34UM95 LCD monitor

Will a super-widescreen monitor with five million pixels appeal to artists and gamers?

Price £897

MCompany LG

Web www.lg.com anufacturers have released a glut of 21:9 monitors recently – all 29-inch models with 2,560x1,080 pixel grids, and all a little bit silly. As large (and expensive) as the screens are, those 1,080 vertical pixels are simply too restrictive for general use, especially if you want to use your art station as a game and film hub.

Enter the new LG 34UM95. It ups the ante to 34 inches. Immediately, this helps to mitigate the old 29-inch form factor’s visual shallowness. Then there’s the resolution. It’s now 3,440x1,440 pixels, which is the same vertical pixel count as the popular 27-inch segment and its 2,560x1,440 grid. Instantly, our previous objection – not enough vertical pixels for simple stuff like web browsing – melts away.

A digital artist would be able to work without segmenting their setup with two screens (which would both have to be colour calibrated). There’s enough screen real estate with this one monitor to work on several things at once – or one lengthy video timeline – and the image quality is fantastic.

December 2014

Contact Via website

Gamers will also have plenty to gawk at. This LG gives you a much more life-like filling of your peripheral vision than a normal monitor, resulting in an immersive playing experience. If there’s ever a device to appreciate the final results of the gaming industry’s many concept artists, this is it. Saying that, it’s worth noting that some games such as Skyrim don’t support the 21:9 aspect ratio, and when you’re streaming art tutorials or watching instructional DVDs, you’ll be seeing some black bars on either sides of this monitor, because so much footage is recorded at 16:9.

It’s unfortunate that the stand looks and feels cheap, although you can dismantle it and choose another that better suits your height demands. But the LG’s major stumbling block is its astronomical price – in part, probably due to the Thunderbolt interface that means it’s compatible with the latest Mac Pros. If you don’t have the best part of a grand to splash on a monitor, hang fire for the much cheaper monitors using this same 34-inch panel that are due for release later this year.