I spent 2 hours with Samsung's insanely wide monitor — here's what it's like
You might look at pictures of Samsung's insanely wide CHG90 monitor and think: "Who on earth needs a monitor this wide?"
I'll bet a lot of people said the same thing when square 4:3 TVs and monitors were still the standard, back in the early 2000s, and "widescreen" 16:9 TVs and monitors hadn't yet become mainstream. Now, 16:9 widescreen is the standard monitor aspect ratio.
But why stop at 16:9? Well, the industry didn't stop there — in 2015, it started producing "ultrawide" 21:9 monitors, which offered more screen real estate for work and gave PC gamers that extra layer of immersion.
It's now 2017, and Samsung thinks you need even more screen, so it made the "super-ultrawide" CHG90 monitor, which has an aspect ratio of 32:9. That's two 16:9 widescreen monitors in one.
The question is not why Samsung made this outrageously wide monitor, but — especially for gamers — what is it like to use?
Samsung's CHG90 is incredibly wide.
The monitor you've been using is probably the most common type, with a 16:9 aspect ratio. Samsung's CHG90 has a 32:9 aspect ratio, which means it's incredibly wide — essentially two 16:9 monitors in one.
It's a 1080p monitor, which means it's not as sharp as 1440p quad-HD or 4K ultra-HD one. That said, you'd still need some pretty serious hardware to run video games on this monitor. That's because its resolution is 3840x1080, which isn't too far off 4K resolution (3840x2160).
Even for basic productivity, like using a web browser and watching videos, you'd still need a relatively recent and decently powerful computer.
It's amazing for playing video games.
There are two ways the CHG90 monitor enhances videos games:
1. It fills up more of your peripheral vision with its sheer width and curve, and it immerses you more than any other monitor into your game.
2. You can actively use the extra screen real estate to your advantage to see objects or enemies you wouldn't see on a regular 16:9 monitor unless you moved your mouse. Because you can see more, you don't have to move your mouse as much, which is helpful during gaming.
Leading your eyes to each edge of the CHG90 monitor takes some getting used to — I've never had to move my eyes so far to reach either side of a monitor before! To put that into perspective, I own an ultrawide monitor with a 21:9 aspect ratio.
It also has some under-the-hood features that make it great for gaming.
The CHG90 supports AMD's Freesync 2 technology, which makes for ultrasmooth gameplay. It basically allows the graphics card in your computer to communicate with the monitor so they can synchronize each frame.
The technology, however, isn't compatible with graphics cards from the other PC-graphics hardware giant, Nvidia, which is arguably the more popular of the two.
Nvidia has its own technology to make gameplay ultrasmooth: G-Sync. While Nvidia cards may be more popular, G-Sync technology usually adds a few hundred dollars to a monitor's price tag; AMD's Freesync usually doesn't add anything.
Still, regardless of the card you use, the CHG90 monitor has an incredibly fast one-millisecond response time, which reduces motion blur on the screen and helps keep the picture sharp, especially with fast-paced games.
The CHG90 also features Samsung's Quantum Dot technology, which makes for gorgeous colors, brightness, and contrast. Add HDR into the mix, and the picture is fantastic. A quick note about HDR: Games can use HDR only if they support it, and the gaming world has been oddly slow to adopt it.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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