One display to rule all of them

Let’s not beat across the bush. The Samsung Odyssey OLED G9 gaming monitor is totally ridiculous. However in the very best sort of manner.

A curved, desk-filling, 49-inch ultrawide QD-OLED gaming monitor (full with a 240Hz refresh fee and HDR), it guarantees to unapologetically barrage your retinas with inky blacks, daring colors, and silky clean efficiency, till you are left with no selection however to undergo its visible majesty.

At a wallet-busting $2200/£2000 although, it must dazzle, enthral, and downright blow minds to justify the money. Fortunately, it does simply that, after which some.

Design

• Dimensions: 1194.7 x 365 x 180.8mm
• Weight: 9.2kg
• 1800R display curvature

First issues first — this factor is huge. Its 49in, 32:9 ultra-wide display is equal to having two 27in 1440p screens aspect by aspect. With a complete size of 120cm, it nearly suits on my comparatively giant desk, with no room for something on both aspect. Should you’ve received audio system surrounding your present monitor, likelihood is you may want to purchase a bigger desk, or get artistic with mounting choices.

Fortunately, the OLEG G9 helps an ordinary 100 x 100 VESA mount, and, due to the skinny, light-weight nature of its OLED panel, ought to make for a relatively slick and simple wall-mounted setup. Its mild 1800R curvature means it will stick out slightly, thoughts, however nothing too drastic. The curve itself is simply the correct amount to my eyes, though some customers will desire the extra aggressive 1000R curve of Samsung’s non-OLED 49in Odyssey Neo G9. For us although, the gentler curve of the OLED G9 is right for a mix of gaming and productiveness.

Regardless of its measurement, it is easy to assemble too, due to its manageable 9.2kg weight, which is noticeably lighter than the 14.5kg weight of the Mini-LED Odyssey Neo G9. Merely clip within the height-adjustable stand, safe the sturdy steel base with two toolless screws, and also you’re completed. The stand itself is a single-piece, relatively than a dual-leg affair, which makes for a way more sensible desktop footprint, with out something protruding and encroaching on valuable mouse territory.

Options, sound, and connectivity

• Tizen OS with all main apps
• 10W complete sound output (two channels)
• Rear LEDs for atmosphere

There’s an excellent purpose why the OLED G9 comes bundled with the identical USB-C-chargeable distant that you’re going to discover included with Samsung TVs. Working Tizen OS, the OLED G9 has the identical menus and formidable app choice, with the whole lot from Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, to Apple TV and Disney+ all current and accounted for.

This additionally signifies that customers have entry to apps like Samsung Gaming Hub, letting them join a controller on to the OLED G9 for some cloud gaming goodness from the likes of NVIDIA’s GeForce Now, Xbox Cloud Gaming, or Amazon’s Luna.

Finally although, should you’re dropping this a lot cash on a gaming monitor, you may need a highly effective gaming rig to do it justice.

The flexibility to make use of the OLED G9 as a standalone system for movies, TV reveals, YouTube and extra is a pleasant bonus, letting it pull double responsibility as a TV if you want — although the facet ratio will not allow you to take pleasure in its full potential (extra on that in a bit).

As for sound, its twin 5W audio system are surprisingly good, for a monitor at the very least. Whereas most monitor audio system have a tendency to supply torturous, tinny outcomes, the OLED G9 is able to standing by itself relating to watching content material or enjoying video games.

Its max quantity is greater than sufficient for many, and there is a first rate quantity of depth and area to the sound it produces. Naturally, it is missing on the bass entrance, however it’s a good efficiency nonetheless. Although most customers will probably be gaming with headphones or devoted audio system, this further auditory consideration remains to be very welcome.

Flip the OLED G9 round, and you will be greeted by a round LED ring. Dubbed Core Lighting, it may be set to a static color, or turned off utterly. There’s additionally a CoreSync characteristic which lets it mirror on-screen content material for added immersion. It is fairly refined, and can solely actually be noticeable if the monitor itself is in entrance of a white wall, however it’s a pleasant addition for these on the lookout for slightly further bling.

Beneath, you may discover a conventional miniature toggle for navigating the on-screen menu (although the distant makes this relatively redundant), together with a collection of connectivity choices. These embrace an HDMI 2.1 port, a Micro-HDMI 2.1 port, and a triple USB hub, together with a DisplayPort 1.4 port.

The latter may look like a step again, given that there is a newer DisplayPort 2.1 customary (featured on Samsung’s yet-to-be-released 57in Odyssey Neo G9), however it’s nonetheless sufficient to help 240Hz refresh charges on the OLED G9’s 5120×1440 decision. The bigger 57in monitor has a noticeably greater decision, and subsequently requires the additional bandwidth of DisplayPort 2.1 to push extra pixels on the identical 240Hz refresh fee.

Display screen and efficiency

• 49-inch QD-OLED panel
• 32:9 facet ratio
• 240Hz refresh fee

On the threat of sounding like a advertising hype mouthpiece, utilizing the OLED G9 is a very jaw-dropping expertise. Let’s begin with its attractive QD-OLED panel. Its true blacks and vibrant colors, mixed with the sheer measurement of the show itself, is sufficient to cease even technophobes of their tracks. I misplaced myself in numerous OLED TV demos on YouTube, marvelling on the distinction and efficiency on provide. The expertise is so vivid, in truth, that it nearly appears like you may attain in and seize the whole lot you see.

