LG Electronics 34UM88-P 34-Inch 21:9 UltraWide Screen LED-Lit Monitor

I bought this monitor to replace a 32” 1080p TV which has been serving as my main monitor. I also have another 27” 1080p monitor for a dual screen setup. I had my eye on the LG 34UM95 but I am not a fan of the aesthetics of its stand. I also wanted (still want) the curved Samsung S34E790C but my wife gets nauseous every time she looks at it. I took a chance on this flat-screen monitor because of it’s great looking base even though I could not find any in-depth reviews. Pros: -Size. This monitor is huge. I almost have trouble fitting another monitor next to it on my desk. It happens to be the same size vertically as my 27” monitor which is nice. -Resolution. The 3440x1440 resolution is great for a screen this size. I have another 29” 2560x1080 resolution monitor and it feels too much like a short monitor. This 34” screen definitely feels wide, not short. The monitor will push 60hz refresh rate on both HDMI and Displayport. -Picture. The colors are fantastic out of the box. I can’t see any backlight bleed common to IPS panels. -Stand. Great tilt and height adjustment. I can move the screen from 2.5” from the desk up to 7”. -Comes with a DisplayPort-DisplayPort cable and an HDMI-HDMI cable. Cons: -Wobbly. My desk isn’t that steady, so any movement of the desk is translated into a lot of wobble in this monitor. I don’t notice this much in the smaller monitors. Summary: Now all I need is a couple more of these monitors! EDIT Sept 2016: After 5 months this monitor is still working flawlessly. Since my original purchase, however, I have acquired the LG 34UC87M-B curved 34" monitor (pictured next to my LG 34UM88C) and the Samsung S34E790C curved 34" monitor. I really appreciate the subtle curves of these new monitors and I like how they make the screen edges more usable and less "far away". If you plan on having two 34" monitors side-by-side, making at least one of them a curved monitor is a must. I have the curved and flat LG monitors side-by-side (as pictured). I prefer to watch videos and play video games on the curved monitor, while I prefer to do photo editing on the flat panel. Other thoughts: Getting videos to play in the 21:9 aspect ratio while utilizing the full screen is a hassle. The Windows Store video player is the only online streaming platform I could find that easily goes true full-screen on this ultrawide format. Other streaming services will play HD movies in 21:9 format(ish), but will not zoom to be full-screen. See pictures comparing streaming HD movies from Windows Store and Google Play.

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For starters, I am not a gamer and I dont use it for sound. I am a Software Engineer. I use this for coding, databases, youtube tutorial watching, and watched a few movies on it. Ive had no problems with it at all. I use the thunderbolt connection of my 15" MacBook Pro. (Id love to get another one) Mostly what I love is the massive area I get while coding and looking at database tables. I dont really plug anything else into it to switch between inputs but it does support split screen and multiple inputs. No issues that Ive noticed with dead pixels or light bleed or anything like that. But Im a simple person when it comes to monitors and never have ran any extensive video testing on mine.

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This is hands down the BEST monitor Ive owned. First off, its massive. Like, significantly bigger then I expected. The screen real-estate is almost laughable next to my 1080. Pros: -Colors are vibrant, and accurate -Tons of real estate -Picture in picture with 2 separate PCs is an IT persons dream -No scaling (unlike 4k) -Protective layer over panel itself (clean grubby finger prints of peasants that touch my screen against my will) -Built in speakers are tolerable -GTA V looks INSANE at 21:9 (Running with a 980ti/4790k 4.4ghz) Cons: -Some back light bleed, definitely nothing major to complain about -Heavy. This is a set it and forget it monitor. My existing vesa mount struggled with the weight. -Included DP cable is junk. Feels like its made from happy meal plastic, caused some screen-tearing in game -On-screen display software is -OK at best. Needs work. That being said, the cons are gripes, nothing major really. Its a lovely monitor. Highly recommend.

