Curved displays may not be the most ideal either for TVs or office monitors. When it comes to gaming, though, you can’t deny the virtues of a wide and curved display, as it envelops the player with an immersive view of the action. As far as curved displays for gamers go, it will probably be hard to top the new Samsung CHG90, a 49-inch curved QLED monitor.
Instead of a wide and tall profile like productivity monitors that measure 40-inch onwards, this one sports a wide profile that allows it to cover your entire field of view. In fact, it’s screen real estate is, basically, equivalent to two wide-angle monitors combined into one, making for a uniquely expansive display for truly immersive gaming.
The Samsung CHG90’s 49-inch QLED panel boasts a double full HD resolution (3,840 x 1,080) and a 32:9 aspect ratio, both of which are highly unique for display panels, while a 1,800R curvature ensures the entire display edges into your peripheral vision when you sit front and center. It also comes with a 178-degree viewing angle, so you can see the visuals clearly even from elsewhere in the room. Since this is a gaming monitor, it gets a 144Hz refresh rate and four-channel scanning, along with support for AMD’s Radeon FreeSync 2.
Features include over one billion colors, HDR support, a 20-step black equalizer for adjusting game scenes to any brightness level, and a back-mounted lighting that responds to real-time game audio. Oh yeah, it weighs a whopping 33.1 pounds, so good luck carrying it your apartment on the fourth floor.
Available now, the Samsung CHG90 is priced at $1,499.99.
Let us take a closer look at this unique offering from Samsung to find out if it is worth the hype.
Build Quality and Size – This offering from Samsung is quite a bit larger and wider than any other monitor on the market is. According to the Amazon listing of the product, it weighs in at around 33.06 lbs with dimensions of 15.02 x 47.36 x 20.68 in. It is just as two 24in 16:9 monitors displayed side by side. The only difference is that in dual monitor setups, the bezel divides the displays, in this device, there is no bezel distracting you from the action on the glorious 49in ultra-wide screen display. It comes with a Height Adjustable Stand that provides precision positioning for the monitor thus allowing you to work and play with great comfort. The device looks quite premium and the build quality also seems quite high. Samsung is known for producing long lasting products.
ScreenSize and Resolution – The Samsung CHG90 is the first ever monitor from Samsung that comes with an ultra-wide 32:9 aspect ratio. The display comes with a resolution of 3840 × 1080 spread over 49 inches. The resolution is as much as two traditional 1080p displays, thus the name Double Full HD. This ultra-wide display has a 1800R curvature. This curvature ensures that the user will be able to see all of the display with ease.The wide 178° viewing angles provide the user a great level of control over his sitting position. These wide viewing angles especially come in handy during multiplayer gaming sessions. The 1800R curvature along with the 178 degrees viewing angles allow for a much more immersive gaming experience. This is the widest Computer Monitor that one can buy.The ergonomic design makes this monitor a worthy opponent for the traditional dual monitor setups.
Panel Technology – The Samsung CHG90 is based on a VA (Vertical Alignment) Panel. A great advantage of using VA Panels is that they have the ability to block light from the backlight when it is not wanted.This results in high contrast ratios and deep blacks. The VA panel is added in its operation by an advanced motion blur technology that ensures a smooth framerate. This display also utilizes the Samsung’s Quantum Dot Technology and QLED Technology. The LED back lightening of the Monitor is enhanced by quantum dots. Thanks to the use of quantum dot nanocrystals, the monitor supports the DCI-P3 Colour Gamut as well.Most of the conventional gaming monitors only have red, green, and blue subpixels. On this monitor, there is also a yellow subpixel. This allows the display to produce images that cannot be made on most other gaming monitors.The use of this QLED Technology makes the action come to life and makes the overall gaming experience much more immersive.
Pixel Response and Refresh Rate – The pixel response and Refresh Rate are two of the most important features of a gaming monitor. The pixel response is measured in milliseconds and it is the time that a pixel takes to move from one shade of gray to another, the lower the response rate, the smoother the gaming performance will be. The Samsung CHG90 has a response rate of 1 ms MPRT that makes it ideal for both casual and hard-core gamers.
The Refresh rate on the other hand is defined as the time required by the monitor to draw the entire screen. The refresh rate is measured in Hertz. This Monitor from Samsung comes with a 144Hz Refresh rate. The high refresh rate makes this device ideal for professional gamers as for them even a tiny bit of lag can turn out to be the difference between defeat and victory. The 144Hz refresh rate minimizes image lag and considerably reduces the motion blur.
AMD Freesync 2 – The AMD Freesync 2 is the star of the show. This monitor along with its smaller siblings is the first Monitor to make use of the latest AMD Freesync 2 technology. Essentially the AMD Freesync technology allows the monitor to match the refresh rate of the graphics card. The control of refresh rate is provided to your GPU. It allows the monitor to work with a variable framerate thus resulting in a much smoother frame rate.
The combination of HDR and Freesync 2 technology allows for low-latency, high-brightness visuals and exceptionally immersive gaming. The AMD Freesync 2 technology also brings along many new features.The AMD Freesync 2 makes it mandatory for the monitor to support Low framerate compression. The Freesync 2 technology also changes the way by which HDR works. With this technology, the games tone map directly to the monitor’s native Dynamic Range. This essentially provides the control of the process to the GPU instead of the slower and inconsistent display processors present inside the Monitor. In the case of gaming, every millisecond counts, and by making use of this technology many milliseconds are saved by making the processing more streamlined.
Connectivity – The connectivity options for this device include a DisplayPort, a mini-DisplayPort, 2x HDMI, 1x 3.5mm audio and 3x USB 3.0 ports. The AMD Freesync 2 technology currently only works through the DisplayPort standard. The surprising thing here is that the monitor lacks some mainstream connectivity options including Thunderbolt and USB Type C.
Software – With such a unique display and ultra-wide stance, Windows operating system requires some tuning to work properly on the monitor. Thankfully, Samsung provides the user a set of drivers specially designed for the device that allows the user to modify the monitor according to their liking.
The drivers offer many useful features including the basic contrast control, video options and brightness control. By making use of these drivers, the user can also control the QLED Color balance. The display can also be broken into multiple smaller displays, this allows for seamless multitasking.
The monitor provides a great level of control to the user. The monitor comes with an eye-saver mode that cuts down blue light emissions to a substantial extent. This results in less eyestrain during long gaming sessions. The product also comes packed with factory-calibrated game display modes that can optimize black gamma levels, contrast ratios, sharpness and color value settings for any game genre in the blink of an eye.
Price and Conclusion – All this tech fest does not come cheap, the Samsung CHG-90 is priced is 1499$. If you can look beyond the high price tag, the Samsung CHG-90 is one of the most beautiful and unique monitors on the market. No other mainstream manufacturer has tried to manufacture something so unique like this. This is the widest monitor that one can buy.
Features such as low response rate, good refresh rate, excellent contrast, high color accuracy and support for AMD Freesync 2 make it a great buy. There are some drawbacks as well such as the lack of Thunderbolt and USB type C, anon-4k resolution and a high price tag.
The Samsung CHG-90 is not for everyone, it is squarely aimed at gamers and those people who want to experience the latest technology. This device is a worthy competitor to dual monitor setups and is a breath of fresh air in the saturated market of Computer Monitors. There is nothing quite like this product on the market.
- 49-Inch monitor with super ultra-wide 49-inch screen with its innovative 32: 9 aspect...