21:9 monitors have done a good job of filling a couple niche positions in the marketplace. For someone that wants a single display to watch movies and use with the PC, the aspect ratio can work well. With many games, the wider field-of-view enhances games with more information on screen at once and a more immersive experience. Where they have fallen short is with their vertical resolution of 1080 pixels. Running two applications side-by-side makes everything feel cramped. For regular office work a 27” display for the same price has provided a better user experience.

Now we have the first 21:9 aspect ratio monitor with 1440 pixels of vertical resolution, the LG 34UM95. That provides the same vertical area as a 27” display but 3440 horizontal pixels instead of 2560. The larger size makes running two programs side-by-side equivalent to dual 20” displays at 1720x1440, or a 6:5 aspect ratio. Furthermore, the additional real estate makes it much easier to use for non-gaming or movie use. From spreadsheets to word processing, image editors to web browsers, the additional vertical space makes a large difference.

The LG 34UM95 is also the first non-Apple display to include Thunderbolt support. With three integrated USB ports you can use a single cable to drive the 34UM95 display and connected devices from a Thunderbolt equipped computer. An additional Thunderbolt connection allows you to connect another device directly to the 34UM95 as well. Unlike the Apple display there isn’t an Ethernet port, but there is integrated audio.

For traditional video cards the display includes a DisplayPort input and two HDMI ports. The HDMI ports are still revision 1.4a so they cannot support 60Hz refresh rates at the monitor's native resolution, but DisplayPort will run at 3440x1440 at 60Hz without any issues, including audio support. The monitor includes a full color management system with a 1-point white balance. As with previous LG displays, I have found that the CMS doesn’t work well and should be avoided. It improves the 100% readings but makes everything below that worse.

The 34UM95 includes two “Reader Modes” designed to make reading documents on-screen easier. In use what they do is pump up the red in the white balance. Since most displays ship with an overly-blue image by default, and people are used to that, this will help those people. If you have the display calibrated correctly, you wind up with an image that is very red and large errors in gamma and grayscale. Since these are easy to enable and disable in the menu system, if you like them it is easy to utilize it.

LG 34UM95
Video Inputs 2x HDMI 1.4a, DisplayPort
Panel Type IPS
Pixel Pitch 0.2325mm
Colors 1.07 Billion
Brightness 320 cd/m2
Contrast Ratio 1000:1
Response Time 5ms GtG
Viewable Size 34"
Resolution 3440x1440
Viewing Angle (H/V) 178 / 178
Backlight LED
Power Consumption (operation) 56W
Power Consumption (standby) 1.2W
Screen Treatment Anti-Glare
Height-Adjustable No
Tilt Yes, -5 to 15 degrees
Pivot No
Swivel No
VESA Wall Mounting Yes, 100mm VESA
Dimensions w/ Base (WxHxD) 32.7" x 18.5" x 6.8"
Weight 17 lbs.
Additional Features 3.5mm stereo out, 2x Thunderbolt, 2x USB 2.0, 1x USB 3.0, 2x7W speakers
Limited Warranty 1 year
Accessories DisplayPort Cable, HDMI Cable
Price $999

 

Additional Features and Usability
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  • FroggyTaco - Wednesday, June 18, 2014 - link

    Shopping this monitor @B&H I found a cheaper version. It appears to only lacking the TB option.

    LG 34UM65-P for $699 no TB ports
    LG 34UM95-P for $999 has TB ports
  • FroggyTaco - Wednesday, June 18, 2014 - link

    Nvm I failed to notice the resolution diff in my initial search.
  • Pork@III - Wednesday, June 18, 2014 - link

    "Very long array" :)
  • cas1 - Wednesday, June 18, 2014 - link

    What input was used when calculating input lag? I've seen other users report awful input lag on this monitor. Your review makes it seem amazing.

    Did you try DisplayPort 1.2 & did you have issues with it?
  • cheinonen - Thursday, June 19, 2014 - link

    HDMI is used for input lag, as it is for every display. I have had no issues with DisplayPort 1.2 with it, and I've had DP 1.2 issues with other displays.
  • japtor - Wednesday, June 18, 2014 - link

    I'm wondering about the lack of internal LUT...cause this guy says there is one, is he just mistaken?:
    http://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1213797-lg-34um9...
  • cheinonen - Thursday, June 19, 2014 - link

    I tested the internal LUT with the HDMI input and doing it manually it does not improve the image. Instead it improves 100% saturations and causes issues at every other level. For the PC, accessing the LUT requires using the LG calibration software, which I mention in the review would not run for me. They have sent me a new sample and I'm going to try to do it again.
  • japtor - Thursday, June 19, 2014 - link

    Thanks, hope it works out.

    BTW according to this guy the display can also apparently work as a KVM with the TB and USB uplink port on separate machines:
    http://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?p=26774...
  • TrackSmart - Wednesday, June 18, 2014 - link

    Nice review.

    A photo showing two documents side-by-side on the display might give readers a better sense of how a wide-aspect monitor compares to dual monitors for productivity. Maybe with something in the image for a sense of scale? In either case, your thoughts on productivity were quite helpful for those of us who don't watch movies on their computer screens.
  • GTVic - Wednesday, June 18, 2014 - link

    A 20" 4:3 + 24" 16:10 dual monitor setup is a decent setup and wider. You would need 3:1 or 27:9 instead of 21:9 to match. So about 8" more width, 880 more pixels, giving 4320x1440.

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