Ultrawide screen monitors are picking up in popularity among PC users these days and Samsung’s Odyssey Neo G9 monitor is the result of the South Korean tech giant’s bid to establish its presence in the curved-ultrawide screen market.
But instead of following the trend, Samsung decided to up the ante and bring the competition to a new level with a super ultrawide monitor with the Odyssey Neo G9.
Build
The Odyssey Neo G9 is a huge monitor, it is so huge, in fact, that I’d recommend at least another person there with you when you assemble it. The monitor itself weighs 11.9kg and 14.5kg with the stand. This is not a product that you’d want to handle alone unless you are comfortable with the risk of scratching or dropping this pricey monitor.
Together with its stand, the 49″ monitor has a dimension of 1149.5mm (Width) x 537.2mm (Height) x 418.3mm (Depth) – that’s over 1 meter in width alone.
Its sheer size and weight alone mean moving it about afterward can be demotivating. I’d recommend anyone who gets it to properly plan the location of their work/game station to avoid needing to move it around afterward.
Price
In Malaysia, the monitor will cost you RM 7,999, a whooping cost for a monitor and effectively landing it within a high-ranged TV price range.
Specifications in a nutshell
Aspect Ratio – 32:9
Resolution – 5120 x 1440
Response Time – 1(GTG)
Screen Curvature – 100R
Brightness (Typical) – 420CD/m2
Brightness (Min) – 300CD/m2
Contrast Ratio Static – 1,000,000:1
HDR – Yes
HDR10+ – Yes
Colour Support – Max 1.07B
Refresh Rates – Max 240Hz
Power Supply – 100 – 200V
HDMI – 2 EA
HDMI Version – 2.1
AMD Freesync – Yes
Nvidia G-Sync – Yes
Game Mode – Yes
Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 utilizes mini LED backlighting, which contributed to its higher brightness and better local dimming. The monitor comes with 2 HDMI 2.1 ports and 1 Displayport 1.4 port.
It supports refresh rates up to 240hz, Freesync Premium Pro, and G-Sync. It also supports HDR10 and Freesync Variable Refresh Rate which will come in handy for next-gen consoles like the Sony PlayStation 5 or Microsoft Xbox Series X. The monitor does support VESA mounting and an adapter is included.
Gaming On It Is No Joke
I am personally using an ultrawide monitor, which I really like mainly for its wider viewing angle in games, which allows me to gain in-game advantage for certain games. Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 changed my view (literally and physically) of what an ultrawide monitor can do.
I can play my game in windowed mode and have a browser running next to it at the same time, this is something only super ultrawide monitors can do. I am quite amazed by the colour reproduction on Samsung Odyssey Neo G9, it delivers stunning image quality with great colour contrast and sharp images.
Do note that not all games support the super ultrawide resolution, but for games that do, it is the perfect monitor to play on. I’ve tried Forza Horizon 5 on it and the extra field of view made the game much more immersive while on the cockpit driving view, allowing a better view of my opponents through the side and rear mirror. I reckon the same can be said about other driving games with similar view options available.
I also played Cyberpunk 2077 with this monitor and the graphic quality with HDR on was another thing to behold. But for games that have HUDs located at the corner of the screen, it will be harder to look at them comfortably due to the edges of the screens being further now.
Though the monitor is heavily packed with great features and specifications, you’d need a beefy PC to fully enjoy it. My PC is running on i7 11700f and RTX 3080 but even so, I was not able to run certain games like Cyberpunk 2077 on maxed settings due to the massive amount of pixels required to be rendered on the monitor.
There are certain games that don’t support the aspect ratio for this monitor and will be running with black bars on the side with competitive games being most of them.
There is also the problem with video contents not displaying on the screen fully, or worse, they’d stretch unevenly resulting in an awkward viewing experience. This can happen when the aspect ratios of the content are different than the standard ratios handled by the monitor. But I’ve managed to remedy it by manually adjusting the window size playing the media to get the best experience.
Productivity On Steroids
My full-time job requires me to write coding on daily basis and in my field of work, we tend to have a lot of applications running in the background, and alt-tabbing regularly is a natural phenomenon.
With Samsung Odyssey Neo G9, I can have my coding IDE, browser, and database tool running side by side which reduces the frequency of alt-tabbing needed. I can do work concurrently while sitting in meetings that only require my role as an observer.
Productivity-wise, the monitor did play its part well in providing a more comfortable experience and a higher productivity outcome.
Verdict
Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 is a good end-game monitor for the ultrawide screen enthusiasts for sure, as long as one has a beefy PC to take full advantage of what the monitor can offer and is willing to fork out money for the high price of ownership. The super ultrawide screen of the Odyssey Neo G9 can provide an unparalleled gaming and working experience, though I’d recommend anyone planning to buy one to first do thorough research if the games they want to play on this monitor support the 32:9 ratio.
