LG 34" UltraGear: Why Gamers Need Ultrawide Gaming Monitors
If you’re in the market looking for an ultrawide monitor, you’ve probably heard of LG. This monitor that I have right beside me isn’t all that new. But, even so, it’s still arguably one of the best ultrawide gaming monitors in the market right now.
This is the LG UltraGear 34GN850-B and after using it for about a month or so, it really is a monitor that left me impressed. It's not really surprising if you think about it, because LG has been in this segment of the market for a long time now. In fact, they are the ones who basically started the whole ultrawide trend and introduced the 21:9 aspect ratio way back when.
They certainly know their stuff, and it does show.
So let’s talk about this monitor and the first thing about it would be the clean aesthetic with a little splash of red.
Of course the main highlight would be the panel itself, but to help accentuate that are the minimal bezels all around, giving that borderless frame look. Flip it around to the back and you do get a fairly minimalistic design with the red ring and the UltraGear logo. Holding everything together is a chunky but rigid stand that features an inverted Y wing that certainly provides stability.
It also allows you to easily adjust the height of the panel itself and provides a good amount of tilt. All in all, really clean and simple looking and I personally like that.
You’re also well covered on ports as the monitor comes equipped with a DisplayPort 1.4, two HDMI 2.0, a dual USB 3 hub as well as your trusty headphone jack. Just one piece of advice here, if you want to make full use of what this monitor can offer, always use DisplayPort.
But as mentioned, the main highlight would be the panel itself, so what do you actually get?
You’re looking at a 34-inch nano-IPS monitor that has a resolution of 3440 x 1440 that can get up to 160Hz with a 1ms response time. It’ll also support HDR400, 10-bit colour, cover 98% of the DCI-P3 color gamut and is G-Sync compatible as well.
The main difference, really, comes down to the aspect ratio in itself and it’s where you really can experience the true prowess of this UltraGear 34GN850-B.
A 34-inch 21:9 ultrawide monitor is basically taking a standard 27-inch 16:9 monitor and stretching it out, which applies to the resolution as well. You get the same vertical amount of pixels as standard 1440p, but way more horizontal pixels.
Even for general usage, you see more content, especially for photos, as most sites will be able to take advantage of that additional resolution and space to display more at once. Or, you can multi-task with multiple windows to make use of the additional space. 3-Way-Split is arguably one of the best layouts to use here. Which if you’re using Windows 11, is very simple to initiate.
Video editing is also pretty awesome as you can make use of the additional space to have more tools available within your workspace and it is also something you can definitely do with confidence with this monitor as as mentioned, you get 10-bit colour, 98% DCI-P3 coverage along with accurate out-of-the-box colours.
But perhaps the best use case is in the name. This monitor is part of the UltraGear lineup from LG and gaming is definitely the main focus here.
3440 x 1440p is honestly the sweet spot in resolution in my personal opinion as it provides a huge improvement in visual fidelity compared to standard 1080p but it doesn’t require the higher amount of GPU horsepower that’s needed to drive 4K.
But here’s one bit of trivia about the 21:9 aspect ratio. It is actually the aspect ratio that changes your experience more so than the resolution itself. You actually do see more in the game thanks to the physically wider viewing angle. It definitely makes for a much more immersive experience especially if you’re playing games like Resident Evil or Tomb Raider.
But regardless, despite the high resolution, it can still run up to 160Hz, which means that if you’ve a well-equipped PC that can pump out that amount of frames, you can also enjoy a really fluid and smooth gameplay experience. And even if your PC can’t always put out that amount of frames, the monitor is also G-Sync Compatible which means you can still get a really great gaming experience even if your frame rate drops below 60.
In addition, compared to most other monitors out there that use a VA panel, this UltraGear 34GN850 uses a nano-IPS panel from LG themselves which boasts a 1ms response time and in actual practice, has little to no ghosting at all. This makes it doubly great for fast-paced games in the competitive scene, such as Apex Legends or CS:GO, where every second, or even half a second, makes a difference.
For the past month, I’ve to admit that I’ve been playing games more than I should have. It’s just that good.
Overall, I can’t really say enough good things about this monitor. It has been a great experience and I’m really liking the ultrawide aspect ratio, be it for general usage, work or gaming.
Now with that said, if you want a more focused gaming experience with no frills, or perhaps you’re just always playing eSports titles like CS:GO, Apex Legends, Dota 2, Valorant and much more, you might want to consider the standard 16:9 aspect ratio instead, of which LG has plenty within their UltraGear lineup as well.
But if you want to get into the 21:9 ultrawide experience, the LG UltraGear 34GN850-B is definitely a monitor you would want to consider. It really ticks the boxes, for almost anything, really.
Now it does have an MSRP of US$999 or S$1,599 which might be a little pricey, but do always keep a look out because there’s usually always a discount or sale every now and then. And even if not, I still do think this monitor is worth every cent.
This content is brought to you in partnership with LG.