LG 34' UltraWide Curved Monitor 34WR55QK Review

You’ll receive the stand base, stand column, 140W power adapter with 5 ft cord, 5 ft power cable, 5 ft HDMI cable, 5 ft USB-C to USB-C cable, cable management clip, manuals, and the curved display. The screen measures 14” tall by 32” wide, with a thickness of about 2.5” giving it a 34.5” diagonal. Assembly takes only a few minutes and is simple and straightforward. The monitor can tilt forward to up to a 5° downward angle and back up to 20°. Note that the screen does not rotate to portrait orientation due to the curve, but its height is adjustable from 4 – 8.25” above your desk. The rear I/O panel has 2x USB-A 3.0 output ports, AUX out jack, power port, 2x HDMI 2.0 input ports, 1 DisplayPort 1.4 input, and USB-C up-link hub with 65W Power Delivery charging that also supports DP Alt Mode input. Note that the 2 USB-A ports won’t work unless the USB-C is connected to an uplink device like computer or laptop. Below the I/O is a Kensington lock slot, and underneath the chin below the logo is the multi-function power button 5-way joystick for the OSD menu.

After plugging in the monitor and connecting at least 1 input source, you can slide the cord guide onto the center column to manage the cables. The guide slides up and down the column so you can adjust its position with the screen height. Clicking the power button powers on the monitor on as well as brings up the settings. The button has an LED power light that can be toggled off in the settings. This VA panel has a 3440x1440 (WQHD) max display resolution, 21:9 aspect ratio, and 1800R curvature. To get my laptop’s output to fill the screen, it had to be connected via HDMI with its display resolution set to 3440x1440 and Aspect Ratio in the OSD set to "Full Wide". Since the monitor is curved, it is best viewed dead center from a distance of about 2 feet. There is a little bit of a color shift at off angles, but the curvature lets you see to the edges of the screen without noticeable distortion. The ultrawide format gives you extra screen real estate for having multiple windows open at the same time and is great for productivity and creative applications like photo editing and digital art. I found it quite useful for video editing, too, as I could see more of the timeline all at once.

The display brightness goes up to 300 nits which is not the brightest monitor I’ve used, but it supports HDR10 and is still plenty bright without being harsh on my eyes. Colors look well-saturated, accurate, and lively, however, even in HDR picture mode, colors aren’t as vivid as on the OLED panel of my laptop, since the contrast ratio is 3000:1 versus essentially unlimited. If you’re having trouble distinguishing objects in dark scenes, increasing Dark Stabilizer in the OSD may help. It also has 8-bit color that covers 99% of the sRGB color gamut (though not the wider DCI-P3). One feature I found interesting is the “Color Weakness” picture mode which is designed to assist those with red/green color blindness. There’s also a “Reader” mode that lowers contrast and blue light and desaturates the screen for easier reading of text with less eye strain. The “HDR Effect” picture mode produces the brightest and boldest colors, though they can sometimes feel unnaturally intense.

Although the max refresh rate of 100 Hz is less than that of current gen gaming monitors, motion on it still looks fairly smooth when scrolling through text and moving windows. That plus its 5 ms GTG response time still makes it a usable screen for casual gaming. As for watching movies in fullscreen at 21:9 ratio, your mileage may vary whether or not you’ll see black bars on the left and right sides of the screen, if you’re using a streaming service that doesn’t natively support this format. Remember that this monitor doesn’t have built-in speakers, so you’ll need to plug in external speakers to the AUX port or use headphones. DP Alt mode lets me connect my phone or laptop to the display via USB-C with display out capabilities. When receiving signals from multiple inputs, you can have the monitor auto-switch or display both inputs side-by-side using the PBP option in the OSD menu. Just note that the refresh rate may be capped at 60 Hz and some of the settings like picture mode are not available in PBP.

Overall, this monitor is a very nice ultrawide monitor that will work great for most non-gaming uses including digital art and content creation. Text is crisp and clear, visuals are smooth, and color and contrast look great whether streaming video, gaming, or simply browsing the web.

[robincircle]

Great review. Thank you for this! I ordered this for music production and didn't think to see how/if it works on mac. Your review checked all of the other boxes in regards to questions though!

[TheLongboardSpecialisteFR]

I didn't understand why I didn't have sound on this screen but now I know why thanks to your video. I'm French, I bought this screen and the description specified that it had speakers. I'm disappointed with my store. I'm going to see them tomorrow.
Thank you for your helpful video! 👍😄

[SimpleLifeMJ]

is there a way to adjust the screen sz for each input device? It appears to equally split each but I need input 1 to have more screen sz.