I need to bring a monitor to Whale Land, but I don't want to tear apart my desk
to take my beloved AW 3225QF.
What am I gonna do? [sighs] Maybe there's a sale on. What do
I actually need to game? 120 Hz refresh
rate is fast enough. And a smaller display is easier to move. IPS has
decent motion clarity. That's it. Wow.
And for only 70 freedom bucks, what have I got to lose?
Wo. And here it is. I actually did go to
the land with this puppy and it was great. Partly in thanks to this little
monitor that could. [music] And that's thanks to how much display
tech has advanced over these last few years. When you can get a proper nice
gaming OLED for around $500 or $600, you
better believe the older gear is out there priced to sell. And while I can't
guarantee that every model is going to be a winner like this one, I think the
results for this little guy are going to surprise you. I've got absolutely zero
buyer remorse because I followed a short list of what I consider to be musthaves
[music] when shopping for a budget gaming monitor. You might know me as a man who
owns a monitor, but now I own two. And [music] I'm here to convince you to not
overspend on your next display. At least if you don't have to. Instead, save your
money for our sponsor, Nexigo. Their Black Friday sale is going on now. So,
if you're in need for a new webcam, a projector, or some gaming accessories,
now is the time. Grab yours in the link in the description.
>> [music]
>> I know what you're probably thinking. Plof, you spoiled son of a Stop
with the act. But it's true. In part because of must-have number one, the
refresh rate. 60 or even 75 hertz. Way
too low. We want the 120 that's on this box.
What? Wow. Maybe it's not. Yeah, maybe it's not actually listed on the box.
Whatever it was on the spec page on the monitor uh section of Best Buy, and so I
know it's 120 Hz. Whether you're gaming or working, 120 Hz feels great thanks to
massively reduced latency. And while that can be reduced further with a
higher refresh rate, the returns start to diminish quickly. 120 Hz is also
great for modern consoles, and at the resolution we'll be using, they won't
have to worry about poor performance. Boom. head shot. Look, 1080p is
definitely a compromise, but at 24 in, we're still getting over 90 pixels per
inch. That's under the desired 100 threshold, but our price is under that
threshold as well. A bigger screen would be nice, but you can always scooch it
towards you or kind of scoot yourself towards it. And setup was a breeze. I've
brought a 27in LED monitor to a land before, and while that was nowhere near
as difficult as moving a CRT, this thing took up hardly any desk real estate. and
it was still easy to see over the top when I wanted to talk to someone on the
other side of the table. The last item on my checklist is panel type. I dream
the dream that someday OLED will be obtainable for the sub $100 mark, but
today it's not that day. However, IPS
still has solid motion clarity while maintaining decent color accuracy and
viewing angles. Higherend VA panels are
fine, but my experience with them on the lower end has been a smeary mess. And
TN, the clearest of the trio, just doesn't pop like IPS or VA do. I wanted
a jack of all trades. And this is it. Do
you think anyone's going to hate it? >> Let's go. What are we testing? But am I
talking about the the monitor or the computer? >> The whole thing.
>> The whole thing. Okay. It looks amazing. Looks amazing. Looks really smooth. Oh,
there was a kitchen. It's not a like chicken. >> I think everything's fine. Just I've
never really played Counter-Strike, but everything feels smooth and looks fine
enough. >> Uh, should I be expecting lag spikes or
>> Well, it feels like really high frame rate, that's for sure. Oh, I just got a head shot. [laughter]
And I've never played these games before. Um, this is the most okay
monitor I've ever seen. This is sort of comparable to the monitor that I had
before I got my upgrade. You can watch that uh if you'd like. I own a monitor
now, too. >> Apparently, that was a head shot, but that was his chest. But okay.
>> Oh, they they're bots, right? I'm not that good. >> Yeah, they're bots. >> Okay. Yeah, I'm not that I'm not that
good. [laughter] >> Like, the colors are fine on it, but I
wouldn't call it sp Oh god, I'm terrible at Why are you getting me to play this?
>> By my standards, I can see myself using
this. >> This is a really cheap monitor, right? >> Yeah. The monitor's $70.
>> Oh, okay. >> LG. >> Yeah.
>> Really? It looks pretty good, I got to say. Like, what's the refresh rate? It
feels really smooth. >> 120 Hz. >> 120 Hz. Okay, this has got to be 1080p.
>> 1080p. >> But solid viewing angles,
>> right, >> dude? I could get like 1 2 3 4 5 six of
them, man. [laughter] >> Where'd you get that sick shirt?
>> I got this sick shirt from the glitch collection at ltstore.com.
Get yours today. >> What surprised me the most was just how color accurate the monitor is in SDR.
