Samsung LS34J550WQNXZA 34" Ultrawide WQHD Widescreen Monitor

I get it, Im buying literally the cheapest ultra-wide 1440p monitor ***from a reputable** company. I "downsized" from two 28" Samsung 4k monitors that just took up too much space and I wasnt really utilizing the full "4k" since I used them at 125% magnification. Moving along the reason for the 4 stars and not 5 is simply the fact that Samsung didnt include a display port cable in the box. When I connected the monitor up I realized the refresh rate wasnt quite right and I couldnt change it (50 hz at 1440p on HDMI). After a little research, I found that this monitor can do sooooo much more IF you have a display port cable. This monitor at $399 is a 5 star monitor IF you are using it with a display port cable (with a graphics card that can push it).

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+ PBP/PIP is amazing. If youre buying this monitor, this is why. If you dont need this feature, I dont think this monitor is for you. + MASSIVE. Again, might be a turn off for you, but I absolutely love the size of this thing. + FreeSync support. Not a crucial feature to have, but nice nonetheless. Nvidia now supports it too! - Colors are a bit meh. I expected that with this being a VA panel and all, but just be aware of this if you do a lot of serious color work. - Base is absolutely TERRIBLE. Im not knocking off too many points here since alternative stands are easy to come by, but this thing WILL wobble with the default stand. - I dont know if this is because of my settings or what, but there is some *very* noticeable ghosting on stuff, especially in dark areas. Its very obvious if youre looking for it, and slightly less if youre not. Still not a deal-breaker for me.

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Coming from an old 23" 1080p monitor that I purchased in 2010, this is quite the upgrade. Its amazing how affordable monitors have gotten in the past few years. We are a long ways from the days when I spent nearly a grand on a 19" LCD. Still, it isnt a "cheap" monitor, so the value proposition needs to be there. First, the monitor is absolutely massive. Its hard to overstate just how large it is at 34". You can fit truckloads on the screen at once, but the issue with most ultrawide displays is finding content that will fit it, and this is no exception. Because the 21:9 ratio is different from the traditional 16:9 ratio, you get black bars on the sides with nearly all video content. This is a non-issue with gaming since the resolution can usually be matched up, and it works great for traditional workflows like video editing, but dont expect to watch most widescreen movies on this without bars. I didnt end up using the Samsung software that lays out items on the screen since Im fine with native Windows 10 window management that aligns two things side-by-side, but youll definitely want to use something or it will feel overwhelming. In that same vein, I think 32" or so is the limit of a realistic monitor size before it really needs to be curved. Obviously a curved version would increase the price substantially, but youll find that you usually have to move your head a few inches from side to side to see all the content comfortably. Again, not an issue if you understand that limitation going in, but just realize that this is a lot of pixels for your eyes to track. Regarding the refresh rate, Im happy that Samsung included FreeSync. Thats a big plus. Unfortunately, the default range that FreeSync works on his monitor is only 48-75 Hz. Id like to see a lower starting point. Additionally, the only output that allows 75 Hz at max resolution is DisplayPort, so make sure you are using that and not HDMI. This will get more useful as more GPUs come with FreeSync support, especially with NVIDIA adding support to the 10/20 series. As expected, the monitor is extremely bright out of the box at around 185cd/m2. I had to take the brightness all the way down to 21/100 to hit 120cd/m2. (There is no separate backlight control, so there will be a PQ adjustment when reducing brightness). Had to adjust my RGB to 57/32/40 to get close enough for a color profile to make it the rest of the way to 6500k. All in all, a good monitor at a good price. Disclaimer: I have received this monitor for free in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts are conclusions are my own

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