20 Best Cheap Gaming Monitor 144Hz (2023 Updated)

I had upgraded from the LG 34UC79G, which is a 1080 ultrawide, to the LG 34GN850, which is a 1440 ultrawide, early this year but I found the screen too small for the increase in resolution when I wasn’t gaming, given the increased spacing between it and me on the new desk, so I upgraded again to the 38GN950, which is a 1600 ultrawide, and it’s a lot better.

At 100% font size in Windows the text isn’t too small, and I don’t have the scaling problems when using RDC to older Windows systems, so it is a pleasure to use when I’m working. It’s a lot easier to write code when you don’t have to keep scrolling up and down to see the whole function, and viewing 3 pages across when writing documentation allows me to see the flow better, but it really comes into it’s own when I’m gaming.

The main thing I noticed was the colours. They are much more vibrant. The red mushrooms in Valheim really pop, and paired with my 6900 XT, running games like Farcry 6, Icarus, Horizon Zero Dawn, and Cyberpunk 2077 in high settings makes them look gorgeous without impacting my FPS.

The rear sphere RGB lighting, when set up to dynamically change based on the screen colours, works very well with my Logitech G560 speakers, which are set up to do the same thing, washing the rear wall with colour and blurring the usual hard edge if you’re not gaming in the dark.

One problem is that LG don’t have Windows drivers for this monitor yet, so it’ll show up as Generic PnP. The other downside, if it could be considered that, is the 3840×1600 resolution. It’s not a common standard as it fits between 1440 and 4K.

This may mean that games don’t support it, although I’ve not seen that so far.

I like how this monitor looks, and the thin bezel around the edge with no logos is great. However, there are a couple issues that drive me crazy and make me regret my purchase: 1. There is no way to disable the flashing of the LED light ring on the back of the monitor, which flashes at full brightness EVERY time the monitor is turned on or receives a new video signal, even if the light setting is set to off.

It’s super annoying. 2. This monitor does not support DisplayPort / HDMI Deep Sleep mode. This feature was advertised in the user manual, but did not appear in the on screen menu. When I contacted LG support, they republished the user manual removing the mention of this feature, and then denied that they ever change their user manuals, even though the last updated date on their website had changed.

3. The combination of the above issues means that when connected to my Razer Blade 15″ Advanced gaming laptop, the monitor wakes up every 2-3 minutes, even though the laptop is not outputting a video signal because the laptop is not in use and the display has been turned off by the OS.

When this happens, the LG monitor flashes the light ring at full brightness, searches for a video signal, can’t find one, and goes back to low power mode. This also causes a mysterious USB device in the monitor to be detected by Windows and then disconnect again, which causes USB connect/disconnect sound alerts.

These annoying sounds and obnoxiously bright light shows repeats every 2-3 minutes all night ad nauseum if I ever forget to turn off the monitor before I go to bed. I contacted LG support multiple times, and they have been unable to do anything to resolve any of these issues.

For the price I paid, I would expect this monitor to “just work” and not have these crazymaking quality of life issues that drive me bonkers. I want to love it, but I can’t without these issues being fixed.

It took me at least 3 months to decide on a monitor that would have all the features I wanted! Top 2 features: 4k and high refresh rates: PS5 confirmed 4k @ 120hz – HDMI Macbook Pro (M1 Pro) confirmed 4k @ 144hz – Display Port Windows PC confirmed 4k @ 60hz (non-gaming laptop) – HDMI The 27GP950-B was the all-in-one solution for my gaming, video/photo editing, and my 9 to 5 job.

The colors on the monitor looks great for my Macbook Pro. I was finally able to unlock the visual potential of my PS5. I thought the scaling on a 4k screen would be too small or awkward for my work but it turns out I no longer need a second monitor due to all the desktop space with the 4k resolution.

The settings menu is a little tedious to navigate for selecting inputs and changing other settings, but it’s not a big deal. It was my fault for assuming the signal input would automatically select an input.

