LG 29UM65 29" 21:9 UltraWide IPS LCD Monitor
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2015-05-07
·
1,533 words · ~7 min read
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for the ultimate no compromises compact gaming pc look no further than the
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obsidian series 250d from Corsair click now to learn more
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i knew this video was going to be a challenge i knew that having come from
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the thousand dollar plus lg 34 um 95
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i was gonna have a hard time being quite as positive about its little brother the
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29 um 65. a monitor that currently retails for about a third of the price
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and one that has a form factor that i just never really found very compelling
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but first an overview the 29 um 65 is an ultra wide 21 by 9 29 in monitor from lg
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that runs a resolution that lg calls ultra wide full hd but i think it's
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actually faster to say 2560 by 1080. it features a thin bezel a couple of
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functional if unexciting speakers a joystick control knob for navigating the
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on-screen display and a glossy plastic stand that unfortunately has only two
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height positions that you need a screwdriver to adjust neither of which i
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really found high enough but you can just kind of put it on a box like what i did if you really want to under its very
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satisfactory hard anti-glare coating is an 8-bit ips panel for solid color
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performance and superior wide viewing angle performance something that's a
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must since just looking at the thing straight on you're going to be looking
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at the edges from a bit of an angle the monitor features a fairly average five
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millisecond greater gray response time rating that despite being the same as
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the um 95 which we looked at recently feels very noticeably snappier which
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would indicate that this monitor is going to have low input lag and be a
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gamer's delight i've got an input lag tester on order from leo bodner but it's
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not here yet so in the meantime i decided to do a side-by-side comparison
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against the pb278q from ASUS a monitor with that fairly average input lag we
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shot at 240 frames per second and it looks like my subjective observations
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were correct with each frame equivalent to about four milliseconds the
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difference you're seeing here is between 16 to 20 milliseconds or equivalent to
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the action reaching your eyes a full frame sooner than the pb a very solid
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result motion blur is also subjectively a strong point with it being about as
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good as i could expect for an ips panel feature-wise it's got inputs galore with
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dual link dvi two HDMI inputs displayport and an audio in that can
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either run the two onboard speakers or pass through to the headphone out jack
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these inputs support a side-by-side mode that would let you run two devices at
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the same time like like a desktop and a notebook as if you've got two 5x4
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monitors a feature i don't personally find that useful but i'm sure for
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someone that will be a huge deal a more practical use of the extra horizontal
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space for me is enabled by lg's screen split utility it's available on Windows
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and mac and allows you to split your Windows or your screen up a number of
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different ways it actually works a lot better than i expected but the execution
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needs maybe two to three more software revisions and some more customization
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options before i'd say it's ready to take on the likes of display fusion for
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example i found the most useful modes for me were the three screen left and
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three screen balanced four screen was just too small to be useful with a mere
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1280 by 540 resolution per window and two screen split can be replaced easily
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by just using arrow snap within Windows on the subject of resolution though
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let's get into why i never really cared
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for 29-inch 21x9 ultrawide monitors a
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form factor that some others notably austin evans in his gaming setup video
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where he talks about how great it is for widescreen movies and games really like
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i guess a big part of it is that it's really not as big as it sounds the
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further you get from a one to one square
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aspect ratio the smaller the screen area
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is relative to the diagonal monitor size this 29 inch monitor is actually smaller
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than a 27 inch 16 by 9 and only about 12
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bigger than a 24 inch 16 by 10 a size
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and aspect ratio that i always really liked with that said i am aware of the
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advantages movies that are shot in 2.39 by one cinematic aspect ratio can be
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watched without black bars and the advantage for gaming with a wider field
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of view without bezels getting in the way is obvious and in fact gaming is one
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of the strongest arguments i can make for getting this monitor it's only about
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33 more difficult to drive than a single 1080p monitor so you won't be spending a
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fortune on your graphics card and it delivers a very different gaming
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experience in supported games which of course brings up the usual
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issues that crop up every time we throw a new resolution at the gaming industry
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and that's that many games will not run at 2560 by 1080 without a little bit of
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tinkering the first bit of good news though is that if you need some help
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figuring out if your games will work at all or getting your games running check
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out widescreen gaming forum they've helped me out a couple of times in the past and the next bit of good news is
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that because the vertical resolution is 1080 in games that just flat out won't
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run in ultra wide you can play at 1920 by 1080 with black bars along the sides
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without any weird interpolation or other visual anomalies your monitor will be
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equivalent to about a 23-inch 1080p monitor when it's run this way gaming
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aside the Windows modern ui and steam bic picture are a couple of newer ui
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styles that can benefit in a big way for more horizontal space although valve has
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yet to add support for 21 by 9 resolutions and i'm also acutely aware
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of the productivity argument that it's basically equivalent to two 17-inch 5x4
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monitors with a 1280 by 1080 resolution each making it great for multitasking
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it's just that i didn't find that
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productivity was earth-shatteringly different enough to
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justify the price premium the way that i did on the larger um 95. i never found
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1080 vertical pixels to be enough and giving me the option to either stretch
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things out even wider or narrow them even further so i feel like it's 2007
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again and i'm working on a couple of 17-inch lcds are a couple of options
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that i just don't find that appealing for just over 350 or so i can get two
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23-inch 1080p monitors if productivity is a focus for me
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but that's all subjective and i know a lot of people disagree with me so with
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that out of the way let's get down to the bottom line
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since the price of the 34 um 95 with its
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higher resolution higher pixel density and larger size makes it completely out
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of reach for gamers and pretty much everyone else for now
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now that i've actually used one of these instead of just seeing them briefly at
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trade shows would i recommend a 29-inch
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21x9 monitor as a less expensive substitute for productivity the answer
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is no but for gaming or a mixture of the two actually yes i would some people
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don't mind bezels and some people think that the 48 by 9 aspect ratio of an
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ifinity setup is just dandy i am not one of either of those types of people and
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even though i could get three 23-inch 1080p monitors for the price of one of
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these which would be better for productivity i prefer the single monitor
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experience for gaming and the comparatively smaller amount of hassle
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that comes from dealing with one monitor running a weird resolution versus three
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spanned monitors running a weird resolution thank you for watching guys the link for
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