MSI MEG 342C QD OLED

I bought this monitor for Christmas with the aim of improving my gaming experience. I already have an OLED TV at home and was very satisfied with the image quality. Now I used a 32 inch 1440p 144Hz VA panel from Samsung. Because this was a budget monitor, I was never very satisfied with the colors of the monitor. They were a bit washed out and the pixel response times were downright poor. Image quality Thanks to the QD OLED pixel technology, this is the biggest advantage of the monitor. Because the pixels themselves emit light (instead of a large backlight), they can be turned off one by one. This way you get perfect black levels and therefore technically infinite contrast. In addition, the HDR display is really great. For example, with a game like Ori and the Will of the Wisps it is breathtaking. The brightness and saturation of the colors, while retaining detail in the dark parts of the screen. The 21:9 ultrawide aspect ratio really draws you into the game, which I experience less quickly with a 16:9. The colors are also almost perfect in demo videos on YouTube in HDR. You will also receive a calibration report for the monitor upon delivery. It is calibrated from the factory so that the colors match properly. Due to the DeltaE value of less than 2 (on my specific unit itself less than 1!), the colors are so accurate that it is indistinguishable from the "Artists Intent". However, I do not experience this good HDR display with everything. And this is not the fault of MSI or Samsung themselves, fortunately. Some games such as Forza Motorsport do not have good support for HDR display, which makes it look way too bright, leaving no contrast. HDR display on streaming apps such as Netflix and Disney+ also does not work over DisplayPort, only the HDMI 2.1 port. And if you use the HDMI connection, you will be limited to 120Hz, and not the smooth 175Hz. I'll stick with DisplayPort, because SDR playback is also very good on the monitor, and HDR can still be used in many games. Appearance The design is not to everyone's taste. The base is partly gold, which won't suit everyone. For example, if you have a wooden desk, this can look nice. Furthermore, the bezel at the bottom and the rest of the foot are a bit dark gray. They are not really black, which I would have liked better and less disturbing. What is also very nice is the so-called "MSI Spectrum Bar" that sits under the panel and shines on your desk. This can work as an RGB strip on the bottom of your monitor. This then goes through all the colors in a "wave" pattern. It can also be used as a kind of Ambilight on Philips TVs. This makes the different zones of the bar take on the color shown on the screen. This really doesn't work that well. The colors of the bar are very pale and do not match the color shown on the image. A nice gimmick, but it doesn't work very well. In addition, the foot is also very deep. This makes the monitor stable on your desk, but it takes up a lot of space. So make sure you have a reasonably deep desk to keep enough distance from the screen. Functions The most important additional feature I want to discuss is the KVM switch. This ensures that you can use your mouse and keyboard on different devices. You connect your keyboard and mouse to 1 of the 4(!) USB ports on the monitor. You can then, for example, connect a laptop via the USB-C connection (I will come back to that later) or a desktop with the USB-B upstream port. In my situation, I have a work laptop that I connect to the monitor with Thunderbolt. With this one USB-C cable I connect an extra screen, a mouse and a keyboard. The USB-C port can also supply 65 watts of power (it is turned off by default, why??) so that your laptop is also charged. So I have everything I need via 1 USB-C cable to my laptop. When I have finished working, the monitor automatically jumps back to DisplayPort to which my PC is connected. The KVM switch also does its job, so I now use the same mouse and keyboard for my PC. All in all, an excellent monitor for a very high price (1500 euros). At that price I don't recommend any monitor. It is now on sale for 900 euros and if you have that much money for a monitor, this is the most complete monitor for the price.

Great screen. Very nice image, really perfect. However, the box where your Vesa mount must be connected is a little different, so you will have to use the supplied standoff if you want to use a different arm.

Beautiful screen with many extra features such as the handy KVM and direct charging of your laptop with USB-C.