If this feature is available then I haven’t done enough homework for this monitor. This model was probably not ideal for editing but it takes care of my other needs for multiple devices. It would have been very nice to have USB-C as an input option for video.

The price was on the higher side but it beats purchasing a TV with HDMI 2. 1 for my PS5 PLUS a compatible 4k 144hz monitor for my macbook pro. I had a lot to consider when I was weighing out the pros and cons comparing different options.

Overall, I am completely satisfied with my purchase. Thank you LG!.

I bought this monitor in June and have had nothing but problems with it. 1. It doesn’t auto detect your display port version, you have to set it on the monitor to match your GPU, not the end of the world, but when you go into Windows and notice that its not getting the correct resolutions or refresh rates and can’t figure out why right away.

It’s annoying. Also, swapping the monitors Display Port version when your PC is on. crashes your machine. 2. There’s no normal standby mode. When your PC goes to screen saver mode, usually your screens will enter standby after a short time and upon resume, everything is as you left it.

Not with this screen. It seems to disconnect and all your windows shift over to your decent screen. Very annoying. 3. I’ve also had an issue with “cold booting” the screen and having a split/tear down the middle of the screen.

4. I’ve also had the black screen issue. The monitor has been back to LG for repairs, this took over a month and the issue was not resolved. I’d avoid buying this screen completely, especially for the price it is.

I’ve had nothing but issues. LG customer support via social media or webform/email is totally useless. If you have issues, PHONE THEM or you get nowhere at all. At this point, i want to return the screen in full and get something else.

If it worked as advertised and had some BASIC user features that most monitors have been doing for years. this would be an amazing product. as it stands, its not fit for purpose.

This monitor is perfect for the casual gamer who is operating on a budget. The 27G2 has amazing gaming performance, comes with freesync and adaptivesync (meaning it connects with all graphics cards) and is very affordable.

I’ve purchased two and it works beautifully on a monitor arm as a dual monitor setup. Some things to consider before purchasing thought. It does not have any USB ports, lacks features you will find in more expensive monitors and the monitor setup buttons on are horribly designed and will test your patience.

Overall though, an amazing monitor! Highly recommended.

If you want a cleaner image spend the extra $100 for a monitor with higher resolution. If you just want a plain clean gaming experience with great colours, loads of diffferent options for different things and generally an all round great monitor this is perfect.

I bought this monitor initially for a friend and ended up getting one for myself I loved it so much.

I was a little wary because there was only one review, but the review was good so I just hoped for the best. But it works great, feels good quality, the visuals are high quality. so definitely a good purchase for a first time gamer like myself.

Only concerns are it says its 144Hz but its not, maybe theres a way to change that but Im not sure, the settings are a little bit confusing. Also the buttons are flat so its a bit hard to find and push down sometimes.

I love this monitor but also hate it. I guess it would be easier to deal with it’s quirks if the monitor wasn’t so expensive. What I love. The screen looks great. Vibrant colors. High refresh rate. 4K.

HDMI 2. 1 What I hate. The monitor is slow to turn on. There wasn’t a huge issue until I upgraded my ITX build. Z390-i/9900k to Z590-i/11900k. Now I do not see the boot logo and cannot get into the bios using the DisplayPort connection.

The only workaround is using an HDMI port with the onboard iGPU. Next. there is a crazy bloom effect. The monitor tries to achieve a deep black by turning off the back lighting in zones. So what happens is when the screen is black except for a mouse curser.

You get this black screen except for where the mouse is. In zone where the mouse in there is a grey streak of lighting on an others wise black screen.

I am yet to test it for gaming. I bought it for dual purpose. for day to day usage of professional work. And secondary for gaming. For day to day usage – following options are the ones I explored1) Can set gamma emission to 2.

5, it helps in reducing eye fatigue2) windows doesn’t support its high resolution. But Mac book supports it’s full resolution. 3) Tilt (for ergo positions) are good. Cons :1) audio is not great , quality doesn’t even match to basic laptop, so external audio setup is must.

