About this deal
You’ll only find better image quality from the best 4K and 5K monitors, which are often even more expensive. At the same time with the content that has an aspect ratio of 16:9, there is going to be chunky black bars on the left and right sides except if it's stretched out to fit, which is ill-advised. This makes the 34GN850 one of few monitors that has a single optimal overdrive mode for adaptive sync gaming.
It would also extend the value per dollar of the product, especially since its asking close to a grand at the time of review. Unfortunately, it can't swivel or rotate to portrait mode, and there's a bit of backlight bleed as well, although the latter can vary per unit. There's also the Faster overdrive mode available, but this is mostly just so LG can advertise a "1ms" response time with this display. We know gamers usually prefer headsets, but a good quality pair is always nice to have for movies, casual gaming, and teleconferencing. Added text in the macOS Compatibility and Console Compatibility boxes and clarified text throughout as part of Test Bench 1.Gray uniformity is excellent, gradient handling is superb, and it has excellent coverage of the Adobe RGB color space. As you unpack the LG 34GN850, you’ll realize that most of your money is going to the panel and its performance. The 950F was a bit of an outlier for power consumption at this size, resolution and refresh rate; the 34GN850 pulls itself back into the pack with nearly 30% lower power usage at the same level of brightness. The 38WN95C-W gets much brighter, it has wider viewing angles, supports Thunderbolt 3, has built-in speakers, and it's bigger. However, it's not the best choice for dark room gaming due to its low contrast ratio and its horizontal viewing angles aren't as good as other IPS monitors.
While IPS might be the best allrounder tech, it's behind a good VA panel when it comes to picture quality. The LG 34GN850-B can display the full sRGB color space used in most content, and it has excellent coverage of the Adobe RGB color space, which is great for content creators.Enjoy the next level TV viewing with widest range of Nanocell TVs, LED and OLED TVs, 4K Resolution, and Smart TV. Contrast is the main weakness here, although it's not worse than the 34GK950F, and isn't as low as the 27GL850 despite using the same panel type.
The 'Normal' Overdrive setting provides the best performance with less overshoot than 'Fast' and 'Faster'. If you're after an ultrawide that delivers an elite combination of speed and visual quality, with the possibility to double as a creative or productivity monitor, there is no better choice than the 34GN850.You can push it using the Faster mode, but overshoot will start to appear and become noticeable which is detrimental to its original purpose. Yes, on specific games (mainly those with an isometric camera, like in Hades) you can see the VA smearing, which is not present on the ips.