Wow! Am I impressed or what? Checking out the LG 34UC79 ultrawide gaming monitor has been nothing but a dream for me. Using this panel is my first experience with ultra-wide gaming monitors – usually I use a 27″ standard widescreen monitor from LG – and I don’t ever want this screen to leave my desk. Come on LG, throw me a bone yeah? To let you know, LG provided us with the monitor to review, but all things said, I loved it.

When I first opened up the incredibly large box, the monitor seemed a little intimidating sitting in the place of my old one. Stepping back you’re greeted with this giant monitor that seems like it has this massive curve, stretching around 83cm across the desk. However, once plugged in using HDMI straight to my graphics card and actually sitting at my desk, that curve disappears. It’s very subtle, and enables users to still see the edges of each side in their peripheral vision. The physical size of the monitor sits at 83cm x 45cm with a depth of around 25cm due to the larger stand on the bottom.

The stand can be moved up and down, and even from left to right depending on the monitor’s placement on your desk and whether it’s at an angle. It’s a nice touch. I myself have a monitor riser which can hide my keyboard. Although not used for this review, it’s nice to see that the monitor can be lowered enough to still sit comfortably on my chair. For those among us who are taller than the average human, you can raise the monitor pretty high. The motion is smooth and feels very solid on the stand.

The bezel of the LG 34UC79 is shiny black, paired with a matte black stand. There is a hint of red giving that LG style on the rear of the stand too, which makes the whole thing look very sleek indeed. The resolution sits at 2560 x 1080p giving this monitor an overall aspect ratio of 21:9. Usually wide screen monitors and even things like televisions sit at a 16:9 aspect ratio, so you can tell the difference here. The screen is 34″ in size, which is still measured from corner to corner.

One thing that will benefit you gamers out there is the 144Hz refresh rate. This sort of thing can be noticed on the more intense movement titles like Counter-Strike: Global Offensive or Battlefield 1. Those RTS gamers among us won’t really need those high refresh rates though. Constant moving like racing games again will look and feel a lot smoother. It also includes AMD FreeSync technology, so those with a Radeon graphics card will notice the monitor, depending on what’s being played or watched, will switch refresh rates between the lowest of 50Hz right up to 144Hz.

Picture quality on the LG 34UC79 is absolutely superb, boasting really deep black levels combined with some really bright whites. LG have always reproduced images very well, and it’s no different here. During gaming sessions, darker moments, such as Little Monsters that we’ve just finished playing looked absolutely stunning, capturing so much detail within the darker, more inkier parts of the game. When playing on Battlefield 1’s Argonne Forest map, the darker areas such as the underground E on the Axis side looked amazing. As soon as you stepped out of the cave into the deep woodland, the blend of lighter darker colours really made this game shine. That plus the extra wide angle view made this game a truly enjoyable experience.

This picture quality also translates into movies, and there are even some preset image modes. It’s easy to switch between profiles too by using the nib like control stick just under the centre of the monitor, although I didn’t really see any reason on why you would. There are noticeable differences, but LG’s default image quality profile is so good, I felt like there was no need to ever change. But again, using the default setting, and watching a movie such as the Dark Knight Rises, with it’s very sharp contrast differences between dark and light colours really popped, and could be slightly compared to the more expensive HDR panels. One thing to note, films use conventional 16:9 aspect ratios, so do expect some knarly black bars either side of the image. There’s no way around this if you want to keep people’s faces from stretching out.

The LG 34UC79 ultrawide gaming monitor I would say is a superb option for those wanting to get a more immersive gaming experience. Movies too are also a pleasure to witness on here. There are no speakers, but people who opt for these kinds of monitors are going to have some kind of fancy set up anyway. Once paired with a high end speaker system or headphones, you’re going to be blown away. I was, and as I said at the start, I still am. The price of this monitor compared to others on the market is absolutely astonishing, and I was able to find it online for around £480.