I will more reviews later when I use it for gaming, desparately waiting for PS5.

I ordered this monitor to go with a new Alienware laptop that I won’t be getting for several weeks yet. However, I was able to hook it up to my old (2014) Dell Inspiron laptop and try it out. Although my old laptop doesn’t have the graphics processing power to really make this monitor shine, I could still get a good feel for the quality of the product.

The text displayed on the monitor is nice and crisp and easy to read. The colors are vibrant, and the black colors really look black (rather than dark gray). The monitor stand is nice an solid. The monitor has 2 HDMI ports, a Display Port, and a headphone output port.

The monitor comes with both an HDMI cable and a Display Port cable. This is a somewhat older model of gaming monitor, and so it won’t be quite as impressive as some newer and more expensive models. But if you’re not too concerned with that, this is definitely a good buy.

So far I am pretty pleased with my purchase. Can’t wait to try it out on some games once I get my Alienware x17 R1 laptop.

I was using a 4k 32″ Dell U3219Q monitor for work, which has an excellent picture but was fixed 60Hz. I knew I couldn’t go down in panel size or resolution once I experienced that, but I was worried about the compromise in picture quality in going for a 144Hx VRR panel.

I viewed both panels side by side with a duplicated display for comparison. The out the box settings weren’t great, the picture was way too warm and dim, but after a few hours trying out different settings I was able to get the colours to better than what I was had on the Dell.

Red was reduced to 92% and Green to 86%, and brightness increased to 90%. There are also six colour channels and I made some minor changes to hues and saturation in some of those but that’s a personal preference.

The only issue is white text on a black screen isn’t as white and crisp as it is on the Dell, the whites aren’t quite bright enough. and nothing I tried could fix that. Also sharpness could be very slightly better, but only noticeable when having the two screens side by side.

It’s the compromise that has to be made at this kind of price point. The VRR works well with my Nvidia 30 series GPU, no complaints there, though apparently it doesn’t work below 48Hz. I don’t tend to touch the other settings, though I’ve turned Overdrive off.

I noticed in MS Flight Sim there was massive ghosting on the clouds. It mostly disappears when I set it to Picture Quality, but I don’t play superfast games so I just switched it off completely. Build quality is good, but the large v-shaped feet are bigger than they need to be, preventing you from getting the keyboard as close I would like.

The rough plastic effect gives it a bit of a cheaper fill, smooth would have been better. Also the ‘chin’ at the bottom of the panel is too large, it would have been better if they’d used the same slim bezel at the sides and top.

Otherwise the design is nice and simple, no unnecessary fancy lights or features at the back. The OSD has a comprehensive set of functions such as the six channel adjustments mentioned above, though this is not available in all modes, so I used one of the three Custom modes for my preferred settings.

The joystick at the back of the panel can get a bit tiring to use if you’re spending more than a few seconds making adjustments, which is where the OSD Sidekick software is useful. You’ll also need that to update the firmware.

Note, if you want to use the KVM I believe you can only do this with a laptop that supports video and peripheral signal via a USB-C cable, like a Macbook Pro, and you’ll need a Thunderbolt cable to do this, and these are not cheap.

A normal USB-C charging cable won’t work.

TL;DR: Great monitor, problems with multi-monitor setup and nVidia graphics card/drivers (probably not the monitor’s fault) This is truly one of the best 4K monitors on the market right now, while also being one of the most affordable.

The picture quality and color accuracy are outstanding and my panel had almost no backlight bleed (that I could notice anyway). The KVM is helpful for anyone trying to add more than one device. The high refresh paired with a powerful graphics card allows you to experience high refresh rate gaming in 4K, but it comes with a huge caveat that ended up leading me to return the monitor.

To get that high refresh rate, both the DisplayPort and HDMI ports require Display Stream Compression (DSC) and there is a known issue with nVidia’s drivers where there are issues having multiple displays if any of them use DSC.

