Michael Crider
Samsung makes some pretty sweet TVs, but it’s also deep in the PC monitor game, including models made specifically for gaming. The company’s latest Odyssey monitors feature big curved QLED panels and high refresh rates, and high price tags to match. They’re up for pre-order now, shipping on July 13th.
The Odyssey G7 (below) comes in 27-inch and 32-inch flavors, both packing a resolution of 1440p. That’s in between the standard 1080p and 4K, but it’s become the “sweet spot” for gamers looking to get sharp visuals and a resolution their graphics cards can handle at high refresh rates. And the G7 has that: its curved panel goes up to an impressive 240hz, with support for boy FreeSync and G-Sync. The VA panel is extra-curvy with a rating of 1000R, and its response time is just one millisecond.
Inputs include two DisplayPort 1.4 ports and one HDMI, but the monitor is lacking USB-C video. That’s a shame considering the high price: it’s going for $700 and $800 at the 27-inch and 32-inch sizes. That much dough will get you some decorative LEDs and VESA compatibility.
If money is no object, Samsung has a monster 49-inch version of this model called the Odyssey G9. At that size, the dramatic 1000R curvature is really noticeable. That boosted panel gets the resolution up to 5120×1440 (basically two of the smaller panels side-by-side), with the same specs as above plus boosted HDR1000 brightness. This massive screen comes with a massive price tag: $1700.
We reviewed Samsung’s last-gen gaming monitor a while back, and found it serviceable if not amazing. You might want to wait for a sale on these screens—Samsung’s displays seem to get discounted often.
