us plenty of room for the app attributes, so we have all those tools and utilities on the screen while monitoring our videos,
so it's not as cramped as it normally is.
Now, the only drawback here is that, because I work in 4k, I can't preview my full project on this monitor.
But the extra work space definitely makes up for a much more efficient environment working.
The other nice trick for this wide screen monitor is that we have a split screen-mode,
which means I can open up two ports at once. So, for example, I can have something on HDMI, something else on USB C and open them up side by side.
So, in my case i have two Macs plugged in, but you can imagine open up Windows on one screen and Mac on the other.
Now, for the most part using this monitor with a Mac is just plug and play, "it just works". You can also change the resolution which is scaled by default by MacOS,
so, if you want to change the scale up you can do that under settings.
Now, there are few issues to know about: so, for example, If you wanna control the volume of the monitor, you'll actually have to do that physically on the monitor, you can't do it from the Mac
and it also applies to screen brightness.
So, in the end, because I've been using so many different monitors, it's kinda hard to decide which one I prefer,
but after using the UltraWide display, I definitely prefer using this over the sharper 5k display just because of that screen realasate.
That's really hard to give up.
So, the future is definitely in UltraWide, but it could stand a bit brighter and a bit sharper than it is now.
Alright guys, hope you enjoyed this video. If you did, please give it a thumbs up to let me know, and I'll see you again in the next video.