LG UltraGear 32GS95UE review

The new LG UltraGear 32GS95UE is not perfect. And yet it does a pretty comprehensive job of blowing every existing 32-inch 4K gaming monitor based on Samsung's QD-OLED panel tech into last month. Wait, make that last year.

The thing is, LG's take on the high-refresh 4K OLED gaming monitor riff isn't on a totally different level to those QD-OLED panels. In fact, it's very similar. But it is undeniably and unambiguously—even if ultimately pretty marginally—better. Hold those thoughts.

On paper, the LG UltraGear 32GS95UE is very similar to the likes of, say, the Alienware 32 AW3225QF, Asus ROG Swift OLED PG32UCDM, Samsung Odyssey G8 OLED G80SD, or MSI MPG 321URX. Whether it's the 32-inch panel size, 4K native resolution, 240 Hz refresh or 0.03 ms response performance, LG's OLED monitor looks like a dead ringer for that quartet of Samsung QD-OLED panels.

LG's 275 nit full-screen brightness rating is actually a little brighter. But that's a «typical» rating, with LG rating the panel at 250 nits «minimum». If it's a close run thing in theory, full-screen brightness is the one area where you might have come into this review with some doubts.

Screen size: 32-inch
Resolution: 3,840 x 2,160
Brightness: 275 nits full screen, 1,300 nits max HDR
Color coverage: 98.5% DCI-P3
Response time: 0.03 ms
Refresh rate: 240 Hz (480 Hz 1080p)
HDR: DisplayHDR 400 True Black
Features: LG WOLED panel, Adaptive Sync, 1x DisplayPort 1.4, 2x HDMI 2.1
Price: $1,399 | £1,300

That's because this LG monitor inevitably uses the WOLED panel technology from sister company LG Display, the subsidiary of the sprawling LG empire that makes the actual OLED panels which go into everything from monitors like this to TVs, phones, watches, cars and the rest. And the one metric by which LG WOLED tech has fallen short previously, is full screen brightness.

If that's now at least on par with Samsung QD-OLED, this particular 32-inch 4K beauty has something none of the Samsung-powered competition currently offers, namely a