Ultrawide monitors are no longer a luxury item. With the average person spending more on a mobile phone than many of these cost it makes sense to look at some of the offerings to give consumers a good idea of whats out there.

Today we look at the LG 34CB88-P. This is marketed as a business monitor so I will look at it from that view and than harshly judge it as a gaming monitor as well.

The base stats:

  • 3440 X 1440 resolution
  • IPS panel
  • 99%+ color gamut
  • 1000:1 contrast
  • 5MS GTG response time
  • 75Hz response time with FreeSync

Sure there are more numbers then that, but that gives us something to work with. So it has been a few months with this monitor running through using it for work, life and play and there are some thoughts I have on each one.

Work

When working I want efficiency and simplicity and I feel like I got both with this with no effort. the resolution is as good as 2 smaller monitors so using the split screen and the quad split worked well when it was needed albeit very infrequently. For a work monitor I think that the only thing I could as more of would be a 4K screen resolution to just get that extra real estate. Going into this I knew I wasn’t getting that so I can’t really knock the monitor for not giving it to me.

Life

For basic browsing and life stuff this is all many people could ever need. The colors are vibrant and the screen looks great. Once again the ease of the menus for color adjustments and volume make this monitor an easy choice for any end user.  Nothing really more to say about the life section, it works well and that’s probably the most important thing for anybody.

Games

Gaming was something that I needed out of a monitor, but all of the categories were taken into consideration when the purchase was made. The monitor works well for gaming, the resolution doesn’t seem to work well with all games though that isn’t the fault of the monitor but some of the 10+ year old games I insist on playing.the refresh rate is noticeable both being above 60 and being below 144. This is something that could be improved on but is still something I would call reasonable and usable. I’m not a huge refresh rate snob since I don’t play competitive FPSs, if that’s your jam get a 144Hz and don’t look back. Playback was smooth with little noticeable tearing.

Some Crazy Final Thoughts

Not quite worth it.

Want more?

I realize I didn’t have anything negative to say above, but yet didn’t recommend this monitor in the end. The reason is there is always something else out there. If you want it for work or life and don’t need the curve you can go with the LG 34ub88-P same great stats as above and same work and life usability at a much lower cost. For the gaming side there are also just better options out there.  The Acer XR342CK just a better gaming experience flat out while still being the same price. So in closing, if you find it for a discount or sale, pick up the LG 34CB88-P and you won’t be sad. You will be very happy with the purchase and won’t notice anything lacking.