Quick Answer
The curved monitors are not worth it for gaming if your kind of games does not support 21:9 aspect ratio. More so, considering that it has a wider field of view than what you get with many games, it may not be the most ideal monitor to get. Nonetheless, if you are the person who only plays games in the aforementioned ratio and you have the money to pay for the monitor, it may be worth it.
Curved displays have not been able to come to acceptance on mobile phones or even TVs, but they seem to have a say when it comes to gaming. But then, the big question that remains is whether or not these curved monitors are actually worth it when it comes to gaming.
For a long time, the things that matter most when it comes to gaming monitors are the refresh rates, pixel response times, as well as the maximum display resolutions. Nonetheless, the shape of the screen (flat or curved) has also joined in the line of things to consider. Just like everything else, the monitor comes with its advantages and disadvantages, so it will all come down to you to decide if it is worth it for you or not.
While the typical monitor has a ratio of either 16 by 9 or 16 by 10, the curved ultrawide may have a ratio of 21 by 10. What this means is that if you have a curved monitor that has a 16:9 aspect ratio, it will fall short of the benefits that you would get with the monitor that has greater aspect ratio.
Benefits of Ultrawide Monitors
Realistic view
The most important advantage that comes with the ultra-wide monitor is that it gives you a more realistic gaming experience most especially when you are playing some first-person shooter games.
What is more is that for the much wider monitors, their immersion experience is very good that they stand tall above every other thing you get except for the VR headsets. The realistic view that you get is as a result of the curve which blends with the way you view it.
Wider field of view
While this is the death of this monitor, it is also its resurrection. The field of view is one thing that makes it easy for many to appreciate the monitor because it captures a larger gaming environment in certain games than the flat monitor.
In addition, the greater field of view also helps to increase the realistic experience that the monitor delivers.
Better picture quality
Another benefit that you get with good curved monitors is the picture quality that they have. The reason why the picture quality is better with the curved screen is that it relays at an equal distance at all sides from you. Theoretically, this should deliver an even picture quality all through.
Drawbacks of the monitor
The first drawback of this monitor is that it doesn’t offer any significant advantage to your gaming experience. Let’s face it, the highly emphasized immersive experience may as well be overblown. In fact, if you look at the value that it offers, many gamers would have many reasons to drag their feet.
Not best for all games
The thing is that there is no single monitor that is good for every game, but there are some that are better for more games than others. The curved ultra-wide monitors may not necessarily be good for many games except when you are playing games that have many other opponents such as Fortnite and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.
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Also, you need to have games that support 21 by 9 resolution for you to be able to fully appreciate the monitor. The problem that you may get here is that the images may either stretch to fit the screen or it may be cut to fit in 16:9 ratio.
Distance
While there are those that will see this as rather trivial, the distance from one end to the other is something to consider. This is most especially when you are making use of the mouse. On the surface, it may not look very significant but because of the curve, the distance is more than the eye tells.
Price
This is one of the big problems with the monitor. Even though there are the cheaper ones, you will get to pay close to a thousand dollars to get one that is worth it. Of course, this places it at the very expensive side of monitors considering that for a much lower price you can get a great flat monitor.
Are Curved Monitors Worth It For Gaming?
With all that pointed out, the curved monitors are not worth it for gaming when you place the benefits they offer against their cons.
While it may be good for a gamer, the monitor may not be the best choice for professional use most especially if you are someone who enjoys video and picture editing. This is due to the fact that the curvature of the monitor can actually influence you final outcome if you are not extremely careful.
If apart from gaming, you are thinking of getting this monitor for video streaming also, the fact that most videos are not shot in the same resolution as the monitor means that you may not get so much from the monitor. It would have been the perfect choice for Blue-Ray Videos, but no one uses DVD anymore.
Finally, if you are thinking of getting this for normal office use, it may still not be worth it because of the price as well as the fact that it doesn’t offer a single advantage in that regards except when you are looking at multitasking since the screen is wide enough to have different programs all running at once.
Conclusion
You need to realize that the size of the monitor will greatly affect the gaming experience that you get. Also, the wider the monitor, the more it is different from the flat screen so with a much smaller curved monitor, the difference with a flat screen monitor will exist, but it may not be very significant most especially when you are looking at the immersive experience.
Generally, the ultra-wide monitors come with some benefits over the flat ones as shown above, but the benefits are too few and limited that they do not make any significant improvement to your gaming experience. More so, the kinds of games that you play will also determine whether you need to have this monitor or not.
