2022 was a big year for gaming monitors after about four years of the market kind
of sitting stagnant we had everything from Samsung's massive 55-inch Arc to gaming
OLEDs to respectable HDR and performance on monitors that aren't over a thousand dollars
What's up everyone this is Jacob with Digital Trends and I'm here to count down the best gaming
monitors we saw this year before getting into the picks keep in mind that we're focused on monitors
that actually came out in 2022 as well as monitors that did something a little different that tried
to push the envelope forward in some way which translates as this list skews expensive I have
some cheaper options but we definitely favored the biggest boldest monitors we saw in the last year
with that caveat out of the way like subscribe you know the drill let's talk about some gaming
monitors starting off with a newcomer to gaming monitors or rather a return to form Sony Sony
reprise its role in the gaming display market with the end zone M9 this year which is a lot better
than it has any right to be it's not a perfect monitor so consider this more of an honorable
mention but it's still a great option especially if you have a PS5 and a PC it's a 27 inch 4K
144hz gaming display and Sony could have done what basically every other monitor brand does throw the
same 4K panel in its own chassis and call it a day but Sony decided to challenge the status quo with
full array local dimming spread across 96 zones that leads to much better HDR performance compared
to monitors in this class like of course there's XENEON 32 and Acer's Predator x28 that only offer
a few edge-lit local dimming zones despite marketing great HDR performance for problems
the stand is not very good with a limited range of adjustment and the HDR although very impressive at
launch has been outclassed by cheaper monitor as the year has gone on still I couldn't pass up on
mentioning the M9 since it really challenged HDR and monitors around a thousand dollars when no one
else was and on top of that it includes some nice features like Auto HDR tone mapping for PS5 making
it a solid if admittedly not perfect choice for gamers who have both a PC and a PS5 HDR and the
M9 is great but if you're looking for Peak HDR quality short of an OLED you'll want Samsung's
Odyssey Neo G7 or G8 I'm recommending both because they are very similar displays both are 32 inch
4K monitors with super fast response times and they both come with 1196 full array local dimming
zones the G7 isn't quite as bright but the main difference is that the Neo G7 comes with a 165
Hertz refresh rate while the Neo G8 comes with a 240 hertz refresh rate there are a couple of
problems the stand isn't great and there are a few issues with flickering particularly on the
240 hertz model but I had a great time testing the Odyssey Neo G8 the 240Hz refresh rate is great if
you play competitive games like OverWatch 2 and the HDR experience is one of the best you can
get outside of an OLED panel although the Neo G8 is great it's really important to consider what
PC you're pairing it with the Neo G7 does almost everything the Neo G8 does and most PCS can drive
4K at 165 Hertz much easier than they can drive 4K at 240 hertz regardless of the refresh rate both
monitors look fantastic now it's no secret that the best most immersive HDR comes from OLED and
we got our first taste of olegamy monitors this year the standout is Asus as Rog pg42uq it's a
41.5 inch OLED TV masquerading as a monitor sure but despite all my assumptions about this large
of a screen sitting on a desk this monitor blew me away I'm actually using it as my main display
right now and I don't plan on swapping it out of course image quality HDR performance and
colors are off the charts this is the exact same panel that comes in LG C2 OLED TV Asus just made
some adjustments like overclocking the refresh rate to 138 Hertz adding some USB and DisplayPort
connections and somehow even managing a quarter inch thread for a camera at the top of the monitor
the size is a really nice balance for gaming too if you can push it back on a desk or wall mount
it you have a really nice full view of everything going on with a keyboard and mouse but I like the
size so I can kick back with a controller and play games like Elder ring or Marvel Spider-Man
it's tough to recommend right now just because the pg-42 uq is sold out basically everywhere and you
only find it for a few hundred dollars more than what it should sell for if it's too expensive or
you don't want to wait for better stock I'd recommend LG c2o web TV if you're getting the
same panel minus a hair of refresh rate and during the holiday season I've seen the 42
inch model drop below a thousand dollars which is kind of a steal all right let's pivot to something
a little cheaper the GP27Q from Cooler Master Cooler Master definitely isn't the biggest name
in gaming monitors but the GP27Q should make you pay attention it's a 27 inch 1440p monitor with a
165 Hertz refresh rate for 500 bucks great we've seen that same monitor half a dozen times just
this year this one stands out because it's using mini LEDs allowing Cooler Master to squeeze in 576
full array local dimming zones when I said there were better options than the M9 release later in
the year this was the display I was talking about it can reach 1200 nits of peak brightness in HDR
and it uses a quantum dot IPS panel so colors look fantastic it's not super accurate out of the box
but it really doesn't matter considering the price and what Cooler Master is offering the gp27q makes
even more expensive 1440p displays like Samsung's Odyssey G7 kind of looks silly I've only tested
the 1440p version but Cooler Master also offers the 4K gp27u you're getting the same 576 local
dimming zones similar Peak brightness and a 160 Hertz refresh rate just at 4K for 800 I haven't
tested it myself but everything I've seen shows it performs just as well as the 14 40p version
so definitely keep it in mind if you're in the market for a 4k monitor the only downside here
is that although these monitors support g-sync and freesync you can't use variable refresh rate
with HDR turned on this is definitely something Cooler Master could fix with a firmware update
but it's an important caveat to note although it was a big year for gaming monitors it wasn't hard
picking a winner for this roundup Alienware's 34 QD OLED if you're a frequent Digital Trends viewer
first off thanks for watching but you already know what's up here the perfect black levels
an infinite contrast of OLED pair with a quantum dot layer to improve brightness and color creates
one of the best images you can get out of a gaming monitor right now HDR performance is great and the
near instantaneous response time of Ola means the monitor has incredibly low input latency the image
quality pairs really well with the form factor too this is an ultra wide 21x9 monitor offering a
wider horizontal field of view for immersive games like cyberpunk 2077 and a little extra peripheral
vision for those competitive games like Halo infinite you're getting a 175 Hertz refresh rate
too so the panel is plenty fast it's the best of the best in the world of game monitors right now
which is shocking considering it was one of the first new gaming Myers we saw this year and now
even as the year closes out nothing has topped Alienware's 34 QDL those are the best gaming
monitors we reviewed this year but I want to know what you're using did you pick up a monitor that
we didn't see or are you using something a little bit older let me know in the comments below while
you're down there make sure to leave a like on this video and get subscribed so we can Edge
ever closer to that one million subscriber mark all right everyone thanks for watching I'll see
you in the next video in the meantime here are two videos YouTube thinks you'll enjoy