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This monitor is amazing. Ive spent over a decade as an animator/designer using two monitors side by side. It was always an ugly setup, but kind of standard in my industry. Now that I have one giant monitor, Im never going back. This is one good look, massive, crisp monitor. In full disclosure, Im a bit of an LG fanboy. I think they just make excellent monitors. (currently own their 65 4K OLED TV too) The only thing I was initially bummed about was how YouTube and netflix movies look. While they are crisp, most of them are surrounded my letterboxing. (sometimes on all sides) BUT, everyone who buys this monitor and also uses the Chrome browser, you MUST get the chrome extensions that remove the letterboxing from Netflix and YouTube videos. Just search for them in the Chrome extension store. Now, whenever I view a youtube video fullscreen on this monitor, its edge to edge picture! Movie trailers in particular look amazing. (since they are usually ultrawide)

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Ive had a 34UC98 before this and absolutely loved the curve for that immersive IMAX theater and gaming experience. The only reason I got this was for the flat viewing angle and 0 distortion needed for graphical work. Other than that, there are not many monitors I can go back to after experiencing a 1440p ULTRAWIDE experience. For work: The amount of desktop space you gain from 1440p alone is quite huge, but to add the 3440 width of ultrawide is a complete game changer. The amount of web pages, data sheets, lists, graphics and videos you can put side by side to multitask and compare is so efficient and a complete must for anyone trying to maximize their workflow. The image quality is superb and the colors are accurate enough for my line of work as a part time graphic artist and web dev. For entertainment: Stunning visuals like always from LG and the wider viewing angles and field of view in most games nowadays is a huge advantage as well as adding to the overall immersion. Response time is decent and the freesync helps smooth out faster paced games for AMD users. Even without freesync, I would say this is a great addition to any pc station for its price. The monitor stands in my desk looking slick with its brushed metallic stand and the adjustable height and rotation helps me make easy adjustments depending on what I am doing on the pc. As a long time user of LG monitors and TVs, none of them have ever given me a problem and have been super reliable whilst always bringing an amazing price to quality ratio - this monitor is no different!

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This unit comes with an IPS panel, which is essential for 21:9 ratio. It benefits from not having a huge color shifting like the TN panel. Pros: * Accurate color * USB/HDMI/DisplayPort, tons of I/O options * USB supports fast charging. Was able to charge my phone at 10W * 60 Hz works with DisplayPort with no issue * FreeSync * Adjustable Stand Cons: * EXTREMELY CHEAP AND BAD BEZEL WORK! See below for more info * The stand is so tiny, any shake or pressure press on the desk will make the monitor shake * 100% Brightness/Contract out of the box * MaxxAudio doesnt work as advertised Out of the box, the panel is color-calibrated, which saves your time on adjusting the RGB mode. Also, it has no dead pixel. Maybe it is just my luck. However, LG uses really cheap silver paint work on the frame bezel. And it is plastic bezel rather than metal frame, which makes it so easy to get chips and dents. Mine has the paint scratched off during the setup, and then shows the white base plastic layer. This is un-excusable. Like how much you are actually saving from making such a change? The stand is also so offensively bad. It is not sturdy. As the monitor is adjustable in height, also you can tilt it. Imagine the center of gravity changes too much and then the stand wont hold it properly. Plus if you are like me runs a couple cables on the back, you might re-consider your choice. Overall, I would say it is bang for the bucks... But if you have a little bit higher budget, go find something else. I have another LG monitor which is $700, has the same material issue. But panel/display wise, totally work just fine.

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The monitor is of course excellent - high level of contrast, excellent sharp text, and very easy to use. If youve been trying to use a 1080p monitor for doing side by side docs, and its over 20", you already know how the text is degraded, fuzzy, and harder to read. This monitor snaps it all back in focus. I am running it off the displayport in my HP 9840m laptop, using a displayport to HDMI adapter. I installed the drivers from LG online, and after a reboot it was correctly detected as an "Ultrawide LG Monitor" and recommended resolution of 3840x1440 was supported at 59hz. I had a shipping issue that was taken care of by the seller who personally called to make it right - thats top notch Customer Service, Ill be back for sure.

