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Eyeing a curved monitor? Here are the pros and cons to consider

read original get Samsung Odyssey OLED G9 Curved Monitor → more articles
Why This Matters

Curved ultrawide monitors have moved from niche to mainstream option, and this first-hand take lays out the real trade-offs for buyers weighing a pricey upgrade. The immersion and multitasking gains are real, but inconsistent game support for 21:9 and 32:9 aspect ratios remains the biggest caveat.

Key Takeaways
Worth a Look

Samsung Odyssey OLED G9 Curved Monitor — This is the exact 49-inch super ultrawide the writer games on daily, and it's the poster child for curved immersion. Its 32:9 canvas wraps around your field of view, making cinematic games like Death Stranding 2 feel enormous, while OLED delivers deep blacks for dark scenes.

See Samsung Odyssey OLED G9 Curved Monitor on Amazon → Affiliate link — we may earn a commission on purchases, at no extra cost to you. Product picked by AI based on this article; it is not a tested recommendation.

As someone who has owned curved monitors for years, I'm obviously going to be a bit biased. For me, curved monitors are most definitely worth it, though I'd throw in a couple of caveats (which I'll touch on shortly). The biggest advantage of using a curved monitor? This type of display can provide addictively immersive gaming experiences. If you're a hardcore Steam player who spends dozens of hours a week playing the best PC games, a curved panel can be a great option.

I regularly play my favorite PC titles on my 49-inch Samsung Odyssey G9 OLED. It's a spectacular screen for gaming. So many larger curved monitors are either ultrawide or super ultrawide. When a PC port gets the sort of loving attention it deserves, the addition of proper support for 21:9 and 32:9 aspect ratios can be game-changing.

I've been playing a lot of Death Stranding 2: On the Beach lately, and watching Hideo Kojima's elaborately directed cutscenes in 32:9 feels incredibly cinematic. The flipside is that, unfortunately, many modern story-driven games still only support 16:9 cutscenes, leading to huge black bars on curved ultrawide monitors. Still, if you own a large curved display (that's likely to be 21:9), the increased field of view in racing games and first-person shooters can be transformative.

Curved monitors can also be great for productivity, especially when dealing with ultrawide models. My aforementioned 49-inch curved behemoth (that's 5120 x 1440 pixels) gives me the same screen real estate as working across two 27-inch 1440p screens. On a curved ultra or super ultrawide, it's easier to multitask thanks to those wider dimensions, making it a doddle to accommodate multiple browser windows alongside, say, Photoshop. On larger monitors, the curvature of the screen also makes it more comfortable to look at the edges. That's because they're physically closer to the center of the panel than they would be on a flat monitor, meaning you don't need to turn your head as much.