 Sometimes I put off doing a review because newer, more interesting products arrive, and other times I just get too busy and I don't have time. But for LG's 34UM95, I've been putting it off because I just haven't wanted to take it off my desk for long enough to capture video of the thing. For the ultimate no compromises compact gaming PC, look no further than the Obsidian Series 250D from Corsair. Click now to learn more. Spec wise, this 34 inch 21 by 9 cinematic aspect ratio monitor weighs in at a massive 3440 by 1440 resolution. About 34% higher and bigger than a 2560 by 1440 27 inch monitor. It features an IPS panel rated at 5 milliseconds response time and uses an 8-bit panel with frame rate control dithering to achieve 10-bit color. But only on the DisplayPort connection. Speaking of connections, it's got a headphone jack, integrated USB 3 hub and power jack to go along with its dual HDMI, DisplayPort and Thunderbolt 2 video inputs. Please note that the two Thunderbolt ports there are for daisy chaining, not as two separate inputs and the HDMI inputs are limited to 50 Hertz. This is an HDMI spec limitation and while the difference from 60 Hertz is noticeable, it's not nearly as bad as the 30 Hertz that 4K monitors will run at over HDMI. Now physically the monitor is a unique specimen. I've never seen anything quite like it and since it's the first of its kind and only available in a couple of regions, I guess neither have a lot of people. And I think that the coolest thing about it is how many different ways it can be used and very effectively. For 16 by 9 content, it's a 27 inch 2560 by 1440 monitor with black bars on the side. For side-by-side pseudo dual monitor use, it's two 20.5 inch monitors, each with a 1720 by 1440 resolution, a throwback 5 to 4 aspect ratio that really is better for some tasks than the newer 16 by 9 standard. And then finally for 21 by 9 content, it is a truly field of view filling 34 inches of immersive bliss. The stand is branded Crystal Float because it's clear. So that combined with the nice thin bezel is supposed to make the screen seem like it's just hanging there. But I found that the effect was somewhat diminished by the fact that it only supports 10 degrees of tilt and to adjust height, I needed to jury rig a monitor stand out of a box. With that said, at least LG had the consideration to include a vase amount on the back, something that I'll likely use. On the bottom, we find a couple of integrated speakers and a joystick for navigating the on-screen menu. It allows picture-by-picture control, input switching, input leg adjustment, and a variety of image adjustments, including the unusual reader mode, which reduces blues for theoretically less eye fatigue. Back to the front, the screen uses an anti-glare coating that is perhaps a little bit more matte than I would normally prefer, but ended up being great for me since I sit next to a window at my desk where I will be using the monitor moving forward. Now, this is where the review deviates from the formula a bit because I didn't know how to approach a review of something that is so different other than to draw your attention to the fact that I just said where I'll be using the monitor moving forward because I have officially been converted. I'm ditching my dual 23-inch 1080p monitors for this at work, and I would really like to replace my ProArt PA279Q at home as well. This is just flat out the best solution for productivity and gaming IMHO. And this is coming from someone who came into this review with a pretty closed-minded attitude. I was sure a very short time ago that 4K was the next big revolution. And the first time I saw 21x9 desktop monitors at CES 2013, I didn't even ask for samples. I thought they were a silly because-we-can form factor that took everything that was wrong with 16x9, that is to say, not enough vertical real estate compared to the older 16x10 widescreen standard, and made it even more ridiculous. They felt like an expensive step backwards, and I didn't care at all. This monitor changes everything, and the timing of its arrival is actually very interesting because I've only just recently started getting 4K monitor samples so that, you know, first time experience of 4K is actually still very fresh in my mind. I mean, to be clear, sitting in front of a 4K monitor is great. The sharpness and clarity of the image is fantastic, and the amount of stuff that you can fit on it at the same time is amazing, but it somehow still feels like so many things in the PC industry. It's like, yes, it's more pixels at a lower price, or more megahertz at a lower price, whatever, but it's all stuff that we've basically seen a hundred times before. By contrast, the first time I sat in front of the 34UM95, the feeling reminded me of eight years ago, the first time I sat in front of my Dell 2405 FPW, and a few years before that, when I first fired up my ViewSonic P95F Plus B. I mean, I've used some fantastic monitors in the last 10 years. The ASUS PA279Q, so beautiful. The BenQ 2420TE delivers an untouchable gaming experience, and my Samsung 305T blew me away with its sheer size from the moment I turned it on. But this one stands out from the crowd. It's not like sitting down at my computer, it's more like sitting at, like, a command station when you get in front of it. It's a very different experience. I tried to find some drawbacks to LG's design, and