[PCM2]

Another Mini LED option to keep an eye on is the LG UltraGear 27GR95UM-B, a 27″ 160Hz ‘4K’ UHD option with 1560 dimming zones and A-TW polarizer.

[Weissrolf]

From my point of view an ATW polarizer is mandatory for IPS mini LED local dimming. So that LG is an interesting option.

[PCM2]

Well it doesn’t look like we can count on AUO in the Mini LED segment as they are cancelling and scaling back all over the place.

[sblantipodi]

it seems that the market is forcing me to buy an OLED monitor…

I don’t want an OLED, I don’t want a monitor that needs 15 minutes to “do its things”,
I don’t want a monitor that reduces the brightness on some areas of the screen just because it’s a static content,
I don’t want a monitor that needs special care,
I don’t want a monitor that degrade fast and that can’t be used at 250cd/m2 with easy,
I dont’ want a monitor that has text clarity problems…

I want an OLED but without this issues…

It seems that it’s happening again, the war between the CRT and LCD monitors.
People started buying LCDs when LCDs was absolute crap.

OLED are not trash at the moment but to me, they are not ready for PC use.

[PCM2]

But it’s fine, they can sell them all as “gaming monitors” as no gamer would ever want to use the same screen for productivity. 😉

As I’ve said elsewhere I think the technology as it is can be used for a bit of productivity, I do that myself. But where productivity is a major component of the monitor usage I absolutely agree OLED shouldn’t replace LCD. Personally I haven’t had any issues with my AW3423DW used for a mixture of productivity and gaming and I plan to replace it with a 32″ ‘4K’ UHD QD-OLED model which should be similar in many of its characteristics but provide superior clarity due to improvements to subpixel layout and pixel density. I know there are people who have had issues during ‘productivity usage’ of their OLED monitors (including a minor case here), but it’s at least covered by warranty with some manufacturers. The cleaning cycles are done when I’m not using the monitor and work very well, plus can be interrupted if needs be. And these QD-OLEDs don’t force usage of a feature that will dim static content under normal SDR usage, aside from slightly where bright shades dominate (reference).

Fortunately AUO aren’t the only manufacturer of Mini LED solutions, BOE and Innolux should continue to innovate in that space and perhaps AUO will re-join the party at some point.

[sblantipodi]

I think that most users have one monitor for both gaming and productivity,
it’s not average to have one screen for gaming and one screen for productivity.

I was a bit strong, I don’t want to say that OLEDs are trash,
let’s say that I’m one of the few that doesn’t like them for the reasons I explained.

you say that you had no problems with AW3423DW,
did you used the monitor with the taskbar always visible or do you hide the taskbar?
there are other reviewers (HW Unboxed) that says that they experienced burn in even if they don’t use the monitor as a PC monitor
with very few hours of PC use.

when you say: “The cleaning cycles are done when I’m not using the monitor”…
doesn’t this popup every 4 hours?
that kind of things will interrupt me 2 times a day at least 🙁

I can’t wait to see your review of a 32″ ‘4K’ UHD QD-OLED model 🙂

[PCM2]

On most OLEDs you can disable the cleaning cycle reminder messages. On the AW3423DW and quite a few other models (not from ASUS) the cleaning cycle simply runs itself in the background without any messages (you can tell it not to remind you with messages after the first time). It’s only ASUS models that seem to demand you run the cycle manually, but even then you don’t need to have it pop up a reminder if you don’t want it to.

I still use it in the same fashion as noted in the review. So the taskbar is not hidden, but a dark theme is used. If people don’t mind the taskbar being hidden it’s probably a good idea to do so, really. I have experienced temporary image retention in that region, but it disappears after a cleaning cycle is completed or at least fades so significantly that it’s only noticed as a very faint band on very specific dark grey backgrounds.

[sblantipodi]

Thanks for the answer I appreciate it.

[enesctnr]

Hello everyone, I am a noob and I want your advice.

Which 1440p gaming monitor would you recommend for $300 or less?
I play both story games and competitive games. I guess 144hz is good
I don’t want IPS monitors for obvious reasons.
I’m worried about black smearing on VA monitors. What is the best monitor I can buy for $300?

