Don’t Buy an Ultrawide Gaming Monitor - Here’s Why

Thank you to Ruipro for sponsoring this video!

Ok before you burn me alive, yes the best gaming monitor available on the market under 42” right now is in fact an Ultrawide, but it actually has nothing to do with it being an ultrawide.

It’s great because it’s OLED, I don’t have to squint to see it, nobody took a belt sander to it, and it has a good refresh rate of 175Hz.

And if your a monster that looks at monitors all day like me you probably know I’m talking about the Alienware AW3423DW QD OLED, but I digress, what we're really here to talk about is the fact that, well, Ultrawide still kind of blows cheeks.

Wait wait wait wait wait

Before you pull out the pitchforks let me explain myself. I actually do like Ultrawide in terms of it looks very immersive, and it’s a bit closer to how are vision actually is, but just like that one neighbor's kid it has some serious issues, so unfortunately we’re gonna have to put it down and here they are

Ultrawide is not good for doing work. I know I know it sounds insane, but trust me when you're trying to record your screen or even use certain programs it can be an absolute mess and for me it’s actually nearly unusable. Despite how cool Ultrawide is and that it allows you to fit more stuff on screen, it doesn’t always work how you’d want, and when every application has been designed for 16:9 trust me your absolutely going to run into some issues, it just depends on what you do for whether or not it’s a deal breaker.

Not many games actually support Ultrawide. I hear people say all the time that nearly all games support Ultrawide now, but that’s misleading at best, because sure they will run on an ultrawide and not have black bars, but that doesn’t mean it will look good. In my experience the majority of games today still don’t properly support Ultrawide and when you look towards the edges of the screen you’ll see some really nasty stretching that’s not only distracting, but also makes you worse at the game, and the only way to reduce it is to turn your FOV way down, and even then it doesn’t always solve the issue.

Ultrawide is bad for competitive gaming. Yes you can definitely get used to it and play well on an ultrawide, but like going to work in just a thong it can be uncomfortable, and everyone can see your hairy a**cheeks. I mean there’s a reason you don’t see a single professional gamer using an ultrawide, and I think it mainly has to do with lack of proper support as well as the extra distraction from such a wide FOV.

So is Ultrawide cool? Yes absolutely, and it’s great for a lot of single player games, but the reality is it’s not the standard, and that’s gonna cause a lot of little issues because developers can barely be bothered to ship a working game let alone optimize it for niche resolutions these days, so when I see Ultrawide monitors I always think did I leave the laundry in the washer overnight again, and who’s ultra and why is he so wide?

And ultimately that’s why I think most people shouldn’t buy an Ultrawide monitor if there’s a similar 16:9 option available, but in the case of some gems like the AW3423DW it could be worth it.

Music

[thedisplayguy]

Thank you to Ruipro for sponsoring this video!

Do you think ultrawide is worth buying? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

[shargakun]

I am on the same opinion. Do not buy ultrawide! You will regret it. Just buy super ultra wide. And there will be peace in your heart

[riboiman]

Ultrawide monitors are excellent for work, especially for using it over a double-monitor setup. It excels with the window snapping feature and when you use Win + <>, it turns it into two wider windows.

[Biogenesys]

Quit using pro gamers as a benchmark for whether something is good, half of those dudes play on 800x600 4:3 res because they're either used to it from the "good old days", unwilling to adapt or just masochists

[txtasosxt]

With all due respect, UW is great for doing work, for anything other than screen sharing at least.
As a developer, I can have 2 apps open at all the time, either a google search and a code editor or a code editor and a preview of my application. Video and photo editing is also being helped by the extra screen as far as I've heard from others.

[SamuraiMerrick]

Regarding competitive gaming.

Every single monitor above 24” that isn’t 1080p 240 FPS+ running games at low settings is bad at competitive gaming.

[PaulSebastianM]

It's funny, because I've heard people from all sorts of backgrounds and jobs, all saying that ultrawides have made them more productive. And even gamers especially those that play non-FPS games, in a huge majority tend to say that wide screens are better.