I had a hard time. Anything but a high-quality IPS panel would have made for a horrible experience. Panel uniformity and especially horizontal viewing angles are so important in this form factor, but they got that right. A different size would have been a drawback, but LG has absolutely nailed it here as well. At about 110 pixels per inch, the same pixel density as the 27-inch 1440p monitors that we know and love, it is just right, and that helps us avoid the UI scaling issues that are going to be a problem for 4K Windows users for quite some time. And the resolution's perfect, too. At about 5 megapixels, it's only about 35% harder to drive than a 1440p monitor, which means that modern graphics cards can deliver a great ultra-widescreen gaming experience with some anti-aliasing to make things super smooth today, as opposed to having to invest in multiple graphics cards just to game on the thing. So, for the, who is this product for section of the video? I think content creators are LG's main target for this product, and given its price, that makes sense, and they demonstrate its advantages here with a video on their website that, other than some amusingly bad translation, covers the benefits of a longer timeline and more sources for video editing, more room for tools for audio or photo work, etc. Pretty darn well, so I'm going to focus on other stuff that gets me really excited about the future of this type of design once prices start to drop. Productivity is amazing. I can put four word documents side by side by side by side without even reducing text size and work on them all at the same time, even with some of them having comments on them. Something about referring from document to document without a bezel in the middle feels more natural and comfortable, and Excel is also a treat, especially if you normally have long descriptions in your headers, you can still see an awful lot of stuff. Internet browsing, okay, yeah, some websites are going to look pretty lonely in the middle of a sea of blank space, but if you're a tab monster like me, you're going to absolutely love the fact that you can have like over 40 Chrome tabs open and still see previews of what's actually in them. Yeah, yes! And gaming, it is a 60 Hz IPS monitor, so don't expect it to be the fastest thing ever, but I have always said I prefer the rich colors and wide viewing angles of IPS to the lightning fast response times of TN, and this monitor renews my preference all over again. Maybe it's not for the professional players out there, but for sheer immersiveness, nothing takes me out of it the way that bezels do, and this has none. I mean, to be clear, there are plenty of games that won't work correctly or won't work well, because for whatever reason, text file editing for non-native resolution and field of view settings, something I remember needing to do with Quake 3 for widescreen support back in the day, is a black art that's been abandoned by many game dads who would rather manually update every time hardware changes, or better yet, just not update at all. Thanks, guys! But for the games that do work at this resolution, well, if you like movies in 21x9, then you'll like games in 21x9 most of the time. Sometimes, a more conventional resolution is better, though, and that's where that perfect resolution bit from before comes in. If you decide that you prefer 16x9, you can run 2560x1440 with black bars. Bam! Love it. Movie watchers, I probably don't have to sell you on this at all. From a comfortable viewing distance, this is as close as you're gonna get to a theatrical viewing experience, until affordable 100-inch plus 21x9 TVs start showing up, with the one drawback being that you're going to have to do your viewing from your computer chair, something I don't do much, but hey, some people do, and this experience is going to knock those people's socks off. So let's follow up with who is it not for. I mean, well, if you can live with bezels, whether you're a gamer, an office worker, or whatever else, you can get a multi-monitor setup that will blow the doors off of this from a screen real estate per dollar standpoint, and even a nice multi-monitor stand to go with it. But that's actually all I can think of. If you can justify the additional cost, I love this monitor, which I guess leads pretty well into the conclusion. I love this monitor. The only things on my wish list are as follows. Number one, if you're gonna have a glossy bezel on a product that is otherwise this perfect, make the entire thing out of glass instead of going with plastic on the bottom here. Number two, thank you for including a vase amount, but for over a thousand dollars, I'd really like a height adjust stand with more than two settings right out of the box. Number three, again, love it, but it could be that much more perfect with a very subtle curve, but I guess you're gonna make me wait for that, aren't you, LG? Other than that, guys, 4K is off my wish list, and large format 21x9 is on it. You heard it here first. It's freaking awesome. Anyway, guys, thank you for watching. My team and I worked hard on this video. We hope you enjoyed it. If you did, like it and share it. If you didn't, dislike it and let us know. Give us a comment with your constructive criticism. We take it very seriously. Also linked in the video description is a support us link. 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