This has led to me getting random black screens that last a few seconds every time I’m on the computer. I’m not sure if AMD cards suffer the same sort of issues and from what I saw online single-monitor setups don’t have as many issues (if any).

Some people have reported that you can also turn down color settings and/or lower your refresh rate to keep the display bandwidth under the point where DSC gets enabled. However, that didn’t work for me.

If Gigabyte had gone with a full-bandwidth HDMI 2. 1 port instead of relying on DSC, it would be a non-issue because I could still use that port without DSC kicking in. Hopefully they implement it in the next generation.

Due to Best Buy’s amazing return policy, the best thing for you to do is get this and see if you like it in person with your set-up. Personally, it checked all my boxes and sated my want for a monitor that could output all that my PS5 could muster.

Now the one complaint I do have. There is 1 dead pixel that I did not notice until about a month after I bought it. I will say though, I havent noticed it again since the day I saw it. but still for 700 OOD, I would have expected something like that to have been caught by any competant QA at Gigabyte.

Unfortunately, it seems to be somewhat common and getting a perfect panel is something of a lottery. That said, if it has 3 or more dead pixels, your eligible for a replacement through Best Buy’s protection plan (which I highly recommend for something like this monitor), so I’m not upset about it.

I do get why some people would be pretty ticked off though, as some people WILL notice it everytime they look at the screen. All in all, get this monitor for gaming, you will not regret it BUT check for dead pixels the second it is plugged in on an all white/black/ and colored background.

If it passes, you won! If not, get an exchange until Gigabyte finally knocks the dust off their QA department and dead pixels aren’t the norm.

This monitor has great looking colors as expected from an IPS display (not the most accurate but that’s not expected at this price) and the 144hz refresh rate looks really smooth. It’s a big step up from the 75hz refresh rate my previous monitor had.

This monitor can get brighter and darker than the average IPS monitor. This monitor has HDR, but I wouldn’t recommend turning it on as it ruins the contrast, especially since IPS monitors don’t have the best contrast in general.

The included stand is pretty decent. It feels very sturdy and it isn’t difficult to adjust, though it would’ve been nicer if it could go lower and swivel around. One thing that caused me concern initially was the contrast level.

The blacks looked very bright, more like if they were dark gray, and it made the display look muted. Of course I don’t expect TV or VA display levels of contrast from an IPS display, but it looked pretty bad compared to my previous IPS monitor.

Both my old and this monitor are rated at the same 1000:1 contrast ratio, and even though there are always variances in the contrast levels between every monitor, it looked especially bad. However, after turning down the Black Stabilizer setting in the OSD (On-Screen Display), the contrast is good now and everything looks more vibrant.

One thing that is actually bad about the monitor is the audio jack. It sounds very low quality and tinny using both headphones and speakers. There is also a lot of idle noise when you aren’t listening to anything.

If it’s important for you to connect headphones/speakers to the monitor so you can use them for multiple PC/console/other devices, I don’t recommend getting this monitor. For me it was not too important, which is why I only docked a single star.

Overall, the monitor is great minus the audio capabilities.

THE 32GN650-B is a a very bad VA panel. Whilst this monitor is good for gaming, nice and smooth, it should not be used for anything else. I do get flickering though? First of all, the contrast and sharpness are missing compared to other AMVA panels.

For example the pb328q is superb compared to this monitor. I have them side by side. AMVA colors and contrast is so superior. This monitor cannot get anywhere close to SRGB, Despite rtings saying it’s color accurate.

I cannot duplicate this at all. I get nowhere REMOTELY close. I have two other 32″ LG monitors here too. There is SOME good news. The 32QN650-B is not a gaming monitor, it only runs 75 hz. It is much more color correct than this VA panel.

The 32QN650-B also has acceptable contrast for an IPS monitor. Unfortunately it has some light bleed coming out from the bottom right corner. If you do not mind gaming at 75 hz, you should consider the 32QN650-B.

It’s affordable and colors are really precise. Then there’s the nano 32″ IPS monitor, which is extremely smooth for gaming 32GP83B-B. AUS. This monitor is extremely smooth for gaming and has no flicker.