[Bombvial]

Ultrawide for work is 99% of the usecase for it. It's absolutely good for work. Most games these days that come out support ultrawide. I've had absolutely nothing but high praises for my LG 38" UW

[williamking-noel]

Bro spent 8 minutes saying a lot about nothing

[Spectralle]

While the factors you've pointed out are mostly accurate, they are WAY less serious than you make them out to be, in my own opinion. I've been using a SUW for frequent competitive gaming, software and game development, and general use for 5 years, and the only noteworthy issue I have is screen recording/sharing. But I usually just record an app rather than the screen itself, and resize if needed. Game FOV is something that I do need to raise for most games, but is rarely anything close to an issue. Not having a seam between multiple monitors is great for me.

[Oi]

21:9 aspect ratio is perfection for gaming. it just moves all the cloggy u.i to the edges. never have a cluttered screen again. you still have access to your minimap is just out of your vision when u don't need it. 21:9 is great for FPS games and MMOs.

[crunchrock]

For game devs working in an editor with a million windows and tabs like unity, the ultrawide upgrade offers a huge productivity boost, highly recommend ultrawide for game devs, and another 2x 1080ps for side displays

[lightningmcqueengaming]

21:9 34inch Ultrawide:
-Made writing essay's & programming a pleasure with 2 apps open

-Made any and ALL singleplayer games / campaigns look like a movie
-Gave me have an advantage seeing enemies sneaking up from >90 degree angles in shooters
-Allows me and my brother tons of room to see in our split screen games, as opposed to 16:9.

It's one of those things you don't know how amazing they are until you've tried them.

[atmunn]

I have to say that I disagree with almost everything you said in this video.

Ultrawides are great for most productivity work. The only issue I have ever come across with productivity is screen recording or streaming if the job requires it to be done in a 16:9 format.

Ultrawides are amazing for gaming, and except for legacy games (most, not all) the aspect ratio is not normally a problem. You mention that "Not many games actually support Ultrawide", and that may have been true 7 years ago when you had to make manual changes in .ini files to get the resolution to work. How many of the current top 100 steam games don't support 21:9? How many do? And I get that "supported" doesn't always mean good, but I have been daily driving an ultrawide for over 7 years and have found that for any game I have played that was released in the last decade; it has looked better on an ultra-wide than on a 16:9.

My understanding is that pros don't use them because most tournaments standardise on 24" 1920x1080 monitors (although happy for someone with actual experience to correct me here). So unless you are going to be competing at the highest level, why limit yourself from the (subjectively) better experience?

Everyone's experience will vary, and what you say may be true for yours, but c'mon... to say blanketly that ultrawides aren't good for productivity and aren't good for gaming is objectively wrong.

[ark]

Basically, this guy says, don't buy this thing because it has CONS

While not weighing it with the pros. A curved ultrawide rules on a sim setup and for FPS games.

[Channel-iude]

Use your ultrawide in PIP mode and connect it to two video input ports on your graphics card and you can then use this monitor as if it were two screens but without the bezel. This will be more like a physical monitor, in that you can actually drag the window to the right side of one half of the screen and it will snap to that side, allowing you to have up to 4 windows open and easily snapped to each side.

[cosmic_gate]

The oled mouse trap was absolutely worth every penny and I would do it again. The color gamut, the instant response, 0 ghosting, infinite contrast, ill never settle for backlit displays again.

[TeckleEh]

As a programmer and gamer ultrawide is by far the best for both. Ultrawide means I can side-by-side windows with more than enough space for windows to be useful.

In the last 7 years I have yet to come across a game that doesn't support ultrawide. Are there games that look better on 16:9? Sure - just change the resolution and play on 16:9 - it makes literally no difference.

[MisterEmoto]

I daily drive a G9 super ultrawide, and I love it . I don't know where all the hate comes from, but I don't do creative tasks like editing or work from home on my computer . I just play games and watch YouTube. On the rare occasion that I do need a 16 by 9 display I just split into two. It's so nice only having one set of monitor cables on my desk.

[ralph.aguinaldomd]

Ultrawide is great for work. Viewing 2 apps at the same time is a time saver when doing research papers and PowerPoint presentations.