LG 32UD59-B 32-Inch 4K UHD LED-Lit Monitor with FreeSync (31.5" Display)

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I initially reviewed the monitor when I first got it last October. I have had it for about half a year now, so heres a rereview. Overall I think its a great monitor, especially at around ~400$. There are two very important things to do once you get it: --You should turn Black Level to Low and Black Stabilizer to 0. Otherwise the blacks look very grayish and contrast is awful. --If you are on HDMI and want 4K@60 turn on the HDMI Ultra Deep Color mode. It wont do 4k otherwise (or may only do it at 30Hz). Now for some pros and cons: Pros: Comes factory calibrated, black levels are outstanding (after the adjustment above), 4k@32" is perfect for sharp images, colors are great, freesync range 40-60 is not the widest but is an amazing feature nonetheless, stand is height adjustable and stable. The screen is matte but I had no problems with the AG coating. Cons: Internal speakers are pretty poor, no USB hub, no HDR, would have liked a wider freesync range, input lag is not the best for VA monitors (though I dont have the tools for accurate measurements). Also the 3.5mm jack has been making hissing noises, so you definitely do not want this to be your only option for sound (the included speakers are not an option really, outside of troubleshooting). Overall a really good value, especially at 370$.

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Im a software developer and obviously stare at screens all day. Ive been rocking a 25" ASUS PB258Q (WQHD) for a couple of years and wanted to upgrade to a 32" 4k. Ive been satisfied with the quality of my ASUS monitor but wanted a size increase do be able to push my monitor further back on my desk. From opening the box I was impressed with the size. Assembly of the stand was very easy, it came with the necessary cables. I must say that I HATE having proprietary power cables like LG provides. Would much rather have a universal power cord like everyone else. I plugged this bad boy into my MacBook Pro using the provided Display Port cable and my El Gato Thunderbolt 3 dock. At first I was impressed, especially with the sheer size and resolution. I had it scaled at about 1.5x so that things werent so tiny. My MacBook pro recognized and scaled this very well. The issues started when I opened up my code editor, which is dark themed. This thing has some HUGE issues with bleed/viewing angle/color accuracy all at once. To be clear, I had the monitor about 2.5ft from me. Only about 1/3 of the monitor was visible at a time without significant wash-out issues. I would have to physically reposition my head to see other sections of the screen. Not only that, but the parts that werent washed out had very poor colors in the first place. I compared this side-by-side with my ASUS monitor and MacBook screen, and it was a night-and-day difference. It was almost as if there was a metallic sheen to the colors of this monitor. No matter what preset or settings I tried to adjust, it was just horrible to look at. Again, this only was an issue with darker scenes, but thats what most programming tools are (for eye-care purposes). If you were wondering, the room was completely dark, in a basement, at night. There was no reason for it to be that bad and that hard to see those dark scenes. It actually hurt my eyes after staring at it for a while. For reference, I have attached a couple of crappy pictures taken with my iPhone. One of them is my ASUS monitor, and the other is the LG monitor this review is about. I know these pictures arent perfect, but they were taken at the same time with the same distance, and the same code editor (WebStorm) with a dark theme, and it is noticeably different. I decided to sleep on it and try again the next day to see if maybe I was tired and my eyes were just hurting. The next day I hated it more than the previous and decided there MUST be something wrong. Hopefully this is a dud unit, because there is no way I would use this for actual work. tl;dr: I would not recommend this monitor, ESPECIALLY if you are a developer. The color accuracy is VERY poor and the viewing angles are atrocious, especially in dark scenes. I never ever write reviews.

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After a severely disappointing venture with a 21:9 monitor that had dead pixels and a fuzzy image, I decided to go the 4K route. This monitor I believe is the best size for a 4K monitor, enough size that 125% is perfect, but dense enough pixel count that images are razor sharp. Color accuracy "looks" very accurate, even compared to a higher end IPS monitor (this one IS VA) Color shift is there, but not too bad and you do get slightly warmer whites on the outside edges of the screen -to be expected- However, colors are very vivid without being blown out and black levels are top notch for a LCD screen, notably much better than IPS. Controls are very intuitive, however because this is a pre-calibrated monitor, it does not want you to adjust colors- only brightness contrast and white balance. Gaming on it is a joy, smooth, sharp and with little lag, Stock freesync range is 40-61hz and is a huge help with many demanding games- with a Vega 64 watercooled GPU, there is no "flicker" and with enhanced sync enabled along with frame limiter, most all games are seamless and smooth. For those tech savvy- this monitor handles a modified freesync range of 35-61hz running CRU utility- this puts this monitor ahead of most all 4K freesync panels. At this price range this is undoubtedly THE best 4K monitor with Freesync on the market and LG means QC. Did I mention no dead pixels?