The 32GP83B-B. AUS has spot on color accuracy, and the contrast is not bad at all compared to the AMVA panel. The downfall is that the 32GP83B-B. AUS has even more of a light bleed from the bottom right hand corner than the 32QN650-B.

So what’s the moral of the story here? You either stick to 75 MHz and get superb color accuracy, but if you want 144 MHz or 165 MHz AND have good color accuracy, you will have to accept the light bleed.

Since 2013 I have not yet found a 32″ monitor that can beat the Asus pb328q in color and contrast. I did want a higher refresh rate but I guess 75 MHz will have to do. For now I will keep the 32QN650-B, despite the light bleed.

I guess there are too many fake reviews on the internet these days. Bought this monitor yesterday from the store after seeing all the reviews. To my surprise, the height adjustment was totally pointless.

The monitor has a clearance of atlest 5-6 inches from the desk at the lowest height which makes it very difficult to view the screen as it is way above my head while I am seated. I can’t believe no body has pointed this out in the reviews.

If you are short like me 5 feet-8 inches, you have to be sitting quite high in order to be able to view the screen comfortably. I got a headache from looking up constantly on the screen. I like the monitor other wise, its a great sharp screen with great brightness and colors.

Sadly, I will be returing it tomorrow and picking up an AOC 24G2 instead.

Great monitor, bought two of them refurbished. The max refresh rate is 165hz and they’re buttery smooth. The colors look great. The included stands are very easy to put together and are very convenient.

You can rotate them 360 degrees or move them up and down very easily, and you can also rotate the monitors themselves 90 degrees either way for vertical use. These monitors are a steal considering what I paid for them refurbished, and even at the brand new price, I think that they are good bang for the buck.

The menu is also very easy to navigate, much more so than other monitors I’ve used in the past, and there are a lot of convenient features in the menu. They also go quite dim if you’re like me and like your monitors dim.

The only negative I can think of is that per my calculations, the PPI of the screen is about 92. This screen size is the biggest I would go for a 1080p monitor, and if you sit close to your monitor (less than a couple feet away), you can see the pixels.

That said, at normal viewing distance, it looks absolutely fine. Definitely would recommend these monitors.

I love this monitor, I personally believe it’s the best gaming monitor out there by far. Gaming, colors, games for high speed motion and all that kind of stuff it’s by far the best gaming monitor out there for racing games, first person shooter games, as well as RPG games, also amazingly great quality for HDR titles and Action and adventure games.

The refresh rate is extremely good as well as the response time for racing games and motion blur and everything else. I was highly shocked as to how well the games ran on the monitor compared to some others that I have tried as well as the LG series monitors which were also highly recommended by employees as well as other fellow gamers inside and outside of the store’s location.

But I personally believe the Acer Predator monitor was highly recommended for every aspect of gaming whether it be for First Person Shooters, RPG games, Racing titles, as well as whatever titles may be out there in the gaming world.

The specifications of the monitor is highly adjustable, ease of use is surprisingly good and easy to maneuver around the different title sceens or looking to figure out the best options for gaming and whatever options are best for the different games out there.

Especially if you’ve got an OLED TV you will be highly shocked by the colors the deep deep blacks as well as the monitors settings and the options menu for each game played is easy to maneuver throughout.

I’ve also noticed you can easily adjust the monitors brightness and volume as well as the input and menu options with a simple few clicks of a buttons. Whether the games be of great color or just a simple racing game your going to love the amazingly great quality of the monitor by far.

When switching between the games i was truly shocked by each of the games and how great they looked from one to another to another and how seemless it seemed without having any issues at all between high speed games all the way down to simple point and click games which is great cause some monitors will have issues between certain games and how they look and how the are played and all that.

It was as simple as maybe selecting a different setting whether it be just selecting a different mode on the monitor or changing a few settings inside of the game. I personally prefer using the HDR mode cause it seems to run the best colors and everything no matter what game your currently playing it runs perfectly smooth without any hesitations at all.