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This was the first UltraWide monitor Ive ever owned, and had always worked with dual standard 4:3 or 16:9 sizes. That setup will be not happening anymore based on this purchase, which I was essentially blown away by. Normally when it comes to consumer electronics, Im a loyal Samsung customer to the core. However when one is cost constrained, the list of available options which meet all the requirements, often does not include any Samsung products. But I knew their fellow South Koreans over at LG were not ones to half measure any efforts or designs, so I ordered. The box came about 5 days after order through UPS. IMPORTANT NOTE: For those of you who work during normal delivery times, be aware that this shipped to me with no signature required. Normally not a big deal, but if you look at the photo I attached of the box it came in, youll see that whats in the box is very clearly indicated. I asked the UPS driver even he delivered it if had I not been home, would be have just left out. He said Yes like I had asked an of question. Moving on... Unboxing was effortless, as was assembling the stand and attachment hardware. The picture quality is unbelievably crisp as and fast exceeded my expectations (again, take that with a grain of salt, is never used one previous to this). LG includes an app and drivers on a CD-ROM youll want to install after getting it initially hooked up. The app, called OnScreen Control (see picture) enables you to configure the screen layout in a number of ways, splitting it into various smaller virtual screens to fit your needs. It was pretty easy to understand, however I havent read the manual to see what Im missing with regards to advanced settings. The one very small critique I did have was the LG folks expected to much of me! Im really not very savvy with all things computers or their peripherals, and had no idea which of the cables I needed, it the monitor would act as a single unit, or did my video card see it as two monitors, which offered the best picture and greatest performance? Probably stupid questions for many people, and I eventually used my Google-Fu skills to figure it out (one cable needed, between HDMI and DisplayPort, all things being equal go with DisplayPort). Lastly, and Ill leave off on a positive note, another feature which I found was better than my past experiences with any monitors, was the user interface and input mechanism for manually changing the displays configuration and settings. Instead of all buttons and the settings screens looking like an afterthought, there is a small flush 4-direction joystick under the LG logo badge which is extremely intuative to use.

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In setting up my new home office, I sought monitors for my new HP Spectre x360 laptop. Ive been using dual monitors for many years and started looking at the same, until discovering the Ultrawide monitors like this. This monitor provides the display width of a dual monitor setup without the bezels in the middle or the setup hassles of two displays. My laptop only has two USB-C Thunderbolt 3 and one USB-A 3.1 connections. I was hoping to reduce my connections to one single USB-C Thunderbolt connection between laptop and monitor, using the back of the monitor as a "hub" to connect in keyboard and mouse, and provide up to 80W to power the laptop. I first realized that the only way to connect Thunderbolt 2 to 3 is through an adapter - a simple cable wont do it. After buying such an adapter, and it not working, finally called LG. And they explained that power wont come through the Thunderbolt 2 to 3 adapter, and the keyboard/mouse inputs from the back of the monitor wont come through either. So basically I paid extra for the Thunderbolt version that I dont use. Hopefully you wont make the same mistake as I did. But otherwise this monitor is amazing! Connected my laptop through a USB hub to this monitor and setup the display properties for multiple monitors and extended desktop. Ensured that this monitor was setup for its maximum resolution, and was good to go. I can almost fit three full windows across the screen, and keep windows in arrangements to work fluidly and productively.

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Gorgeous big monitor. Plug and play with Thunderbolt 2 on my 2014 MacBook Pro Retina. I can keep two documents open and still have room to keep track of my email, or open a browser in another window. I keep all of my files and apps on my 15" MacBook screen. This is a great productivity tool for me. I never knew how nice it would be to have that much high-resolution glass. I would not have been happy with a 1080 display. 4K would have been overkill. This is perfect.

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