LG already jumped the gun by announcing new OLED monitors before CES kicks off in January; now the company is announcing another pair of panels, and these are designed for productivity.
The new LG UltraFine Display (32UQ85R) and DualUp Monitor (28MQ780) serve different audiences but are both meant to be placed in an office or remote workspace.
The 32-inch, 4K UHD (3840 x 2160) UltraFine monitor is the first to use LG’s “Nano IPS Black” panel, which the company claims is capable of a 2,000:1 contrast ratio and 98% DCI-P3 color gamut coverage. While this is no OLED, which uses individual self-lit pixels to enable perfect black levels, LG promises “realistic and nuanced black tones” from its IPS Black technology.
One nice feature carrying over from the UltraFine OLED Pro monitors announced last week is a detachable self-calibration sensor; this clip-on tool scans the monitor on a user-determined schedule and adjusts the pixels to show the most accurate colors.
Below are the UltraFine Display’s main specs:
- Size: 31.5 inches
- Resolution: 4K (3840 x 2160)
- Aspect ratio: 16:9
- Display tech: Nano IPS Black
- DCI-P3 color gamut: 98%
- Max brightness: 400 nits
- HDR: HDR400
- AMD FreeSync: Yes
- Response time: 5 milliseconds
- Stand: Pivot / Height / Tilt
- I/O: USB-C (96W power + data), HDMI (2x), DisplayPort, USB upstream, USB downstream (2x)
- Speakers: Yes, 5W (2x)
The UltraFine is meant for photo and video editors, graphic designers, and artists, and LG’s new DualUp Monitor is made for data crunchers and report writers. I say that because this monitor is flipped on its side in a vertical orientation. As such, the 27.6-inch screen has an unusual SDQHD (2560 x 2880) resolution and 16:18 aspect ratio.
The SD in the name, by the way, stands for Square Double (we don’t make this stuff up), and LG says it gives the UltraFine the same screen real estate as two 21.5-inch monitors. Several monitors can be rotated 90 degrees into a vertical stance, but this panel comes with a split-view feature so you can see easily snap multiple windows together, one on top of the other.
If your desk space is limited, the DualUp ships with LG’s Ergo stand, which has a small circular base that clamps to the side of most desks. It’s a nice space-saving feature for when your home office isn’t exactly its own room.
On a technical level, the DualUp isn’t as advanced as the UltraFine; it lacks AMD FreeSync, and has a worse contrast ratio and lower max brightness, though, as you’ll see in the below specs, the panel should be detailed and colorful enough for most users.
- Size: 27.6 inches
- Resolution: SDQHD (2560 x 2880)
- Aspect ratio: 16:18
- Display tech: Nano IPS
- DCI-P3 color gamut: 98%
- Max brightness: 300 nits
- HDR: HDR10
- AMD FreeSync: No
- Response time: 5 milliseconds
- Stand: Pivot/Height/Tilt/Swivel
- I/O: USB-C (96W power + data), HDMI (2x), DisplayPort, USB upstream, USB downstream (2x)
- Speakers: 7W (2x)
We don’t have a release date or pricing for these monitors, but LG promised to share more details at its virtual CES press conference on Jan. 4 at 8:00 a.m. PT.