Which is very nice to see considering some of the modes or settings inside of certain games could make you wanna pull your hair out big time and never wanna use a monitor again considering some monitors are that simple to use or could be that difficult to use for specific games.

But I just use HDR and every single game I have played looks great and I have barely ever had to change settings inside the games or any settings on the options menu inside the games themselves. I actually plan on purchasing another one of these monitors so I can use it in a dual setup for some games such as Racing or RPG games Which I find would be highly fun to play using dual monitors since than you can find more options to use during different gameplays.

I bought this monitor from Newegg on 4/1/22, received it on 4/4/22, and started experiencing problems with it on 6/6/22. First thing I noticed was that the monitor would sometimes no longer turn on with an active input.

The “no signal” message would go away and the LED would go from blinking to solid, but no image would appear. This was inconsistent but would regularly happen when turning on my PC, waking up my PC after energy saver turned off the display, or when connecting/disconnecting my work laptop.

At the same time I started noticing flicker when running at 60Hz (with my work Macbook connected), which was particularly noticeable with white backgrounds, and it started giving me major eye strain.

When scrolling web pages, text would often show some ghosting on the red channel in particular. This was confirmed by the UFO blur trail test where a red vertical bar would appear after the white line.

(https://www. testufo. com/blurtrail#foreground=FFFFFF&background=000000&thickness=1&height=480&ppf=16&separation=1000) I compared this to my wife’s cheapo $250 Dell monitor to make sure I wasn’t my laptop and it’s totally fine.

Thirdly, I also noticed the monitor seemed brighter than usual so I went to adjust brightness and lo and behold, the brightness control is now also broken and 0 and 100 look exactly the same. So it seems pretty clear that some internal component is no longer working correctly.

It’s not like this monitor even saw a ton of use. I was away for a couple of weeks in May so realistically this saw at most 1. 5 months of use at 10-12 hours a day. If Gigabyte support was amazing this would just be a small inconvenience, but after almost a week of back and forth and spending well over an hour of my time describing the issue, taking and uploading videos to show the problems, they finally approved my RMA.

But apparently now I’m going to be out $50 to ship this thing back to them and be without a monitor for who knows how long while they service it FOR A PROBLEM THAT ISN’T MY FAULT. Better companies will typically send you a replacement before you send the defective product back and cover the cost of shipping.

So, yeah, I’ve completely lost faith in the quality of Gigabyte’s monitors and I would encourage anyone to think twice about purchasing this monitor or any other Gigabyte product unless you are willing to roll the dice.

There are a few competitively priced 4k gaming monitors on the market, the main players seem to be this one and the LG GP27 (which is 27 inches). The LG monitors have the cool RGB lighting that syncs with the content on your display, but the Gigabyte monitors have a built in KVM.

If you use a work computer and a personal computer on the same desk then a KVM is invaluable, and if you’ve ever shopped for one you may find that a KVM capable of handling 4k at 144hz is extremely hard to find, and will likely cost hundreds of dollars.

To me this was an easy decision, I wanted a 32″ display since I don’t do competitive gaming, I needed a KVM for my work, and this monitor has a higher score from Rtings who I trust for highly accurate reviews.

The monitor looks fantastic from the moment I set it up. I haven’t adjusted the settings yet, but I really like the default look my panel came with so I’m not sure I’ll even bother. It’s a slightly warmer color, much more so than my last monitor.

I did a check for dead pixels, backlight bleed, etc. and everything turned out okay, obviously your luck may be different so for a big purchase like this you would be wise to do a check on your own panel.

Setting up the monitor was very easy, the stand was extremely easy to put together and it was packaged well so I never felt like I was putting the panel at risk. It comes with all the cables you might need, other than a USB-C cable to connect a second computer for the KVM.

I will say that for me I found the cables a bit short, but I planned on buying extra long cables anyway since I use a sit-stand desk so I don’t mind too much. If you get this monitor and get extra cables make sure you get the high end 8k DisplayPort or HDMI 2.

