AOC CU34G2X Ultra-Wide Curved 144hz Gaming Monitor Review

Performance

Out of the box, the monitor offers up some pretty respectable black levels and good brightness. For daily work and photo editing, I found it to be more than usable. Sure, it’s not a professional studio monitor, but it’s priced to reflect that, but the colours are plenty good for my needs.

This is a gaming monitor most of all though, and the added effect of throwing (compatible) games onto such a wide canvas is pretty amazing. I’m still a 4K 16:9 fan myself, mostly due to my available space. However, I still look in awe at the sheer level of immersion you get from these panels.

I tried it on Elder Scrolls Online, and for world bosses and raids, you can see so much more of the battlefield, which is fantastic.

In FPS games you just soak up a huge amount of FOV, allowing you to use a more natural peripheral vision approach while running around. It just feels more natural and you actually move your head side to side as you would in real life, without having to spin the camera all the time.

Plus for single-player adventure and RPG games, I think that’s where these monitors show their best. Skyrim, Assassins Creed, etc, feel so much more alive. There’s just simply more of the world on show at any one time, and it’s fantastic. The only downside is that games or cutscenes without ultrawide support show black borders, but you get used to it surprisingly quick.

Take this, for example, this is a 16:9 trailer on YouTube, that has burned in 21:9 bars at the top and bottom. We’re so used to seeing them, and you will get used to those side ones. Don’t worry though, there are browser add-ons that will nip that entire border away and get your content showing fullscreen. Plus, when you do watch a movie on this that’s in 21:9, you can reap that full-screen goodness, and honestly, it’s more movies than you realise, because again we’re so used to the black bars on 16:9 displays.

For work though, having two or even three full windows side by side is a huge advantage. Plus, you can throw up a huge amount of timeline in Premier, or a have a full 16×9 window for photoshop editing, with the additional space for your tools.