And how much disturbing is the black smearing on the monitor you recommend? I’m curious about your personal opinion

[PCM2]

If you posted in this thread because you’re specifically looking for a model with Mini LED backlight, the ideal choice with your budget and preferences in mind would be the AOC Q27G3XMN which we’ll shortly be reviewing. Based on other feedback it appears to be fairly responsive for a VA model and the HDR experience is unsurpassed in the price range (good for those story games).

[enesctnr]

I will wait for your AOC Q27G3XMN review. Also, when I look at the comments of those who use the Monitor, they say that although it is better than other VA monitors, it is still not very good for FPS games.

I guess there are also mini LED IPS monitors. I want to see if it solves the low contrast ratio and poor HDR performance.
Do you know any significant mini LED IPS monitors coming out this year? I think finding a affordable is the main issue here. If it’s expensive, I’ll buy OLED.
I hope we will see more monitors soon like this AOC model (especially ips mini led)

[PCM2]

The price of the AOC is truly exceptional, I simply don’t see Mini LED IPS models coming in at anywhere near that price for the foreseeable future. And an IPS solution with such a dimming zone count would perform more poorly in terms of contrast, blooming and the usual metrics associated with Mini LED backlights, too. If you’re wanting to go the budget IPS route you might as well ditch the idea of ‘good HDR’ and stick to strong SDR performers as covered in this thread and in the recommendations section.

[taxman]

I have just gotten the AOC Q27G3XMN, its fine for the FPS games I have so far played on it, but maybe there are edge cases some have issue with.

Overall SDR image quality and contrast is very good, better than my prior VA Gigabyte M27QC and less black smearing. My eyes are having to adjust back to a flat panel, it caused a weird almost fish eye effect, I thought it was the monitor until I searched the net and found others who had gone from curved back to flat panels had the same issue, takes like a few days to adjust.

So far my only real complaint is the OSD user interface on the monitor is a pain to use but I’ve not needed to touch it beyond the initial configuration.

Out of curiosity I tried turning on the local dimming in SDR which I know its not meant for, didn’t really seem to do much other than make the whole screen dimmer. Haven’t tried much HDR, most of my usage is still in SDR.

The AOC Q27G3XMN seems pretty good value to me so far.

[PCM2]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts – I’m glad you’re enjoying the monitor! 🙂

[sblantipodi]

can’t wait to buy a 4K 32 inch QD-OLED to compare it with my Acer X32FP and then choose what monitor will be with me for 2024 and 2025 🙂

I would like to skip Asus for “personal reasons” like the worst customer service ever seen here in Europe,
hoping that MSI and other manufacturers will bring some decent alternatives too…

really can’t wait to see new reviews from PCM2. 🙂

I have seen that some upcoming QD-OLED supports Dolby Vision and some others don’t,
are there some PCM2 articles that explains the benefit of Dolby Vision over HDR10?

What are the contents where Dolby Vision is used?
Are games HDR10 or Dolby Vision?
What happen if you reproduce a Dolby vision content on an HDR10 monitor?

PS: Are this kind of questions ok in a thread like this?

[PCM2]

I’ve added a short passage about Dolby Vision to this article – and that also covers HDR10.

[sblantipodi]

Some reviews about the Asus ROG Swift PG32UCDM are appearing on the net but we obviously wait for hte PCM2 ones 🙂

From the initial impressions it seems that no much changed since the 2nd gen panels apart big improvements on text clarity / fringing.

I need to buy that monitor and look at it with my eyes 😀

[PCM2]

“Seeing is believing”… Or you might not like what you see, you never know! 😉

The panel is living up to my expectation based on the current reviews, that it would be similar to the earlier generations but with a much tighter pixel density and superior text clarity. For most people I don’t think that’s a bad thing, I personally really like most of the performance characteristics for example… But if you were hoping for stronger brightness and more burn-in resilience that’s something for future generations and ultimately perhaps inorganic alternative self-emissive technologies. 🙂

[spiroh]

Is 250nits enough for desktop/gaming use?

[PCM2]

It is for most people, as monitors are most commonly set in the region of 100 – 200 nits. A requirement either side of that can come from individual sensitivity to light or a poorly controlled lighting environment. I frequently use monitors ~160 nits in daylight, though I’m able to control my lighting environment relatively well to avoid strong direct light striking the screen surface. I actually find the glossy QD-OLED screen surface and exceptional consistency works nicely to boost perceived brightness beyond what you might expect at this level, too.

[Author]

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