Displays & Projectors News - Page 11

Espresso is an Australian tech company specializing in creating portable touchscreen displays that are easy to take with you on the road but offer fantastic features and build quality. The latest and greatest entry for the company is the new espresso 17 Pro, which features a 4K display with a peak 450-nit brightness and color accuracy that will appeal to creators.

It works with a single USB-C connection and is compatible with thousands of devices, including Apple and Windows laptops. I had the chance to check out a preview of the new espresso 17 Pro at PAX Australia 2023, and what makes this display (and other portable displays from espresso) stand out is the focus on function, form, specs, features, and style.

With its lightweight aluminum build, the new espresso 17 Pro is minimal and sleek long before you turn on the vibrant display. Still, throw in the ability to attach it to easily the magnetic and adjustable portable stand that takes it to the next level. In seconds, you can set up your second display in several configurations, including desktop. Impressive stuff.

Buyer be aware, they say. A few weeks ago, I treated myself and bought Samsung's impressive Odyssey OLED G8 34-inch curved gaming monitor. It turns out I should have researched a little more before hitting the buy button.

Let's start with the positives, shall we? Samsung's Odyssey OLED G8 is a stunner. The panel is absolutely glorious. The colors, especially the blacks it produces through its OLED display, are amazing. Even just doing my usual work tasks in Windows is a joy. The image pops, and everything visually offers a great appearance and experience. Then comes gaming - my choice currently, Battlefield 2042 - and well, damn! Powered by the buttery smooth Inno3D GeForce RTX 4090 GPU, 34 inches of curved gaming goodness at 3440 x 1440, 175Hz refresh rate, and a blisteringly fast 0.03ms response time, the experience is golden - well, sort of.

The above paragraph probably makes you want to go right out and buy the Odyssey OLED G8. I wouldn't blame you - recommendations like the above made me do the same. But hold on. While the panel itself is one of the best you can buy currently, despite various firmware updates, some serious issues have yet to be fixed by Samsung since its release earlier this year.

Over the past decade, we've seen major improvements in gaming monitors - from color accuracy to response times to refresh rates, and VRR tech is now the standard. We're now at a point where a 60Hz display is more for productivity than PC gaming, where 100 Hz and higher is what most are looking for.

That said, a high refresh-rate gaming monitor is a must if you're an esports professional or someone who regularly jumps into Call of Duty, Counter-Strike, or Apex Legends. Because the higher you go, the more responsive and smoother fast-moving images become. Yes, there is a visible difference between 60 Hz, 144 Hz, and 240 Hz - to the point where it could give you the edge on the battlefield.

And with that, the new ROG Swift Pro PG248QP is pretty exciting because it's the "world's fastest esports gaming monitor," thanks to the inclusion of an ultra-fast and responsive 540 Hz overclocked panel with a built-in NVIDIA G-SYNC processor and 0.2 ms GtG response times.

BenQ's latest 4K HDR projector might be the one to turn you away from that TV life to the world of having a massive 150-inch cinema screen at home. The new BenQ X3100i is the company's flagship Gaming Projector, sporting excellent and vibrant color accuracy, low input lag (4ms), built-in speakers, and console and app support in a compact size.

With BenQ's 4LED light source, you're also looking at a very bright projector capable of working in most environments thanks to the 3300 lumens of brightness - which also means better HDR quality. And with 100% coverage of the DCI-P3 color gamut and a 600,000:1 contrast ratio, the specs here are certainly tasty.

For those with the room or space to install a projector (and the BenQ X3100i Gaming Projector is portable enough to fit on a coffee table), it's worth considering - especially with different picture modes to suit different gaming genres and the ability to save and remember profiles for various consoles.

The world's largest LED display, called The Sphere, located in Las Vegas, recently held its opening night, where U2 performed.

The performance by the band wasn't the most impressive part of the opening night, as thousands of videos have popped up on various social media platforms showcasing the incredible visuals that played on the 360-degree interior display. Notably, The Sphere began construction in 2018 as part of a collaborative multi-year $2.3 billion project between Sphere Entertainment and Madison Square Garden.

The new entertainment venue measures 366-foot-tall by 516-foot-wide and features a staggering 580,000 square-foot exterior LED display, which uses approximately 1.2 million "pucks," each capable of producing 256 million different colors. The Sphere was turned on for the first time on July 4, where it captured the attention of millions with incredible displays of fireworks, the American flag, planets, and more. That seemed to have worked, as the opening night featured more than 18,000 attendees.

