I've tried a lot of different ultra wide monitors
and the reality is none of them are perfect.
There's always a few things you won't like.
Sometimes the sizing is just a little off
or they're not quite curved enough or not curved at all
or they're lacking features
like Thunderbolt where I can just plug my laptop straight
into it to output an image and charge it at the same time.
Well, this is the 40WP95C-W
from LG and despite the awful name,
it's just about as close as I can get to an ultra wide
I really enjoy using.
It has a 4K resolution, USB-C charging
with built-in Thunderbolt 4 connectivity.
And in this video, I want to mainly talk about my experience
with this monitor and if it's maybe something you'd consider
for your own workflow,
especially if productivity is high on your list.
But first, let's get all the specs out of the way.
At 40 inches wide, it's on the larger end
of the ultra wide scale.
It's also your typical ultra wide 21 by nine aspect ratio
but with a 5K x 2K resolution
this gives it the same vertical pixel count
as a typical 4K screen
but I'll talk more about that a bit later.
The screen is also IPS with an anti-glare coating,
which means good viewing angles
and it has a five-millisecond gray to gray response time.
So if you do any light gaming,
you won't notice that much input lag.
And it also has a 72 hertz refresh rate,
which is slightly more
than the typical 60 hertz you see in most monitors.
Maximum brightness won't blow you away
but this is fairly typical for most monitors in this range.
Moving on to build quality, like most LG monitors,
it's okay but leaves a lot to be desired.
The monitor chassis is made entirely from plastic
but I do like the clean white color scheme at the back.
The chassis is also quite thick and looks chunky
from the sides and top.
That being said though, the part you'll be staring at
for 99% of the time looks good with thin bezels
and a relatively minimal front logo.
The stand is also made
of plastic and while it looks fine and does a decent job
at keeping the monitor stable, it's a far cry
from ultra wides from competitors like Dell
who offer a much sturdier stand made from solid metal.
Now, although I don't really have any complaints
about the stand,
you will still get some slight monitor wobble here
and there and I found this especially prevalent
with standing desks.
That being said, most ultra wides weigh in excess
of 20 pounds or 10 kilos and combined
with their sheer length,
it's difficult to avoid wobble altogether.
It does have a standard VESA mount on the back though,
so if you do have a sturdier monitor arm,
it can be easily swapped out.
If you do end up keeping a stock stand,
adjustability is very impressive for a monitor of this size
and I had no issues getting it
into the appropriate position on my desk.
I wish it went a bit higher but at that point,
the wobble would be much more noticeable
so I wasn't too bothered.
Moving on to ports and connectivity.
There's an impressive amount on the back
and I always love LG's placement of their ports.
It's so easy to access compared to other brands
where it's underneath the chin of the monitor.
You'll also get some extra USB ports
on the right for quick access,
although this can be tricky to access
due to being more recessed.
You pretty much have to stand up
and reach to the side if you want to plug anything in.
One of the most standout features of this monitor though
is that it has Thunderbolt 4 connectivity
with 96 watts of power delivery.
This allows you to connect power-hungry laptops
via a single cable to get full charging capability
while outputting an image
and also being able to access any devices plugged
into the monitor with Thunderbolt 4 speeds.
This is a game changer
because most other similar monitors
only have USB-C connectivity, not Thunderbolt 4,
so they're much slower.
These higher speeds allow you to connect external drives,
for example, and get very respectable speeds.
Although for some high-end drives,
you'll still get better results
by attaching them directly to your Mac.
You'll also be able to daisy chain two displays
to your computer via one
of the two available Thunderbolt ports,
and you can simply attach keyboards, my speakers, et cetera
and connect them automatically when you plug your laptop in
via the Thunderbolt port.
All of this means that the monitor also acts as a dock
and you might not even need to go out and purchase some kind
of external hub or dock for your laptop,
although I already have a Thunderbolt 4 dock
so I simply connect the monitor
to my dock via a display port.
There are also built in speakers
and they're actually pretty good compared
to most monitor speakers.
They sound clear and have a bit of bass.
That being said though, you'll still want
to get a proper speaker system or a pair of headphones.
In typical LG fashion,
the monitor has a joystick control button that you use
to navigate the menu.
A joystick is so much more preferable
to the usually awful plastic buttons you often see
on other monitors.
The menu system itself is very basic
and really doesn't have a lot of options,
but it gets the job done.
