I’ve been using the LG CX 48 inch OLED TV as my main computer display for about half
a year now. I use it for both productivity, working away
on word docs, excel sheets, and casual web browsing throughout the day. And for entertainment,
whether that’s watching videos, PC gaming, or kicking back on a PS5.
And while it’s far from perfect and I wouldn’t recommend it for everyone; For me it remains
one of the best single displays to do it all. Hi I’m David and Here’s my long term thoughts
on the LG CX OLED TV as my only computer monitor. To kick it off, this being an OLED panel.
Let’s answer if I have any burn-in? I have over 1700 Hours of usage on this display,
with most of it being on my PC with a brightness level of 40.
And from what I can tell, there’s no burn in when flipping through different color tests.
I do have a dead pixel but luckily that’s far in the corner so I never notice it.
Frankly I’m quite surprised I haven’t experienced burn in. While I do take some
preventive measures like no desktop icons, Hidden task bar, changing desktop background,
and a screensaver that kicks in after 5 minutes. And I do still have the burn in protections
enabled on the TV, like screen shifting, and the ABSL feature. I think it’s also important
to highlight here that the ABSL feature that causes brightness fluctuations during static
tasks, can be very annoying and might be a deal breaker for some.
But other than that, I’m not completely babying it when on my PC. I work on static
documents and browse idle webpages on my screen for hours on end. And leave tools or reference
documents in the same position on a regular basis. And in rare occasions, the screensaver
doesn’t even kick in because an app or YouTube prevented it, and it idles on a static screen
over the lunch hour. To be honest, while I haven’t had any issues
with burn in. I say this all with caution. Based on my usage, I wouldn’t be surprised
if I eventually do get burn in, but I’m personally comfortable with that if it does
happen as it’s worth the risk for me. I think size is the next big hurdle to get
over with this 48 inch setup, and it’s not for everyone.
When using it for productivity, I rarely use applications in full screen as its much too
big this close to the display. And I instead tile applications across the screen like a
multimonitor setup, but you can learn more about how I do that in another video linked
below. The lack of a curve is also noticeable with
such a large display this close. It’s not terrible, but coming from my ultrawide monitors
with even a slight curve, I do miss having it to make reading stuff on the sides a little
easier. My experience with PC gaming is the same productivity.
Full screen this close is way too big for me. Personally, my ideal field of view for
gaming is either a 27inch or a 34 inch ultrawide at arms length away, so I’ll replicate that
on this TV by playing games in Windowed mode. Or for games with a controller, or on my PS5,
I’ll move back a couple meters so I can appreciate the entire screen. For PC, you
can also use full screen custom resolutions instead of windowed mode, but I don’t personally
like that due to all that black space. I think eye strain is valid concern when using
a large screen this close if you’re in a high contrast environment. For example, a
bright white webpage with a black background, or using a really bright desktop wallpaper,
or even poor ambient lighting. While these things also affect regular sized monitors,
there’s less neutral empty space above and below the screen that I find helps with eye
strain. I mitigate these issues, by using soft pastel wallpaper, making sure my room
is well lit, and even using night mode to reduce the blue light in the evenings.
Pixel density is still a concern at this size as well. While I’m gotten used to this low
92 PPI, I’d still wish for a smaller 40 inch 4k screen for improved sharpness, text
clarity and reduced color fringing. I know LG Display announced a 42 inch OLED panel
but who know how long it is before that becomes an actual product.
So while I think 48 inches is still a little too big, and if all you care about is PC gaming
or productivity, I still think an ultrawide or super ultrawide would be a better choice.
But I’m also using this for movies, videos and console gaming and it’s a much better
experience for that. The last thing to consider with this setup
is that it’s a TV, so it’s missing some features when compared to a traditional computer
monitor. For one, it doesn’t have a standby mode,
so when your PC goes to sleep, the TV will then show this no signal screen for several
minutes and then power it off completely. So the next time you wake your computer you’ll
need to manually power on the TV. Next, If you have a device that you regularly
unplug and re-plug say a laptop into the TV, this TV likes to reset settings every time
you reconnect an HDMI device. Forcing you to manually set the PC input setting every
time you plug it back in. This isn’t an issue with all devices, and you can get around
it by keeping a dongle attached. But I can see it being an annoying behavior for specific
docking setups, or just troubleshooting. Also being a TV, it has very limited control
with a single button on the display. So I keep the remote control nearby when I need
to power off or switch inputs. One neat tip is that you can program long presses to each
of the number keys to quickly switch to the different inputs or apps on the TV with a
single button. I also found that the default stand wasn’t
great for computer use, mainly the lack of tilt and how much space it takes up. But moving
it onto a monitor arm fixes that problem. And the last thing to note is that glossy
screen. And it is reflective, looking like a big black mirror during darker workflows.
So depending on your room lighting or windows, you may need to shut some blinds to minimize
the reflections. But this has never been a deal breaker for me, and I prefer glossy for
the clear and vibrant image when watching movies or playing games.
So in end, even though there are a lot of concerns with using this LG CX OLED as my
computer monitor such as potential burn in, the large size and TV limitations. And I’m
not even mentioning some of the early adopter troubleshooting that comes with bleeding edge
tech with TV firmware and Graphics driver updates. For now at least, I still plan on
using it as my main display for both productivity and entertainment in this desk setup, because
in spite of it all, I think it’s still one of the best single displays to do it all from
working on documents to enjoy videos and playing console games. Maybe if I find the room to
fit both a dual TV and Ultrawide Monitor setup I could have the best of both worlds in here,
or maybe something better comes out later this year. But until then, hope guys enjoyed
this one. You know what to do. And I’ll see you in the next video.