1 cables or you may run into issues like flickering. One thing I should briefly mention is there was one strange issue I encountered. At one point the monitor started making a bit of a buzzing sound towards the bottom left of the screen.

It went away when I changed to colder color profiles. I don’t really know what caused it, I restarted the monitor and haven’t heard it since. Hopefully my panel won’t suddenly die or the buzzing doesn’t come back.

I want to throw in a quick extra word on setup and the KVM, just for anyone who does decide on this monitor. I almost thought I had a DOA monitor because it was not turning on or reacting to the power button.

As it turns out, the monitor has an additional power switch hidden by the ports that isn’t mentioned in the setup guide for some reason. If your monitor isn’t working, make sure you flipped that on. The second issue I had was with the KVM, it is somewhat unusual.

You can use DisplayPort (which you have one of) or HDMI 2. 1 (two slots for that) for the KVM, whichever two slots you want. You then, somewhat strangely, will use USB-B to connect the USB input to your PC.

A USB-B to A cable is provided for you (though you may find it somewhat short). The other computer will have to connect to the USB-C port on the monitor. There are three USB-A ports on the monitor, but for some reason you will need to use USB-C and USB-B for the KVM setup.

To reiterate, if you are buying this monitor and plan to use the KVM feature, buy a USB-C cable, one will not be included (however, the USB-B to A will be included). The KVM works with a button on the back, which I found a little bit annoying.

However, you can set up a keyboard shortcut for this KVM. You will need to get the Gigabyte OSD Sidekick software on both computers and then you can change the KVM settings and set up some kind of key combination to switch computers.

Switching computers takes a few seconds, as with just about any KVM. This includes a delay for keyboard and mouse input. My keyboard turns off for a brief second and then reconnects to the proper computer.

All in all, the KVM is working great for me and I’m very happy with it. So in summary, the picture quality is better than any monitor I’ve ever seen, the refresh rate is a great feature (though most games don’t get that many FPS running at 4k yet), the KVM feature with the keyboard shortcut is extremely handy and even essential to me, there was a slight buzzing issue for a time but no other quality issues for my panel that I found, and setup was generally easy but I wish they would have provided a much more detailed setup guide and manual.

In fact, the manual wasn’t provided at all, only a quick setup guide, I had to find the manual online. Very expensive, but a great monitor, I have no regrets. If it’s a little too rich for you then Gigabyte they also offer a 27″ 4k 144hz monitor, the M27U, for cheaper but sadly Micro Center does not offer it.

I’d argue 32″ is the perfect size for 4k though anyway. If money’s not an issue for you or you really want an absolute top of the line monitor, then this is a great choice.

First of all, great monitor. It is big, has accurate color, comes with a great stand and more. There are a few areas that I feel hold this monitor back. They may not be deal breakers for you but I wish I knew them earlier.

First, one item that I was aware of but still wish this monitor had is the ability to daisy chain the display port connections. Next, the KVM USB ports are not usb3. -The KVM switch is in a place that is not ideal for a multiple monitor setup, especially if this is the right-hand or center monitor, since the switch is behind the monitor you will have to keep a slight gap to reach your hand through.

I read that the software allows a hotkey for this but I haven’t tried yet. -This leads to my biggest issue, the KVM itself. 3 times now in 2 weeks my keyboard and mouse stopped working altogether when switching back to the USB-B input.

I had to connect another keyboard a reboot my computer. Also, I noticed if my main PC is in screensaver, screenoff or sleeping, when I switch to it, it just switches back to my laptop, I have to wake my PC ‘manually’ with another device that is only connected to my PC then hit KVM.

After scouring multiple sites looking for monitors, I happened to come across this one (M34WQ) and it checked a lot of the boxes for things I was looking for including: IPS Panel High Refresh Rate (144Hz) G-Sync compatibility (Tested by Rtings and also self-verified) USB-C KVM Switch And at the current retail price it probably is the best ultrawide monitor in this price brackets.

