LG 34UC79G 34-inch curved gaming monitor review
LG 34UC79G gaming monitor
£479
Pros
- Great screen
- Good design
- Impressive colours
- AMD Freesync
- Ergonomic adjustments
Cons
- 1440p would have been great
At a time I was literally knee-deep in tech a rather large box from LG arrived. Inside sat their LG 34UC79G curved gaming monitor. Thankfully, a kind colleague offered to review it for me.
I have been eagerly awaiting this review for a few weeks but, what with a bout of tonsilitis and other things, his opinions have had to wait. Until now.
So, without further ado, here is what my friend, colleague and keen gamer, Mohammed Islam, thought of the LG monitor.
LG 34UC79G design
It’s HUGE!
Monitor specs:
- 34-inch Curved Ultrawide
- 2560×1080
- IPS Panel
- 1ms response time
- 144Hz refresh rate
This is not a monitor for small desks. Not only is the display itself wide, but the stand is quite large too.
The base is matte black plastic with red accents. That striking colour-scheme continues along the back of the stand.
It has a mostly bezel-less design other than the bottom lip.
Build quality is good and feels safe even though there’s a lot of it.
Gamers will find the 120mm of height adjustment and options for tilting back and forward useful. The screen is also compatible with 100mm VESA mounts.
However, the screen can’t be swivelled, which is usual for curved widescreens. I don’t think I have the space for it to swivel anyhow.
the 34UC79G offers two HDMI 2.0 ports and a DisplayPort 1.2 connection alongside two USB 3 ports and an audio jack. There is no onboard speakers, which is fine as most gamers will have their own.
Saying that, my speakers did cover the edges of this beast.
LG 34UC79G performance
Coming from a 27-inch 2560×1440 there was a noticeable difference in pixel density.
Navigating through the LG’s menus was made effortless thanks to the neat joystick under the screen.
The screen’s curvature was very noticeable when standing to one side, but not at all sitting directly in front. This is a good thing).
The mouse glided through the picture thanks to the 144Hz refresh rate.
Colour reproduction was really good with deep blacks. The high contrast ratio also makes the colours really pop.
Thin bezel edges is a welcome addition to this monitor.
When watching movies the bezels are unnoticeable.
Unfortunately, due to most content being catered to 16:9 aspect ratio the screen has large black pillars on either side.
To be honest this is something I got used to after a few days of use. Due to the monitor having unnoticeable bezels you forget about the extra screen real estate that’s not in use.
Check out our AOC Agon AG272FCX 27-inch curved monitor review
Gaming
Gaming was a whole different ball game. The majority of early access titles had the pillar issue, but this was mostly only during the menu screen. Thankfully, these made full use of the screen once you got passed the intro. A lot of the AAA titles didn’t have this issue.
The 144Hz made gaming incredibly pleasing.
Having the extra screen space was an added bonus in FPS games where being able to see that little bit more of your surroundings made a big difference.
LG 34UC79G review conclusion
After using the monitor for a few weeks I had fallen in love with it. I had also completely forgotten that the monitor is 1080p and not the 1440p that I thought it would be. I really found it difficult to pull myself away from.
Gaming on this monitor was extremely pleasing and watching movies was pretty good too.
When coming to terms with having to send the monitor back. I felt gutted. It was like parting from your child and settling for a cat.
Going back to my old monitor it felt small, uninteresting and boring. I also missed the aggressive design language of the LG, as well as that neat joystick to traverse through my on screen menu.
The 60Hz display was very noticeable. It felt like my brain slowed down.
The only gripe I had with the LG monitor was the fact that it lacked G-sync and its maximum res being 1080p.
The monitor does, however, have AMD’s free sync technology but this was useless to me as I own an Nvidia GPU.
Having 1440p and G-sync would be a no-brainer. But, for those in the market looking for an inexpensive ultra-wide with a whole wealth of perks from a reputable brand, this is a must have.