The QD, or Quantum Dot a part of the panel, is necessary, as it is a newer sort of display tech that mixes the self-emissive advantages of OLED shows (learn: true blacks and punchy colors), with the brightness and color saturation of Quantum Dots.

Whereas I am going to skip the in-depth clarification and refer you to Pocket-lint’s QD-OLED explainer for extra, in brief, through the use of blue mild to light up crimson and inexperienced Quantum Dots, QD-OLED shows overcome considered one of OLED panels’ conventional weaknesses — brightness. However what does that imply in the actual world?

Nicely, whereas the OLED G9 nonetheless does not attain the eye-searing brightness of Mini-LED screens, it is loads vibrant sufficient, and I had no points utilizing it in a vibrant room with a window at my rear. The shiny nature of the display, coupled with the curve, does, nonetheless, end in noticeable reflections. Whereas I personally discovered myself tuning them out, those that are typically distracted by such issues will need to bear in mind that, as with most OLED shows, dim or darkish rooms will present probably the most optimum expertise.

Every thing from video games to Hollywood blockbusters appears to be like merely gorgeous, and it will likely be extraordinarily troublesome to return to a non-OLED panel as soon as my time with the OLED G9 is over. And whereas you may get different, smaller QD-OLED panels from the likes of Alienware, the 49in, ultra-wide nature of this explicit show mercilessly envelops your imaginative and prescient. In aggressive video games like Rocket League and Halo Infinite, this can be a big benefit. The bigger discipline of view enables you to spot enemy gamers far earlier, whereas making it simpler to plan routes and ambushes.

In single-player titles like Cyberpunk 2077 and Hogwarts Legacy, the QD-OLED visuals, coupled with the sheer quantity of display actual property, make for a very particular expertise. Simulators like Microsoft Flight Simulator attain totally new ranges of realism too.

The crispness of visuals, coupled with virtually zero enter lag and as much as a buttery clean 240Hz refresh fee, make for the very best gaming classes I’ve ever had. After all, your expertise will probably be totally dependent in your setup, and never even my combo of Intel’s Core i7300K and NVIDIA’s beastly RTX 4090 might attain 240fps in Cyberpunk 2077 or Hogwarts Legacy at their highest settings. Nonetheless, even 120fps is a slick and clean expertise, at the very least to my eyes.

And that is all with out mentioning the VESA DisplayHDR True Black 400 efficiency, which treats your eyes to fantastically balanced vibrant and darkish scenes, which might be tweaked to your liking in-game and/or by way of Home windows and the monitor itself.

Extra conventional media like TV reveals and movies nonetheless, is the place the OLED G9 struggles. Form of.

It nonetheless appears to be like wonderful, however nothing bar a slim collection of YouTube movies is filmed in a large 32:9 facet ratio, so content material from streaming companies and common TV reveals will solely occupy a a lot smaller, central portion of the entire show. If you would like a display that doubles up as a TV substitute, you could be higher off going for a smaller 42-48in OLED TV as a substitute, although you’ll be restricted to a max 120Hz refresh fee.

Productiveness

Given the sheer quantity of area on provide, it’ll come as no shock to listen to that the OLED G9 is an excellent monitor for multitaskers. On any given workday, I’ve received a number of browser home windows, Photoshop, Spotify, and extra, operating on the identical time, and the flexibility to comfortably match the whole lot on one show with room to spare is an excellent productiveness boon.

Not solely do you not should cope with a number of energy cables for a couple of monitor, however having all of it on one show is a luxurious I by no means beforehand knew I wanted.

Now, should you’ve received quite a lot of text-heavy work, you could come throughout data on-line stating that OLED panels aren’t your best option because of their subpixel format. Briefly, you may discover loads of customers on-line who consider that textual content appears to be like garbage on OLED panels — and also you’ll discover simply as many customers saying that it makes no distinction. From my expertise, I can confidently say that I’ve had no points with textual content readability on the OLED G9, although your mileage could after all fluctuate.

The one actual drawback I’ve discovered relating to productiveness on the OLED G9, is the potential of burn-in — the primary draw back of all OLED shows. Naturally, there are pretty hefty preventative measures in place, reminiscent of Samsung’s Pixel Shift characteristic, which often shifts the whole lot round by one pixel, to make sure that nothing stays in the very same spot. It sounds intrusive, however I have not observed it in motion as soon as, such is the subtlety of its impact.

Finally although, with static browser tabs, Photoshop toolbars and Spotify buttons on-screen for eight+ hours a day, my overly anxious mind simply cannot shake these burn-in worries off. I’ve taken measures reminiscent of minimising the taskbar and transferring round apps once in a while, whereas making certain that the monitor is turned off once I depart my desk. Should you’re of an identical disposition and plan on utilizing the OLED G9 for normal work along with gaming, that is positively one thing you may should weigh up.

Verdict

There is no skirting across the OLED G9’s huge footprint or extravagant price ticket. Both one is more likely to be a dealbreaker for most individuals. Then once more, there’s nothing else prefer it, and for those who have the money, area, and PC highly effective sufficient to max out its full potential, there is no denying the unbelievable, immersive expertise it presents.

Whereas MicroLED screens are the final word finish sport (offering all the advantages of OLED with no threat of burn-in), reasonably priced MicroLED screens are years from changing into a actuality. For now, and for the foreseeable future, the OLED G9 will stay one probably the most covetable gaming screens round. And with excellent purpose.