MSI has a wide range of QD-OLED gaming monitors on the horizon, with no less than six models expected to hit the market in the coming months, according to this leaked roadmap from chi11eddog over on X. With a budget, ultrawide, 4K, 1440, and models that will feature an impressive 360 Hz refresh rate - MSI is going all in on the display panel technology.

It's hard to understand why the color accuracy, crisp blacks, infinite contrast, and near instantaneous response times of QD-OLED panels are hard to beat. According to the roadmap, the first model expected to hit the market will be the ultrawide MAG 341CQP QD-OLED with a resolution of 3440×1440 and a refresh rate of 175 Hz.

With the MAG branding, this model is expected to present a more affordable alternative to the current ultrawide MEG 342C QD-OLED Gaming Monitor from MSI. The roadmap also confirms that the 49-inch ultrawide QD-OLED Concept Monitor we saw at Computex is coming, though with a 144 Hz refresh rate instead of 240 Hz.

LG is mass-producing foldable 17-inch OLED panels for laptops as part of its commitment to extend its OLED reach to the business sector. At least for now, the aim is to deliver OLED's unmatched contrast and excellent color accuracy to the business space, where one half of the seamless foldable device could be used as a touchpad while the top half acts as the main display.

That means these won't be for gaming laptops that you can unfold for a two-screen gaming experience but for work-related productivity devices. LG is calling it Tandem OLED because it features two-stack OLED technology, which delivers an additional organic emitting later for increased brightness. Something that is definitely required for devices used outdoors or in bright environments like an office space.

LG also notes that the two-stack design offers improved stability and a longer lifespan, which it believes is "well-suited to IT devices which typically have longer usage times such as laptops, monitors, and tablets."

Recently, we had the chance to go hands-on with Samsung's Odyssey Neo G95NC, an impressive 57-inch 32:9 aspect ratio ultrawide gaming monitor. With its 1000R curvature, Quantum Matrix Technology (mini-LED) for brightness and contrast, 240Hz refresh rate (over DisplayPort 2.1 and HDMI 2.1), and 1ms response time, it's no wonder we called it "simply mind-blowing."

Throw in a resolution of 7,680 x 2,160, and Samsung is touting it as the world's first dual-4K gaming display - essentially two high-end 4K monitors Frankenstein-ed into a brand new monster. With a price tag of USD 2,499, the Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 is a luxury item destined for the most lavish dedicated PC gaming spaces.

And with that, you'd assume that an incredible over-the-top beast of a gaming monitor would demand to be paired with the most powerful GPU currently available - the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090. Well, it turns out there is one major problem. Connecting NVIDIA's flagship gaming GPU with Samsung's Odyssey Neo G9 limits the 8K (or dual 4K) output to 120 Hz.

AOC is attempting to hit the sweet spot for gaming with its newest addition to its line-up of gaming monitors. Introducing, the CQ27G2S/BK.

The new gaming monitor from AOC features a 2560 x 1440 (QHD) resolution that is a VA panel capable of reaching a top refresh rate of 165Hz. As for response times, the CQ27G2S/BK rocks a solid 1ms MPRT to make sure frames are blurry of ghosting begins to occur at higher refresh rates. Additionally, the CQ27G2S/BK is a 27-inch VA panel, which means it will come with a contrast ratio of 3000:1, and 99% sRGB coverage.

Other features include Adaptive-Sync technology designed to smooth out frames and reduce tearing, and a 1500R curvature for increased immersion levels. Buyers will also be able to use HDR10, and during long gaming sessions enable Low Blue Light mode to reduce eye strain. AOC Gaming will be debuting the CQ27G2S/BK by the end of September and it will be launching with a price tag of $272.

We think about OLED panel technology when we think about big-screen LG TVs or other big-name brands for that home cinema experience. OLED's self-lit pixels deliver vibrant colors and near-infinite contrast, with the added bonus of excellent response times for gaming. But there's another display panel technology that might just end up replacing OLED: MicroLED.

Like OLED, MicroLED panel technology features cutting-edge technology where LEDs the size of grains of sand work together to create bright, vibrant, and stunning images. The advantages of MicroLED over OLED are that you can get a brighter image and less chance of burn-in or other degradation over time. Plus, they can scale in size quite easily. The catch? MicroLED panels are very expensive to produce.

This brings us to the new 118-inch 4K LG MAGNIT, designed to deliver "immersive home entertainment" that's "befitting a super-luxury residence."