Top critical review
2.0 out of 5 starsFeels quite sluggish in games for the so-called "1ms MBR response time"
Reviewed in Canada on December 17, 2023
Overall, it's about what I expected from a sub $200 monitor on sale during Black Friday sales. The colours and viewing angles are pretty good and I don't see any issues in that department. It doesn't have any height or rotation adjustments, just tilt, but that's pretty typical too. For casual internet browsing usage, this monitor feels totally fine.
Unfortunately, when it comes to gaming the response feels a bit sluggish compared to the other monitors I use regularly (even the BenQ one which I have from 5+ years ago). Admittedly, all my other monitors are TN and VA panels which are known to be quicker than the standard IPS panel, so perhaps that contributes quite a bit to the difference in response times, but it's sluggish enough that gaming wasn't enjoyable on it.
I wouldn't recommend this monitor to anyone for gaming. I'm currently using it as a second screen for my work laptop and it works fine for that so it certainly has its use cases, but I still don't think I would recommend this if it's not on sale since I feel that it's a bit too pricey for what it offers at its normal price.
Additional notes: After owning this monitor for a bit longer, I realize it's got even more cons than I initially reviewed.
1) For one, the power adapter has an extremely short cable which makes it a chore to find an outlet close enough to the monitor to make it work. Additionally, unlike typical monitor power cables, this one has a big block where it plugs into the outlet instead of a normal outlet head, so it can make adjacent outlets unusable depending on the power bar/outlet you're using.
Honestly, I could live with the power block blocking adjacent outlets, but the cable being too short is super annoying and limits where I can plug in the monitor.
2) Second, the VESA mount screwholes on this monitor are so shallow that the typical M4x12 screws that you get with VESA mounts are too long for them. This means that you can't screw the monitor to a VESA mount tightly with the default screws you would get with VESA mounts. I've never had this issue before with any of the 6 or so monitors I've played with before and I was honestly exasperated, especially with all the other issues this monitor has.
I made the VESA mount work by using some M4 nuts I (luckily) had lying around to shorten the M4x12 screws to match the depth of this stupid LG monitor's shallow screwholes, but I'm still docking another star.
3) Third, the HDMI port, DP port, and the power plug-in are plugins pointing straight out from the back, meaning the cables stick straight outward rather than downward. On top of this, the HDMI port and power plug-in is actually close enough to the VESA holes that a VESA adapter which has both 100x100mm and 75x75mm can potentially block the HDMI and/or power port.