- Jan 8, 2011
- 10,731
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Once in a while I will get suckered into spending more money than is reasonable on a product. This is one of those times. I doubt many of you care about this monitor, but I'll "give my impressions" on it here anyway. Of course, what I am really doing is bragging about my badass new monitor, and anyone who has graced their desk with this titanic Christ like incarnation of gaming technology should certainly brag like hell, and all about it too.
If ever there was a time for a member of the PC Master Race to brag about anything, its upon the acquisition of this monitor. Its not so much a monitor as it is a wide, horizontal window into heaven from which God himself smiles upon you and hugs your face with the angelic curvature of this beautiful beast.
Despite its absurd width and gargantuan surface area, the color uniformity of this panel is better than my last monitor, the Acer XB270HU, not to mention every one of its 4.95+ million pixels are fully functioning. Maybe I hit the panel jackpot and got lucky, but I got what I got. This panel is even and uniform when displaying colors which are prone to banding and revealing backlight uniformity issues, none of which are easily detectable on this lovely charm. From solid white, to light gray and light blue, this panel is strikingly uniform and is quite pleasing to my discerning, hypercritical eye.
After spending this much money, believe me, I would be tearing this monitor apart if there were any noticeable defects. With mine, there are none apart from the slight backlight bleed and IPS glow that seem to be all but impossible to avoid with most of these types of screens. Both of these things are minimal and slight and don't interfere with any use of the screen, including dark scene gaming.
Colors on this IPS panel are very vivid and pop right off the screen like an unwanted AnandTech ad banner. If you aren't accustomed to a panel of this quality, you will suddenly take notice. After calibrating with a Spyder 5 Express, the image is stunning enough to be declared absurd, much like this mini-review.
The curvature is just enough to, as previously mentioned, feel as if though its hugging your face. I came up with that and there is no better description, so stop looking for one. The curve adds a special experiential aspect to the panel that you don't get with standard flat screens, yet its subtle enough to provide this benefit without annoying you, unlike how the author of this review has already done.
The 100hz response time is a good compromise between the limits of current display technology and the blazing fast 16:9 screens already in circulation. Not much is to be missed by the lack of those additional 44hz, and the added resolution and additional field of view do far more than make up for any slight loss in perceived responsiveness.
If you are a noob, you will likely not be reading this amazing review, but you very well may benefit from the digital crosshair feature provided by this monitor. The crosshairs are vivid and bright and 4 options are provided, differing in color and crosshair design. This is a fun feature to have, but their inclusion wasn't necessary on a monitor like this. This monitor is reserved for skilled digital assassins, such as myself, but if you are coming from consoles or a lesser skill level, then perhaps the crosshairs will serve as a tool during your transition into real gaming.
Other nice features include an FPS counter which is displayed on screen, and I find that to be real nice actually. I like being able to see my FPS without having to muck about with any software features. This is done on a monitor hardware level.
The user interface is marvelous with an easy to use and absurdly intuitive joystick hidden behind the right edge of the display. Its so easy a caveman could actually do this.
The build quality of the unit is impeccable, absolutely stunning. The stand is finely crafted and as solid as could be, and the design and aesthetic are pure power, gut punching amazing. They cater to the gamer, but they do it with class. There is nothing cheesy or cheap about the marketing or design of this unit. "If Moonbogg likes it, you know it must be good". Stick that in your sig and keep it there.
Lets not forget to mention Gsync, the subtle but very nice feature that we all know and love. The operating range here is from 30fps to 100fps, and that's how it should be. It covers the full usable range of the panels refresh rate, eliminating tearing which helps keep you on target.
This panel has the complete package of what is awesome in a monitor, and has nothing that isn't. The benefits of gaming in the 21:9 aspect ratio are increased awareness to your left and right, increased immersion and added peripheral vision. Not to mention it just looks completely bad assed. Combine the aspect ratio with the 3440x1440 resolution and all the things above, and you have the best damn gaming monitor in existence.
So, is it really worth the 1300 dead American presidents before taxes? You damn well better believe it is.
If ever there was a time for a member of the PC Master Race to brag about anything, its upon the acquisition of this monitor. Its not so much a monitor as it is a wide, horizontal window into heaven from which God himself smiles upon you and hugs your face with the angelic curvature of this beautiful beast.
Despite its absurd width and gargantuan surface area, the color uniformity of this panel is better than my last monitor, the Acer XB270HU, not to mention every one of its 4.95+ million pixels are fully functioning. Maybe I hit the panel jackpot and got lucky, but I got what I got. This panel is even and uniform when displaying colors which are prone to banding and revealing backlight uniformity issues, none of which are easily detectable on this lovely charm. From solid white, to light gray and light blue, this panel is strikingly uniform and is quite pleasing to my discerning, hypercritical eye.
After spending this much money, believe me, I would be tearing this monitor apart if there were any noticeable defects. With mine, there are none apart from the slight backlight bleed and IPS glow that seem to be all but impossible to avoid with most of these types of screens. Both of these things are minimal and slight and don't interfere with any use of the screen, including dark scene gaming.
Colors on this IPS panel are very vivid and pop right off the screen like an unwanted AnandTech ad banner. If you aren't accustomed to a panel of this quality, you will suddenly take notice. After calibrating with a Spyder 5 Express, the image is stunning enough to be declared absurd, much like this mini-review.
The curvature is just enough to, as previously mentioned, feel as if though its hugging your face. I came up with that and there is no better description, so stop looking for one. The curve adds a special experiential aspect to the panel that you don't get with standard flat screens, yet its subtle enough to provide this benefit without annoying you, unlike how the author of this review has already done.
The 100hz response time is a good compromise between the limits of current display technology and the blazing fast 16:9 screens already in circulation. Not much is to be missed by the lack of those additional 44hz, and the added resolution and additional field of view do far more than make up for any slight loss in perceived responsiveness.
If you are a noob, you will likely not be reading this amazing review, but you very well may benefit from the digital crosshair feature provided by this monitor. The crosshairs are vivid and bright and 4 options are provided, differing in color and crosshair design. This is a fun feature to have, but their inclusion wasn't necessary on a monitor like this. This monitor is reserved for skilled digital assassins, such as myself, but if you are coming from consoles or a lesser skill level, then perhaps the crosshairs will serve as a tool during your transition into real gaming.
Other nice features include an FPS counter which is displayed on screen, and I find that to be real nice actually. I like being able to see my FPS without having to muck about with any software features. This is done on a monitor hardware level.
The user interface is marvelous with an easy to use and absurdly intuitive joystick hidden behind the right edge of the display. Its so easy a caveman could actually do this.
The build quality of the unit is impeccable, absolutely stunning. The stand is finely crafted and as solid as could be, and the design and aesthetic are pure power, gut punching amazing. They cater to the gamer, but they do it with class. There is nothing cheesy or cheap about the marketing or design of this unit. "If Moonbogg likes it, you know it must be good". Stick that in your sig and keep it there.
Lets not forget to mention Gsync, the subtle but very nice feature that we all know and love. The operating range here is from 30fps to 100fps, and that's how it should be. It covers the full usable range of the panels refresh rate, eliminating tearing which helps keep you on target.
This panel has the complete package of what is awesome in a monitor, and has nothing that isn't. The benefits of gaming in the 21:9 aspect ratio are increased awareness to your left and right, increased immersion and added peripheral vision. Not to mention it just looks completely bad assed. Combine the aspect ratio with the 3440x1440 resolution and all the things above, and you have the best damn gaming monitor in existence.
So, is it really worth the 1300 dead American presidents before taxes? You damn well better believe it is.
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