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Initial impressions are very good. Nice big, bright display. No dead pixels or any other problems with the screen. Seems to have a pretty decent calibration from the factory. Works great with my PC, PS4 Pro and XBox One S. UPDATE after one week of use: Still impressed with the monitor but wanted to note something I did not mention in my initial review. My monitor does have a fair amount of back light bleed in the corners, similar to what youd see on a typical IPS panel. Its not really bad, nor do I ever notice it if theres an image on the screen, even a dark one. The only time I notice it is when the monitor is on and the computer or game console has just powered up and is not yet sending signal, but I wanted to mention it for those who dont like back light bleed.

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I bought 2 of these monitors for use with a 15" MacBook Pro and an eGPU with a Radeon Rx Vega 56. No matter what cabling I used (thunderbolt 3 directly from the mac, display port and HDMI from the eGPU) the monitors always show up as 27" and not as 32" monitors. At the recommended resolution 3840 x 2160 the displays become unusable because the GPU scales the icons and the text for 27" monitors. I contacted LG support and got a response saying in a nutshell: "Thanks for contacting us and have a nice day." I dont see any choice but returning these monitors. I also keep wondering why Apple seems to promote them.

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Im really disappointed in just about all aspects of this 4k monitor. However the biggest / most serious issue is an apparent "LG unique" issue where when using DP (display port), when the PC goes into "monitor off mode" (not full sleep , but the setting to turn off monitors @ X minutes), ALL LG displays will fully power off, as if you have pulled the monitor cable out. Thus all of my windows that were on the monitor are shifted around as if i had removed/ unplugged the monitor. This issue does NOT occur when you use the monitors HDMI in port. Nor does this occur with my other 4k monitors using DP /mDP. So as a result ive had to buy DP to HDMI (4k 60hz) converters *only* for my 3x LG monitors. (finding the right combination of DP to HDMi converter + HDMI cable that will all work at 4k 60hz can be a bit difficult). This "disconnect issue" mainly occurs with LG monitors and DP (search web, many people have this issue , and generally with LGs , but not always). I run 8x Monitors (4x of which are 4k). (i dont play games/game, i manage networks and code, thus need several monitors - so i am pretty familiar with various monitors and can do deep troubleshooting) Although i already had 2x LG monitors (2560x1600 @ 29") BOTH have this same DP issue (again not on HDMI though), i hoped that LG had fixed it by now (or offered a DCI enable/disable option in the menu, like other manufactures do). This is not the case, and i should have shown restraint at the low price on this purchase. Aside from the issue above, the picture/image is really poor, mainly due to a sheen or the type of anti-glare coating they place on the screen. Its a bit hard to describe without seeing it next to my other 4ks but its as if the screen is a bit "holographic" looking due to the coating. (its the coating, as i have tried tweaking every color option both on the monitor and via my GPU, to no avail). Ive had the monitor a little over 2 weeks now. anyway , bottom line, dont be fooled by the low price nor special sales offered. Find a different 4k monitor. (and dont get any LG if you plan to use DisplayPort, whether on Mac or PC)

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I am in no way an expert on monitors, but as someone who was looking for a 32 inch 4k monitor for a better overall display for work as well as gaming, I am very satisfied. This monitor is shockingly lightweight, easy to assemble and very bright with a crisp and clear display and no calibration needed (at least for me). Im wondering how much better a 4k display that costs 2 or 3 times more would be, and the diminishing returns once you go above this price point, but as a "budget" 4k monitor I think this is a very good buy. I love the size, upgraded from a 27 inch ACER 1080p monitor and its definitely a step up. *Note to Mac retina users* my work computer is a macbook pro retina and my home computer is a windows machine, I cannot get this display to project my mac desktop in retina resolution, which is disappointing but still looks very good in 1080p. My windows machine, is obviously in 4K, which is totally awesome. Keep in mind though, at this point, very little media is actually in 4k, so unless you want to play games in 4k, you might be better off getting a very high quality 1080p display, as the colors could be better. Maybe thats what I shouldve done, but I wanted to try 4K gaming and a much higher resolution experience. No regrets.