It's not perfect, but with 99% coverage of sRGB, it's able to achieve an average
delta E2000 of just 3.5. Great for
professional creators. Maybe not, but that's more than accurate enough for
damn near anyone to not only game on this thing, but to watch content on it,
too. It's also got almost zero processing latency with our measurements
being just a bit above the theoretical perfect while refreshing at 120 Hz. And
while the motion clarity isn't amazing, it's not awful with greater gray
response time averaging just 6.6 milliseconds with a max under 13. I've
seen worse on a $30,000 TV. If that's
not fast enough for you, this does support black frame insertion or BFI
through its 1 millisecond motion blur reduction setting, cutting our average
response time nearly in half. For my use
case, and I think for most people out there trying to game on a budget,
there's not much more you need. It's a solid monitor for gaming in a dark room,
but there are some flaws. I don't mind
the lack of brightness. 350 nits is more than acceptable in a dimly lit land
event, but uh put this thing near a living room window though, and you're
going to want to invest in some curtains for that midday sun. Also, thanks to
that low brightness and edge lighting instead of a set of full array local
dimming zones, this thing sucks when it comes to HDR. Frankly, it shouldn't even
get the HDR10 rating, let alone have it in the name on LG's website. But don't
worry, because aside from our poor HDR experience, finding a model with better
features, refresh rate, size, and resolution is actually pretty easy and
surprisingly affordable if you're not gunning for the latest and greatest
panel tech. Let me show you. This 27in
1440p 180 Hz Acer model looks great on
paper and only costs 160 bucks now that it's a couple years old. Next step,
quick review check. The lab doesn't have a monitor section yet, so for now, we'll
let ratings tell us if this is trash or not. However, I kind of stand by IPS in
general and would probably only look deeper than the storefront reviews if
it's a higherend purchase or a VA panel.
past the coveted 1440p 27in range. I
personally think that increasing the resolution or size is a lot of
diminishing returns real fast. Unless you're talking about going ultrawide,
which is a totally valid but different bag of worms entirely. Once you're at
that 1440p 27in target, I think it's
better to spring for proper HDR, which we'll get to shortly. In terms of
refresh rate, 120 Hz already felt good.
165 is nicer, but realistically 240 Hz
and above is something many of you will only notice in first person shooters, if
you can tell at all. On a strict budget, I wouldn't move past this price point,
as we're already paying more than double for some nice to haves compared to the
Goat here. If you've got a few more coins in your piggy bank, some miniLEDD
monitors have fallen below the $300 price point. This AOC model is going for
260 right now. And if you can afford it,
OLED is incredible and has hit the $5 or
$600 price point many of us have been dreaming about. This AOC model looks
pretty good. Or get the Dell Alienware model with similar specs for 550 if you
trust them more. Personally, I think if you can wait even a few more months to
save, OLED's incredible HDR performance
with per pixel dimming zones giving us counts in the millions is worth the
wait. Yeah, it's twice the price, but
we're getting more zones than our AOC model over here to help with bloom and
near perfect motion pixel response times
to keep your screen clear and up to speed in Battlefield 6 or whatever other
modern shooter you're playing. But maybe you're like me, a gamer with no kids and
three money buying some of the best displays on the market now for hundreds
instead of thousands. Well, okay. If you
want an oddity like the Samsung Arc, uh
you'll be spending more than hundreds, but you get the point. You've got
options, people, many of which we'll have linked in the video description
below. Tandem OLED is here driving down prices. Cutie OLED still looks
incredible, and who knows what will come out next. Until then, I'm going to keep
bringing the little LG that could to Whale Land, and I'm not going to spend a
single second of my time thinking, "Wow, I wish the monitor looked better."
because honestly, it looks almost as good as our sponsor, Nexigo. If you're
looking to save some money on upgrades for your entertainment center, it's time
to check out Nexigo's Black Friday sale. Snag yourself a new projector like the
Aurora Pro Mark II, which comes with a free 100in screen. Maybe you want a more
discreet option like the Nova Mini that comes with a free gimbal stand. Pack it
into your bag and you've got a projector on the go. Their NS-32 wireless
controller is perfect for your Switch. It's only $29.99 and it comes in a
variety of patterns and colors. or grab mom and dad a dash cam for their holiday
season. Check out their deals before they're next to gone. See what I did
there? Use our link in the description to see all of the great deals Nexigo has for their Black Friday sale. Thanks for
watching. If you like this video, maybe watch the one where we fixed my old
budget monitor. It worked great for a little while. Uh then I took it to a
land and I guess it just jostled around a bit too much in my car on the way
there [laughter] and it broke. It's not always fixed forever. Sometimes you're
just extending a lifespan.