South Korean tech conglomerate LG produces a great range of consumer tech products, and while I’ve always had a soft spot for its now defunct mobile division, the company is perhaps best known for display panels. The specific unit that handles producing these panels, LG Display, is one of the pioneers of OLED display technology. And so it’s no surprise the company has crafted one of the best-looking monitors I have ever laid eyes on—the clunkily named LG UltraGear 32GS95UE.
For the sake of brevity (and my fingers) I will just call this product the UltraGear going forward: this is a 32-inch monitor with an OLED panel that can produce pure deep blacks, and reach a peak refresh rate of 480Hz (if you use it at 1080p resolution), or 240Hz at 4K resolution.
There’s also near-instantaneous (0.03ms to be exact) response time and near-infinite contrast ratio and excellent contrast across the entire panel. I’m also a fan of the matte display, full range of motion hinge that allows the monitor to be adjusted in height, tilt, and pivot freely.
Of course, since this is a gaming monitor, there’s also an LED lightstrips on the back, which I quickly turned off after taking the below product shots.
Setup was extremely easy: the monitor attaches to the pivot hinge with a snap, and the arm holding up the monitor is screwed onto the plate via screws that can be turned with your finger, requiring no screwdrivers, hex keys, or any extra tools. The monitor went from in the box to setup and ready to go in under four minutes.
I had previously tested the Xiaomi gaming monitor, which I thought was pretty good, but as soon as I saw the far superior LG OLED panel, I couldn’t go back. I took apart the Xiaomi monitor and shoved it under the bed.
To be fair, there is a huge price difference: the Xiaomi 180Hz monitor retails for about $300. This LG UltraGear goes for $1,200. But it’s far more capable, so you get what you pay for.
This LG 3840 x 2160 OLED screen is a proper 4K panel, and as mentioned, has a matte coating, so it does not reflect light in that distracting way like most screens we own. Maximum brightness gets up to 1300 nits for HDR content, which is on the higher end for monitors.
The UltraGear offers a pair of HDMI 2.1 ports and a single DisplayPort 1.4a. There are a pair of USB-A 3 ports for accessories, and one USB-B for potential firmware updates.
There’s a single four-direction nub on the backside to control the menu system. While the UI is easy to navigate, I wish it was located on the bottom of the monitor instead of behind. I always need to dig around a few seconds before my finger could find the nub.
The UltraGear is is officially validated with both FreeSync Premium Pro and Nvidia G-SYNC for VRR (variable refresh rate) too.
Here’s confession time: I am not a serious gamer, and in fact I don’t even own a gaming PC rig. I used this monitor with the newest MacBook Pro, and although Apple’s laptop can run some AAA titles now, they’re still behind what the best gaming PCs could do. But obviously, the LG UltraGear handled any game I threw at it with ease, including Shadow of the Tomb Raider and NBA 2K24 without nary a stutter. I’ve spoken to former colleagues and other media peers who are serious gamers (and also reviewing this monitor), and they say this LG UltraGear performs as advertised, with no latency and producing stunning HDR visuals in games like Cyberpunk 2077.
While I am not hardcore gamer, I am a pretty avid video editor and watcher, and I really enjoyed using the LG UltraGear to do my video editing and consumer videos from YouTube or Netflix.
The LG UltaGear also have speakers built-in, but I find audio quality to be a bit cold and digital compared to my 16-inch MacBook Pro speakers. I know it sounds absurd to say a laptop speaker sound better than a large monitors, but Apple’s highest-tier MacBook speakers are the best in its class, and I just prefer the audio tuning there a bit more. But the LG UltraGear speakers get very loud and can fill a room.
Overall, the LG UltraGear is by many accounts (not just mine), the best looking OLED monitor on the market right now. The $1,200 asking price is steep, but if you can afford it, this is a splurge you’ll probably be happy with.