One thing I absolutely love is that the power supply
is built in, so you don't need
to have a huge power brick laying on the ground
or attached underneath your desk.
Okay, so let's talk about actually using
this monitor day to day.
For productivity, it's great.
I mean, I used to be a big fan of dual monitors
but just couldn't quite be 100% comfortable with them
'cause there was always a bezel in the middle
where my eyes naturally drifted to
and the only way to solve that was to have one monitor off
to the side, which made looking at it really awkward.
This LG monitor obviously solves that issue
as an ultra wide.
It's like having two monitors
but with no bezel in the middle.
Often I will have three different webpages open
when doing research or writing and there's plenty
of room to do that
or if you have a separate computer,
you can do picture-by-picture mode
to essentially turn this monitor
into a dual monitor setup.
For example, if you have a Mac and a PC dual setup.
And this brings me to my second point.
I think the overall length
and curve of this monitor is pretty much perfect.
I feel like I can easily see text and images
on the edges of the screen without straining my eyes
or it looking too rounded.
In contrast, some other monitors, for example, this one
from LG that doesn't have any curve
or the P3421W from Dell where the shorter length
and angle of the curve just isn't quite as nice
while offering less screen real estate.
The 40-inch size is also perfect
for non-productivity workflows, specifically video editing.
Now, while you'll probably go
for a more color accurate monitor
if you're a professional editor,
this LG holds up quite well,
achieving 98% of the DCI-P3 color gamut.
It also has HDR, but again, you won't want
to be editing HDR content on a monitor like this.
The most useful part though is the sheer length
you can extend your timeline to.
On typical 16 by nine aspect ratio, 27 or 32-inch monitors,
it feels far too compact at times.
Going to a 40 inch ultra wire is a game changer,
allowing me to zoom out and see the entire timeline easily
or simply having to move and reposition less while editing.
Now, remember how I mentioned the resolution is 5K x 2K
or essentially the ultra wide version of 4K?
Well, on Windows, it works perfectly fine,
but on Macs, this is good and bad.
On one hand, most ultra wides are not 4K
and having this high of a resolution
on a screen of this size is great.
It's not retina like the Studio Display,
but it is noticeably better and more clear than 1,440 p,
like the Dell P3421W.
The trade-off though is the scaling can get a little wacky.
At native 4K resolution,
everything is far too small, so you have to go
into system preferences and change the scaling,
which makes everything appear just slightly blurrier.
It's not really noticeable for a lot of people
but some people do notice it and don't like it.
The reason for this is because macOS simply
doesn't scale very well unless you're using
a native resolution like the retina screens
on a MacBook or the Studio Display
or Pro Display XDR with their 5K and 6K resolution screens.
There are apps and programs that can help the scaling
on non-native resolutions
but currently, that's really the only workaround
and it's not a perfect solution.
And no, I didn't notice any decrease
in performance from scaling at least on Apple silicon Macs.
For me personally, this isn't something
that should put you off a monitor like this.
There is simply no native Mac resolution
ultra wide monitors that exist.
These are your only options
and although 4K won't display perfectly here,
it's still noticeably better and clearer than 1,440 p.
Moving on to price, make sure you're sitting down
because this monitor is expensive,
coming in at 1,799 US dollars at the time of this video.
Now, compared to other 40 inch ultra wide monitors,
like the Dell U4021QW at $1,900, it is cheaper.
But if you're prepared to sacrifice a few features,
like the larger screen, the built-in power supply,
4K resolution, and Thunderbolt 4,
you can get a similar ultra wide
for much less like the Dell U38201DW
or the LG38WN95C-W at around $1,200 each.
And when such good monitors like these exist,
it's hard to justify that extra $600 bump,
even if you're a professional who spends all day
in front of your monitor
and maybe even your job is expensing part of the cost.
So yeah, overall it was a pretty positive experience.
This is the first time I've ever experienced 4K
on an ultra wide and I have to say I am really enjoying it
but for me personally, I think the price is just too much.
I don't think it's worth it for most people
unless you do have that disposable income
or like I mentioned, maybe your job is going to pay for half
of it like you're a remote worker, but apart from that,
if you can afford it, it's a very, very solid buy.
Lots of premium features.
I also really liked the Thunderbolt 4 capability,
so if you don't already have a Thunderbolt 4 dock.
That's 3 to $400 you're going to save right there as well.
But apart from that, guys, hopefully you enjoyed
and I'll catch you in the next one.