LG 38 inch ULTRAWIDE Monitor - the IPS CURVED KING [38wn95c-w] 2021
I've never been a fan of ultrawide monitors
and I may have said this last time I reviewed LG's 5k2k display.
I've always found them distracting and a bit difficult to navigate around.
For example, the corners seemed too far away and too much off-angle when you are sitting
front and centre.
For that reason, I've always stayed with a standard 16:9 ratio.
When LG decided to kindly send me this beast, however, giving me the tribune to bash it
as much as I want, as I was using it, I started singing a different tune.
After few weeks of sitting in front of this leviathan, the beauty fell in love with the
beast because I have never been as productive on any other display as I am with this one.
Let me explain.
Hey, Iskren here, but feel free to call me E!
Before I tell you what really makes this monitor special and as always, let start with what
bothers me around the easily named LG 38WN95C-W display.
Besides the name, I don't like the bezels.
Unlike the 32UL95 16:9 cousin, which I've been using for the longest of time, where
the frames are all around even, making it look very Apple XDR like this, ultrawide bears
the bezels of older LG models, despite being less than years old.
Also, this is all around plastic build with a plastic stand which isn't that big of a
deal if was a bit less expensive, but maybe a bit worrisome for those of you who are saving
up to get it.
Next, there's a fair bit of screen wobble and no centre click align even though, the
monitor can do minor horizontal adjustments, which means that often time you might find
it a bit crooked, not sure at which stage exactly it is perfectly levelled.
The next thing that I don't particularly appreciate is the even larger curved desk stand, which
makes any smaller desk less usable once placed on top of it.
Finally, unlike LG's 5k2k 34" ultrawide which has a resolution of 5120 x 2160, this even
larger 38 inch is 3840 x 1600 which I guess makes it 4k1.6k display...hmm..anyway, all
these supposed downsides are NO big deal once you turn it on awe at the curved awesomeness.
To me, the stand immediately goes away and the monitor ends up living on a monitor arm.
The bezels are something that disappears after day 2 of using it but the resolution was my
biggest concern.
Being used to a 5k iMac in the past and the last year using my trusty 32" 4k one, I had
a concern that I would be dodging pixels for the most part, but I was wrong.
Sure, native 4k content is a bit compromised but it's really close and everything is sensibly
sharp.
This being a nano IPS panel, it boasts 135% sRGB and 98% DCI-P3 and VESA HDR600 which
for my workflow is on point.
As far as connectivity goes, the ultrawide comes with a Thunderbolt 3 port, providing
whopping 94 Watts of PD power.
No daisy chain option this time around, which is understandable, since this monitor pretty
much serves the purpose of two 22" displays.
There are also two HDMI 2 ports, a display port 1.4, 2 USB 3 ports, power and of course
a 3.5mm headphones out.
Hidden underneath, are two reasonably powerful speakers which are OK if you have no other
audio source, but nothing more than decent when it comes to sound quality.
I do appreciate them.
On top and centre, not allowing me to perfectly position my Logitech stream cam, there is
an ambient light sensor which is something that I was missing before.
The sensor works very quick at adjusting the brightness which really helps in long working
sessions, giving my eyes a bit less strain throughout the day.
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imagine.
So what makes this monitor special and why I think it's the perfect home office monitor.
There are few reasons for that.
First off, with a 95W thunderbolt 3 connection, it is perfect for those of you who want to
have a single cable connected setup that can run picture, sound and power to a laptop while
allowing for a decent amount of hub versatility.
For many, this would be the all-around setup that plugs and plays in a matter of one cable
and few seconds.
This type of connection allows for data transmission speeds of up to 40Gb/s.
Following, being curved this monitor changed my perspective of ultrawides.
Like I mentioned earlier, ultrawide monitors have always given me an off-axis feel whenever
I glare at something around the corners, like my menu bar, but the curvature here, despite
being subtle, really provides for a very ergonomic and most of all immersive feel.
I noticed this as soon as I started swiping between my desktops on my Mac.
Moving between spaces, the shape gives me a very satisfying futuristic experience.
Also, when I pulled out my Final Cut Pro project I was absolutely floored.
I've never imagined the productivity benefits of this aspect ratio and deflection.
I had an endless timeline, larger than my tablet preview, my colour waves, my audio
meters all at the same time and after working on few projects, I was convinced that this
is my new standard.
I have also set up a separate desktop that holds 3 of my backgroud apps that I love to
often refer to, all in a full-size page mode.
On the left.
My email, to-do and music player are now neighbours and just a swipe away.
When I set up my gaming desk, I would also be able to run the picture in picture, having
windows on one side and Mac on the other.
If you are on the opposite side and you have concerns that this might be too big for you,
honestly the way I felt before, rest assured that even when in minimal mode, using a single
app in window mode, everything looks nice and the space around your app gives you a
breath of fresh air.
Enough about that.
Let's talk gaming.
This elegant giant is also a hidden gaming monitor, providing a 144hz refresh rate, 1ms
response time and NVidia Gsync compatibility.
This is great for when I assemble my gaming PC.
You can read more about my upcoming build in my bi-weekly newsletter, where you can
also read behind the scenes stuff and other unofficial channel content.
[SHOW RTS MODE] This unique monitor is not cheap, costing
$1600.
But before we jump to conclusions, let's make a simple calculation.
If we are looking for a similar type of productivity, we ought to talk about a dual 27" 4k monitor
setup.
Normally 27" displays with similar specs cost around $800 apiece.
Having in mind the connectivity, being a great hub, the 95Watt power option and the fact
that we don't need to have two stands and have ugly bezels in the middle, this LG 38WN95C
is starting to look at a very good deal.
Also, for all the MacBook M1 users, like me, not being able to run 2 monitors on the first-gen
M1 laptops is no longer a problem when we talk about this ultrawide.
This is a great all-around monitor which will probably soon be refresh.
It is ideal for any home or office setup because it has more than what most people could ask
for without screaming gamer from the looks of it, making it very RGB inconspicuous and
perfect to fit around any space.
If you enjoyed this video, you might find my monitor playlist useful, so click on this
light right here.
If you have any questions, be sure to leave them in the comment section below or ping
me on Twitter.
As always, it’s been an absolute pleasure, This is E
Over and out