LG 49WL95C
The LG 49WL95C is a huge monitor – but is it any good?
We’ve seen it all before here on TechLife, but the sheer size and scale of the new LG 49WL95C ultrawide monitor still blows our tiny minds.
The full 49-inch diagonal of the curved LCD panel is impressive enough on its own. But it’s the 32:9 aspect ratio that makes this monitor so incredibly eye popping. It’s just so wide.
Stunning the LG 49WL95C most certainly is, therefore. But does that actually make for a usable, practical and enjoyable display? Given the $1,899 price tag, it had better. It’s also worth noting that the LG 49WL95C is not alone in the market. The Philips Briliiance 499P9H, for instance, matches it in most significant regards and undercuts it substantially on price.
Anyway, as with that Philips display, the biggie in literal and figurative terms here is the 5,120 by 1,440 native resolution. In most contexts, that would be a lot of pixels. On a 49-inch panel? Not quite so much. It’s actually fewer pixels overall than a conventional 4K or UHD monitor. It also makes for a somewhat underwhelming 109 pixels per inch.
Overall, the LG 49WL95C feels very generous in its horizontal aspect. It’s physically very wide and the 5,120 horizontal pixels provide plenty of space to arrange multiple apps and windows. Vertically, it’s less impressive. The 1,440 vertical pixels fall well short of the 2,160 of a 4K monitor and leave you feeling slightly constrained.
At this price point, we’d be happier with the full 4K vertical resolution and then a boosted horizontal pixel count to suit, which in this case would work out to 7,680. That would also improve the pixel density and sharpness.
Anyway, that aside the image quality is strong but not spectacular. LG has specified a decent IPS panel with good colours and viewing angles. But it’s not a particularly high fidelity. For starters, it only covers 79% of the Adobe RGB colour space and 99% of sRGB. Not bad figures, per se, but not the stuff of demanding content creation either.
Similarly, while the LG 49WL95C is HDR10 compliant, with a peak brightness of 350cd/m2 and no local dimming, this is a monitor that can process HDR content but can’t really display HDR visuals.
As for gaming, you’ll need a hefty graphics card to drive the LG 49WL95C smoothly. Even then it’s limited to 60Hz, which isn’t ideal for shooters. Immersive it certainly is, and the sound quality from the built-in speakers is actually pretty tolerable. But the LG 49WL95C is not intended to be an out-and-out gaming panel.
The 49WL95C 32:9 aspect 49-inch ultrawide monitor is a feast for the eyes and full of features, but makes a major assault on your wallet.
Jeremy Laird