Best Ultrawide monitors to buy in 2021

A plethora of gorgeous ultrawide computer monitors have been introduced in recent years. They're made to provide a more expansive, immersive perspective for discerning office workers, content creators, and gamers, giving eye-popping images or just more workspace. Ultrawide, which are distinguished by their increased width in comparison to their height, are available in diagonal panel widths up to 49 inches. In the professional, gaming, and productivity realms, this extra horizontal screen area may be advantageous in a variety of ways.

Is an ultrawide monitor on your horizon? Perhaps, but you'll want to learn the ins and outs of these huge, bold screens first, since they're a bit of an investment in terms of both money and desk space. Here's all you need to know about it.

Here, we list out the best ultrawide monitors to buy in 2021:

• Philips 499P9H curved monitor
• Asus Designo Curve MX38VC
• BenQ EX3501R
• Dell U3419W

Philips 499P9H curved monitor:

If the other monitors in this review are ultrawide, we'll have to coin a new term for the Philips Brilliance 499P9H, because it's not even close to being an ultrawide display. It's a 32:9 screen, although the most of the monitors in this place are 21:9. Because a standard monitor has a 16:9 aspect ratio, the screen here is as large as two 16:9 monitors placed side by side — it's like having two monitors on your desk, but with a smaller footprint.

To fit everything in, the screen is a staggering 49 inches wide, so it's huge as a single monitor – but it's a lot more manageable than two. Because you can have so many windows and tool panes visible at once, this quantity of space is ideal for workflow. You may connect two computers and have the screen display what's on them side by side, just like many of the screens above, and the monitor also doubles as a KVM switch, allowing you to use only one keyboard and mouse.

It's a fantastic connection hub, featuring twin HDMI connections, DisplayPort, and USB-C for power, video, and data over a single cable. There are three standard USB connections for peripherals as well as a Gigabit Ethernet port, which is really helpful.

It's also, of course, a great showcase for creative work. It is compatible with 94% of P3 and 91% of Adober RGB. A brightness of 450 nits is acceptable. It features height, tilt, and swivel adjustments, so you can get it quite ergonomically set up.

Specifications:

• Screen size: 49-inch
• Aspect ratio: 32:9
• Resolution: 5,120 x 1,440
• Brightness: 450 cd/m2
• Response time: 5ms G2G
• Viewing angle: 178/178
• Contrast ratio: 3,000:1
• Color support: 16.7 million colors
• Weight: 15.3kg

Pros:

• Basically two 16:9 screens in one
• Good color range
• Great connectivity

Cons:

• Middling brightness
• May be too big for some

Asus Designo Curve MX38VC:

The Asus Designo Curve MX38VC is a spectacular display. The Asus Designo Curve MX38VC, unlike some of the other monitors on our list, was designed primarily for digital creatives. This translates to great color fidelity and a high resolution that will benefit picture and video editors.

It is, however, one of the most costly ultrawide monitors on this list, but if you're a digital designer, photographer, or artist seeking for the finest ultrawide monitor, the price is worth it. An extra plus is the built-in wireless charging pad.

Specifications:

Pros:

• 4K and Ultrawide
• Built-in Qi wireless charging

Cons:

• No HDR

BenQ EX3501R:

This great display has something unique up its sleeve: HDR capability, however it comes at a cost. This UWQHD resolution BenQ has a subtle curve to it that may not be to everyone's taste, but you do feel delightfully engulfed by what is a large display that also has a 6cm height adjustment in case it sits too low.

The BenQ EX3501R also offers a massive 2,500:1 contrast ratio and AMD FreeSync compatibility, making it a great monitor for both screen real estate and gaming.

Although it isn't a Thunderbolt cable, a USB-C cable provides outstanding single-cable connectivity for data transfer and video transmission.

Specifications:

• Screen size: 35-inch
• Aspect ratio: 21:9
• Resolution: 3,440 x 1,440
• Brightness: 300 cd/m2
• Response time: 4ms
• Viewing angle: 178/178
• Contrast ratio: 2.500:1
• Color support: sRGB 100%
• Weight: 10.4kg

• Huge display
• HDR support

Cons:

• Slight curve not for all
• Not cheap

Dell U3419W:

Dell’s newest ultrawide display – the Dell U3419W – retains its high position on our list, thanks to a winning combination of superb picture quality, fantastic connectivity, and great build quality. In addition to two HDMI ports and a DisplayPort connector, it now has USB-C, which can simultaneously connect the display to a laptop and deliver up to 90w of power for charging.

It has a KVM feature for connected devices too. Connect a single keyboard and mouse to the USB upstream ports to control two computers at once, both of which are visible at the same time via the Picture-By-Picture function. For graphics work, 10-bit color and 99 per cent sRGB coverage means excellent image quality too. While the U3419W is slightly pricier than its predecessor, we think the extra features and more modern connectivity offers future proofing that makes the extra expenditure worth it.

Specifications:

• Screen size: 34-inch
• Aspect ratio: 21:9
• Resolution: 3440 x 1440
• Response time: 5ms
• Who’s it for: Video editors, designers, creative professionals

Pros:

• USB-C support
• High color accuracy
• Lots of extra connectivity option

Cons:

• Less affordable than predecessor

What to look for in the best ultrawide monitor?

While the most common, comfortable size of an ultrawide is around 34 inches, the largest screens on offer are even wider, a whopping 49 inches wide. If you like the idea of such a massive screen, you should consider that you’ll need a large desk to accommodate it.

You may also want to think about how close to the screen you'll be sitting. If you sit too close to a large screen, you may find that it's uncomfortable to use, as you'll be turning your head to view certain parts of the screen.

In terms of resolution, look for WQHD (Wide Quad High Definition) – which gives you a pixel count of 2560x1440 – and a wide aspect ratio of 21:9. Usually the bigger the screen, the higher the resolution. Some of the best ultrawide monitors offer additional features such as picture in-picture or side-by-side, so you can connect up a couple of sources (like two computers, or a computer and tablet) to the same display.

There are some ultrawide monitors that offer 2560×1080 resolutions. While this still gives you more workspace compared to a regular 1080p widescreen monitor, we feel it's still a little too low to get the full benefit of the ultrawide aspect ratio. However, they are quite a bit more affordable than ultrawide monitors with higher resolutions, so if you're on a budget, these could be a good choice.

Another issue with ultrawide monitors is that the screen is so wide, the edges will be slightly outside your peripheral vision, when sitting at a normal working distance. To solve this, most ultrawide monitors are just slightly curved at the edges, subtly bending the image to bring it back into your vision. The effect works extremely well and makes it much nicer to work on an ultrawide monitor.

Ultrawide monitors vary based on panel technology and features. Ultrawide screens generally look just fine with vertical alignment (VA) panels, but the sharper, brighter and considerably more expensive in-plane switching (IPS) panel technology will offer better image quality.

Displays of all shapes and sizes now come with a range of optional extra features, such as 4K screens, color-accurate screens and gaming displays with fast refresh rates , low latency and adaptive-sync technology, all of which will certainly be great for all kinds of desktop use, from watching movies to using graphic design tools. Ensure your monitor is displaying perfectly with one of the best monitor calibrators.

While 21:9 is the most common ultrawide aspect ratio, there are even wider monitors with a whopping 32:9 aspect ratios. These offer even more workspace, but they are also more expensive, and take up more room on your desk.