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LG's new line of monitors will make you ditch your old displays (updated)

By Salehuddin Bin Husin & Vijay Anand - on 8 Jan 2015, 7:39pm

LG's new line of monitors will make you ditch your old displays

LG's new 34UM67 is the first ultra widescreen (21:9 ratio) monitor in the world with AMD FreeSync support.

CES 2015 is the first major global trade show of the year, which means companies love to start things off with a bang. What can make a bigger bang then by announcing to the world your product's the first of its kind? That's exactly what's LG's doing with their new 34-inch ultra wide gaming monitor, the LG 34UM67. Of course, it's not the first 34-inch monitor, or even the first ultra wide display. So why exactly is it the first of its kind?

It's the first ultra widescreen 21:9 ratio monitor ever to support AMD's FreeSync technology, that's why. Marketing, yes, we know, but given the immersive gaming experience you get from a large screen and it's also smoother with FreeSync as we've observed up-close:-

You can't deny that a wider screen draws you in to your game, more so with a large screen AMD's FreeSync for smoother graphics display.

We talked about FreeSync in detail in our AMD's Future of Compute article last year, but in summary, FreeSync is a new technology from AMD that eliminates frame tearing from games. It can even work on framerates as low as 9 FPS (theoretically), which makes it incredibly useful to gamers with older systems which aren't up to the task of delivering constant performance in modern games. What's more, AMD's implementation of FreeSync has now been adopted by VESA and has made it a standard of DisplayPort 1.2a specification. As such, unlike NVIDIA's G-Sync technology which is proprietary, requires special hardware and added cost, AMD's FreeSync will be better adopted and no added costs are laid on to the consumer. (Refer to to our review of the ASUS ROG Swift PG278 monitor for more indications of these regarding G-Sync, no doubt it did a great job.)

The LG 34UM67 has a resolution of 2,560 x 1,080 pixels, which of course gives it a 21:9 aspect ratio. The monitor also features something LG's calling 'Black Stabilizer', to give better details in dark scenes. There's also a Dynamic Action Sync mode, which LG claims will lessen input lag, for increased responsiveness in games.

Of course, we would be remiss in our reporting if we didn't mention the other star monitors in LG's CES reveal, the LG 34UC97M and 34UC87M. We'll start with the 34UC97M:-

For those not too concerned with having AMD FreeSync, i.e. not hard-core gamers, you might prefer the LG 34UC97M, which is a higher resolution, curved, ultra wide screen monitor.

There are a few key differences you get with the LG 34UC97M monitor in lieu of AMD FreeSync support. The first (but not so obvious from the photo above) is that it's a curved, ultra wide 34-inch monitor. So it maintains the same 21:9 aspect ratio of the 34UM67, but it has a higher QHD resolution of 3,440 x 1,440 pixels. The panel itself is better as its able to reproduce over 99% of the sRGB color spectrum, great for serious content creators. The monitor even comes with a Thunderbolt 2 interface to increase its appeal to the Mac community, further cementing who this monitor is targeted at. To round off these features, it comes built-in with dual 7W speakers that are enhanced with MaxxAudio audio technology.

This is the business oriented 34UC87M. There's little difference between the 34UC97M and the 34UC87M; in fact, the tilt and height adjustment aspects added to the 34UC87M are the only differentiators.

As a workstation/business-class screen, the 34UC87M can be outfitted with a multi-monitor stand to accommodate multiple screens.

With similar specs to the 34UC97M, the 34UC87M is mainly geared for the working professional and businesses. Like the 3UC97M, it too obviously ditches the AMD FreeSync support and the fancy stand, instead opting for a more straightforward and functional bezel and stand design that will be better accepted in work environments. It does however have everything that the 34UC97M possesses, like the QHD resolution, curved screen, 99% sRGB color space reproduction, Thunderbolt 2. As a more professional oriented monitor, the 34UC87M comes with tilt and ergonomic height adjustment capable stand. Like the illustration above shows, it also has an optional display mount to attach multiple displays for an expanded workspace.

Overall, it seems like LG is providing a solution to meet more demanding needs for both work and play, and we can't wait for them to trickle down to the local channels. Currently, all three monitors have no local release date or pricing mentioned, but rest assured they will be available in due time and we'll give you the updates when we come to know of it.

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