Sure, you can get some better features if you get some high-end Acer Predator or ROG Swift, but you’d also be spending an extra $400-$600 to get them. So with those good points stated, this monitor is not without its compromises/issues: 1.

It only has a single USB out port, which means you can only KVM between two devices, one of which must be connected via USB-C. It also only has two USB in ports for devices, so you’ll probably need to use a hub for more devices.

2. The USB-C port provides a dismal 18W of charge, which is not nearly enough to power any higher-end laptop, so expect to need to keep a power adapter around to keep connected to any laptop that needs it.

You might be okay at 18W if using something like a new Macbook Air (with M1). 3. The control OSD of the monitor is cumbersome to use and can be a pain to make simple changes. As an example, if you want to change the volume, it’s a minimum of around 4 presses to get to the right menu.

4. No USB-C/Thunderbolt cable included. I recommend getting a good high-quality Thunderbolt cable even though this isn’t a TB monitor. Using a cheaper cable can cause issues. While I was waiting for my TB cable to arrive, I used a cheaper USB-C cable and ran into multiple issues including not being able to get the maximum refresh rate of the monitor and the monitor temporarily losing connection when I had a static shock incident with my laptop chassis (seriously, the screen would go black for a second or two).

5. This monitor is HDR 400 certified which can barely be called HDR. Don’t get this monitor if you want HDR Also, depending on your preference, the lack of a curve could be a good thing or bad thing.

I’m personally not a fan of aggressive curves as I sit away from my monitor, so I have no issue with the lack of a curve. Given that this is an IPS panel, I haven’t noticed any issues with clarity looking at the edges of the display from the center.

Overall, I would absolutely recommend this monitor to anyone looking to experience the joy of an ultrawide monitor! There’s absolutely nothing else comparable at this price point of $489! After loads of research (I’m talking months!), the closest thing I could find with almost identical specs, was LG’s 34GN850-B and 34GP950G-B, but you’re looking at spending about $1000-$1300 with just slightly higher refresh rates and some mediocre RGB lighting and no built-in KVM! So, this monitor is an absolute steal! Being able to switch from my work laptop to my personal laptop/desktop via the built-in KVM switch has been terrific (once you get it set up properly, though).

I’ve had no issues with text or font will using it for work emails and productivity. Gaming has been buttery smooth at 144hz refresh rate over DP and using the FPS reticle and tools are extremely helpful in getting off timely shots at the enemy.

I play a lot of Civ VI, too, and the speed and real estate has greatly improved my gaming experience. If you’re in the market for a new monitor and have been contemplating going to a larger 3440 x 1440 (21:9) or higher monitor, let me tell you to look no further.

You won’t be disappointed with the performance of this monitor! It’s been excellent!.

When I got this monitor,12/07/21, it sat for about a week or so while I waited for a new desk to come. When I finally had it set up or was great. This was my first monitor with a refresh above 60 and I could immediately tell the difference.

Even moving windows around the desktop was so smooth it seemed fake. Like in movies when they plan over to a CG actor (Duplicity). I now understood what reviewers we’re saying about seeing trialing motion blur colors etc.

This monitor was an eye opener(pun intended) for me and it worked great straight out of the box. Until it didn’t. When I turned on my PC this morning, 12/20/21, nothing happened. So I chuckled the part on the PC a couple of times and still nothing.

I put in my an older graphics card and nothing. So I plugged in one of my previous monitors and wouldn’t you know it the PC was booting just fine the whole time. Then I connected the M34WQ booted the PC and noticed that the monitor wasn’t even showing the Gigabyte splash screen.

Sad thing is can’t find anything about this online all relevant search results come up as the G34WCQ. I don’t know how common this issue is but that’s what’s happening to me. UPDATE: I attached one of my old monitors and used it to install the Gigabyte OSD sidekick and firmware update that I had previously downloaded and forgot to install.

That appears to have fixed the issue. Updated to 4 stars.