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I bought two of these to use with my 2017 15-inch MackBook Pro. I use USB-C to DisplayPort cables. The Mac drives the two monitors very nicely (along with the built-in display). I have a massive amount of screen real estate now. Over the past few years, the Macs retina display, along with super high-res phone screens, has spoiled me, and I cant stand using lower res monitors like my 23" 1080p display (95 dpi). Ive been waiting for 4K monitors to come down in price, and it seems like that time has arrived. This LG is 138 dpi -- its not as razor-sharp as the Macs onboard retina (220 dpi), but its a huge improvement. One small caveat, which is probably a Mac issue more than an issue with the monitors: when I wake the Mac, sometimes my windows are rearranged a little bit.

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Left side of the display is magenta while the right side is green. Why LG why. Color shifts quite a bit when you look at it from different angles too... Feels like a display from the early nineties. Also 4K at this size is still not great for Windows scaling... I think they should make a display curved at 37" 4K. Thank you for your time.

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UPDATE - 1/30/2019: Ive continued to use this monitor and its working great. Ive added some screenshots of the Anthem Demo login screen. Anthem looks gorgeous! Ill try to grab additional photos from the open demo. In these images Ive tried to highlight the 4K aspect and how images have more detail. I compared this against my wifes XBox One S on her 40 inch Samsung TV (UN40H6203AF). You can see the additional detail 4K brings in the mural (much greater detail) and on the helmets (no jagged lines). I put a red circle over the mural and helmet areas. I also think the color looks better on the 32UL950-W. As before, Ive added a red box with UN40H6203AF in it and the blanks are the 32UL950-W. ORIGINAL POST - 1/18/2019: I recently upgraded from a Samsung SD27D590 to the LG 32UL950-W for my Xbox One X. Ive used this monitor for about 10 hours tweaking different settings. I have tested using Battlefield V (4K, HDR), Destiny 2 (4K, HDR), and Overwatch (4K, No HDR). Thus far it looks really good. I noticed one odd thing in the beginning but its only been with Battlefield V. There are times it seemed to auto-adjust to a darker tone and then it will brighten back up. This did not happen with other games nor did it happen with my old monitor (and its a different darkening and brightening then leaving/entering a dark building). The overview deployment map does appears to have more detail. Destiny 2 looks amazing! The colors are really vibrant. With Overwatch, I thought that the purple color of my Zenyatta skin also seemed to be more vibrant even though Overwatch doesnt support HDR. Cant wait to see how Anthem and the Division 2 look! The XBox and monitor will require some adjustments to get everything looking good. I would recommend doing a search for "best visuals from xbox one". You should find a link for checking and setting the xbox graphics settings for 4K, 10 Bit color depth, PC sRGB, etc. I would suggest also running through the Xbox TV Calibration settings. I had to reset the display properties on the monitor and run thru the calibration a couple of times before I got things where I wanted them. Additionally, Freesync is not enabled by default. You have to turn it on in the monitor settings or the Xbox will not detect Freesync is available (Settings->Picture->Game Adjust->Freesync). I selected Extended which the manual indicates has a greater range. I havent done significant testing on Freesync as of yet. One thing to mention about HDR vs non-HDR. When you adjust settings for the monitor it does not adjust for HDR. I found this out when playing Battlefield V. As soon as the game started, I tiny bubble appears in the upper-right corner indicating HDR content is detected. When I went to adjust settings, I noticed the monitor settings were different then what I had just spent time adjusting. Im still tweaking the HDR settings and they do appear to save separately from non-HDR settings. I also noticed that lowering the brightness level in HDR mode to 90 stopped the odd darkening/brightening issue I mentioned earlier. I currently have the brightness around 75. Ive had mixed results with some of the individual game HDR adjustments. I tried to go with the Destiny 2 settings they recommended for HDR and it looked really washed out. Im attaching some images showing the detected settings on the 27 inch and the 32 inch. Youll see that the LG 32UL950 does have 4K, HDR and Freesync detected on the Xbox. I also uploaded a few pics of the games I mentioned. Hopefully the attached images arent too bad. Im not sure how theyll be modified when uploaded. All attached images for the 27 inch monitor are marked with SD27D590 in a red box. The unmarked images are from the LG 32UL950-W.

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