LG 34UM95 review

The ultra-wide 34in LG 34UM95 has a massive 3,440×1,440 resolution, making it ideal for audio- and video-production, gaming, finance and other industries that will benefit from the monitor’s extra-width. Indeed, the 34UM95’s horizontal resolution is the same as that of an Ultra-HD display, but the vertical resolution is two-thirds that of an Ultra HD screen. This means it’ll also appeal to gamers, especially those who play flight and driving simulations and would appreciate a wider field of view. Your games will have to support the 34UM95’s ultra-wide resolution, but many will. We had no problem playing the Assetto Corsa driving sim, for instance. The popular flight sim X-Plane will also support the 34UM95’s resolution.

Movies shot in wider aspect ratios such as 2.39:1 look great on this screen, although expect to see around an inch of black space either side of the screen when viewing them.

The design of the 34UM95 is spot on, with very slim bezels, a shiny silver coating and a transparent stand. However, this focus on form does mean some compromises have been made. For example, the stand has no proper height adjustment. The only way to change the height of the screen is to disassemble the monitor and re-attach it at a different height, or put it on a pile of books. The stand is also wobblier than we’d expect from a monitor at this price, with even small movements leading to up to 10 seconds of gentle rocking. It may be worth investing in an external, adjustable VESA mount if you need better and sturdier adjustment options.

LG is immediately on to a winner with its choice of screen technology, though, as the 34UM95’s IPS panel provides an excellent mix of colour accuracy, contrast and black levels. By default, the monitor was able to display 96.7 per cent of the sRGB colour gamut, which is a great result that shows the screen is able to replicate most colours with exceptional accuracy. With a little calibration, which is made very easy thanks to the joystick on the bottom of the frame, we increased coverage to a near-perfect 99.8 per cent.

The IPS screen has a matt coating, and this meant it was easier to read in a brightly lit office than a monitor with a glossy finish. Colours didn’t appear as vibrant as they would with a glossy panel, but we were still very pleased with the appearance of colours. Overall image quality is fantastic. Images were alive with colour, and the 34UM95’s measured 1062:1 contrast ratio combined with low black levels of 0.21cd/m2 made for a very pleasing and deep image.

The 34UM95 has a variety of high-speed connectivity options on the back of the screen, too. There are two Thunderbolt 2 ports, which are backwards compatible with mini DisplayPort, and these allow you to daisy chain multiple monitors together, as well as connect high-speed storage devices to a compatible Thunderbolt device. There’s also a USB3 port and two USB2 ports for connecting other peripherals.

The 34UM95’s full-size DisplayPort connector will be your preferred video input because the HDMI ports are limited to a 50Hz refresh rate, which we found to be noticeably less smooth than the DisplayPort’s 60Hz refresh rate.

The LG 34UM95 has a picture-by-picture mode that lets you display the output of two different PCs or laptops side-by-side. This feature didn’t work particularly well for us, though, because the two inputs were squashed side-by-side due to the odd aspect ratio, and this made them difficult to use. You can change the aspect ratio of each input with the monitor’s onscreen menus, and you can, of course, also adjust the resolution of an input from within your PC’s operating system, but we still couldn’t get this feature to work in a satisfactory manner.

The LG 34UM95 is a superb monitor. Its high-resolution IPS screen is one of the most visually pleasing we’ve seen and that, combined with the 34UM95’s 21:9 aspect ratio, means it’s perfect for creative professionals, office workers and gamers alike. It’s perhaps too expensive to be used as a general-purpose consumer monitor, however, although there’s no impediment to that use. If you don’t want to spend so much on a 21:9 screen, you should also look at the Asus PB298Q, a smaller, 29-inch IPS panel with a 2,560×1,080 resolution. It’s significantly cheaper, but its excellent image quality makes it a worthy alternative.