VIOTEK GN34C Ultrawide QHD Curved Monitor REVIEW

I have been an avid fan of LG monitors for some time. One of my TV’s is an LG and in my opinion, it has the best blacks in the market. For the past few years, my office monitor has been an LG (34-inch ultra wide) and while it’s been a really nice monitor, this VIOTEK monitor is taking its place. Even though the aforementioned LG monitor was an ultra-wide monitor, it was not curved and that is something I’ve really wanted to introduce to my setup for some time. Another factor that pushed me to upgrade my monitor to the VIOTEK was that the LG was only 60 hertz whereas the GN34C is 100 Hertz. It was definitely time for a change.

DETAILS

The VIOTEK GN34C is designed with top gaming specs and professional business tasks in mind. The monitor features flicker-free video with superior color reproduction. The GN34C has 2.5 times the resolution of other full HD monitors. The 100Hz monitor refresh rate helps to alleviate eye fatigue while offering a greater viewing comfort than 60Hz and 75Hz monitors. The natural 1800R curve renders game environments more realistically. The widescreen monitor has an anti-glare treated screen significantly reduces glare without degrading image quality. Thanks to PIP technology, you can view content from two different sources at the same time. The GN34C also features true color precision and it brings HDR graphics to life. One of the biggest features of the GN34C is the inclusion of AMD FreeSync. The technology ensures smooth, clear movements even with intense action-packed games. FreeSync will nearly eliminate image distortions. As an added feature, users can turn on the widescreen monitor’s built-in GamePlus crosshair even when games have disabled crosshairs.

Specifications:

• Resolution: 3440x1440p
• Screen Ratio: 21:9
• Refresh Rate: 144Hz
• Response Time: 4ms with Automatic Overdrive
• Display Colors: 16.7M Colors
• Color Gamut: 115% sRGB / 85% NTSC
• Contrast Ratio: 3000:1
• Dynamic Contrast Ratio: 1000000:1
• Curvature: 1800R
• VESA: 75x75mm
• Ports: 1x DP 1.2 (cable included) / 1x DVI / 1x HDMI 2.0 / 1x 3.5mm Audio Input
• Backlight: E-LED
• Tilt Adjustable: Yes, -5° ~ 15°
• Dimensions (with Stand): 32.1 x 17.2 x 11.2 in
• Color Availability: Black & White

USER EXPERIENCE

The monitor does require just a bit of assembly in order for it to be functional. You have to connect the stand to the monitor, but VIOTEK makes it quite easy with a simple snap closure that has become popular with monitors. Assembly only takes about 5 minutes. One thing I did notice right away with this mount was that it’s not a standard vesa compatible mount. The GN34C does come with adapters so that you can attach the monitor to a vesa mount, but they don’t seem to be the best solution for that problem. I would have preferred a straight vesa mount option because I use a monitor arm on my desk and since there are no options for height adjustment on the stand, I will likely be trying to mount this monitor as well.

So how is the quality of a monitor that costs half the price of my beloved LG? It’s surprisingly great with some issues of course. The operation buttons are impossible to see as are the input ports. There is no real cable management included with the monitor stand and the cables hang down from the bottom of the monitor. This is something that bothers me a great deal as I hate cable clutter. I have worked out an option for hiding the cables, but I would have loved to see this be included with the stand or even on the back of the monitor itself.

Because sometimes I connect my monitor to a MacBook Pro with only USB-C ports available, I have to connect the display using a dock. I was coming from a Thunderbolt 2 monitor, which included a lot of ports but when you are using a dock or a PC, the extra ports are not a must-have. I chose to connect to the VIOTEK monitor using a Display cable so that I could get the full HD/4K option as a video signal. When it comes to bezels this monitor is as close to none as you can get. Yes, it has a bezel at the bottom but the sides and top are hardly there. This is a really nice improvement from my LG. I have also been enjoying the GN34C’s curved design. There are no reflections and 100 Hertz refresh rate is outstanding. I’ve used the monitor for a variety of productivity tasks (email, word processing, etc.) as well as graphically intensive production tasks like photo editing and video editing, and the all important gaming. The monitor has provided the wide color gamut I desire and visual performance I’ve needed from a monitor.

In addition to standard performance testing, I also used MotionMark to obtain a graphics benchmark for the monitor. Since I was using the Late 2018 MacBook Pro for this test, I was able to test it in four different ways — 60Hz with the Standard GPU, 100Hz with the Standard GPU, 60Hz with the Vega Pro 20 GPU, and 100Hz with the Vega Pro 20 GPU. As you can see from the screenshots included above, there is a significant performance spike when using the more advanced GPU for graphics performance with high-quality monitors.

Even though my primary uses of this monitor include professional business tasks I did test it out with a few games. I connected my XBox One X to the monitor and played Player Unknown Battlegrounds and Mortal Kombat. I thought both of these games were diverse enough — both in graphics and movement — that they would be a good test for the FreeSync feature. The picture was beautiful and immersive thanks to the curved display. Gameplay was smooth and the picture remained gorgeous throughout my gaming experience.

CONCLUSION

I never thought I would be leaving LG as my go-to monitor so I guess the moral of the story is never say never. VIOTEK is based out of Indiana — designed in Indiana repaired in Indiana but made in China — and makes some super nice inexpensive monitors that are absolutely wonderful. If you are looking to upgrade or buy your first monitor for gaming or just everyday work, VIOTEK should be your first stop on your list.

For more details, visit VIOTEK
Find VIOTEK on Facebook and Twitter.

Related

Originally published at macsources.com on December 6, 2018.