Is an ultrawide monitor for you? What do you get and what do you lose by going the ultrawide route? Are ultrawide monitors worth the money?
These are some of the questions we’ll be answering in this article, allowing you to decide whether an ultrawide monitor suits your needs.
First of all, note that there are two types of ultrawide monitors, with 21:9 and 32:9 aspect ratios. 32:9 is also referred to as ‘super-ultrawide.’
In comparison to the standard 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio, ultrawide monitors provide you with extra horizontal screen space, while the vertical screen space is reduced, that is, when comparing two screens with the same diagonal size and different aspect ratio.
So, a 25″ 21:9 monitor is wider than a 25″ 16:9 display, but it’s also shorter. Here’s a list of popular ultrawide screen sizes and how they compare to popular widescreen sizes.
- 30″ 21:9 – equivalent height to 24″ 16:9, but ~33% wider
- 34″ 21:9 – equivalent height to 27″ 16:9, but ~33% wider
- 38″ 21:9 – equivalent height to 30″ 16:9, but ~33% wider
- 40″ 21:9 – equivalent height to 32″ 16:9, but ~33% wider
- 49″ 32:9 – equivalent to two 27″ 16:9 monitors side by side
- 43″ 32:9 – equivalent to two 24″ 16:9 monitors side by side
- 43″ 32:10 – equivalent to two 24″ 16:10 monitors side by side
- 57″ 32:9 – equivalent to two 32″ 16:9 monitors side by side
UltraWide Monitors For Office Work
So, is an ultrawide monitor worth it if you just want to get as much screen real estate as possible for productivity, spreadsheets, multi-tasking, etc?
Well, if you need a lot of screen space, you should be getting at least a single 27″ 1440p monitor. It has a high enough pixel density for sharp text and plenty of screen real estate without any scaling necessary.
Nowadays, you can find a 34″ 3440×1440 monitor with a VA panel for ~$250, while an IPS version for color-accurate work will cost you around $300.
The cheapest 27″ 1440p monitors go for ~$150.
So, an ultrawide monitor offers better value for money when it comes to office-related work. Since 27″ 2560×1440 and 34″ 3440×1440 monitors are the same height, you can also combine them for a dual setup.
38″ and larger ultrawide monitors are significantly more expensive, so they’re not very cost-effective if your main goal is to have a lot of screen real estate.
UltraWide Monitors For Watching Videos
One thing that looks particularly great on 21:9 ultrawide monitors are movies shot at aspect ratios between 2.35:1 and 2.4:1.
On regular 16:9 screens, these movies have black bars at the top and bottom of the screen, but they fill the entire screen on 21:9 ultrawide monitors, resulting in a more immersive viewing experience.
16:9 content will have black bars at the sides of the screen on ultrawide monitors, but through the use of browser plugins or video player settings, you can choose to zoom in or stretch the picture to fill the screen, though this is not recommended.
There are some “21:9 videos” that are just 16:9 videos with black bars added at the top and bottom of the image, usually found on streaming services, such as YouTube and Netflix, which will look like this:
To fix this, you can use Zoom to Fill – UltraWide Video or a similar browser extension to fill the screen without clipping any details or stretching the image.
There are no 32:9 super-ultrawide movies and very few 32:9 videos available, so you’ll have to cope with black bars at the sides of the screen for most content.
The main reason to get a super-ultrawide monitor is to play compatible games or mixed-use.
UltraWide Monitors For Editing
If you’re looking for a color-accurate ultrawide monitor, you’ll need one with an IPS panel and an appropriate color gamut.
When it comes to audio and video editing, ultrawide monitors are very popular as they provide you with a wider view of your timelines, making for easier editing.
For photo editing, the ultrawide format is not necessary or particularly useful. Moreover, it’s cheaper to get a 4K IPS monitor with a decent color gamut and factory calibration than an ultrawide display with the same features.
UltraWide Monitors For Gaming
Keep in mind that consoles do not support ultrawide resolutions natively, so you’ll be forced to either stretch or crop and zoom in the picture to fill the screen, therefore, we don’t recommend ultrawide monitors for console gaming.
As far as PC gaming goes, it comes down to the user’s personal preference and game compatibility.
The ultrawide format increases your field of view, which results in a more enjoyable and immersive gaming experience. However, some competitive titles (Valorant and mostly Blizzard games, such as Starcraft, Overwatch and Diablo) don’t support ultrawide resolutions precisely for this reason.
Bigger ultrawide monitors aren’t intended for competitive gaming anyway; for instance, even though you might spot an enemy in a left corner that wouldn’t have appeared on a widescreen monitor, by the time you divert your attention to it, another enemy might appear elsewhere.
For competitive FPS gaming, players prefer smaller monitors (24″ – 27″) as they allow them to see most of what’s happening on the screen at once.
The MSI MAG301RF is a unique 30″ 2560×1080 ultrawide with a fast 200Hz refresh rate and quick 1ms response time speed. Since it’s only as tall as a regular 24″ screen, if you sit a bit further from it, you’ll be able to see the whole screen and take advantage of the ultrawide format in supported games.
Ultrawide monitors are exceptionally good for graphically-oriented games and most newer titles support ultrawide resolutions natively.
Even with most older games, it’s possible to add ultrawide support through mods, editing the hex values, or using the flawless widescreen application for a one-click fix.
How to fix black bars in cutscenes on ultrawide monitors?
There are games with native 21:9 support that may still show in-game cutscenes as 16:9 with black bars at the sides of the image. If the game isn’t available in the flawless widescreen application. there’s a quick and easy fix for this using a free HEX editor, such as HxD (link to the official website).
Download HxD, drag and drop the .exe game file to it, go to ‘Replace…‘, select the ‘Hex-values‘ tab, put ‘39 8E E3 3F‘ in the ‘Search for‘ box, and ‘8E E3 18 40‘ in the ‘Replace with‘ box for a 3440×1440 monitor, select ‘All‘ for search direction, ‘Replace All‘ and ‘Save‘.
The program will automatically create a backup .exe file as well.
If you have an ultrawide monitor with a different resolution, you’ll need to put a different hex code in the ‘Replace with’ box depending on the exact aspect ratio:
2560x1080 (2.37:1) - 26 B4 17 40
5120x2160 (2.37:1) - 26 B4 17 40
3440x1440 (2.38:1) - 8E E3 18 40
3840x1600 (2.4:1) - 9A 99 19 40
5120x1440 (32:9) - 39 8E 63 40
7680x2160 (32:9) - 39 8E 63 40
Note that pre-rendered 16:9 cutscenes will still be shown with black bars, but this won’t be as immersion-breaking given that there are only a few of those in most games.
Sadly, even some newer games, such as Elden Ring and Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 don’t support ultrawide resolutions natively. You can use mods to fix this, but then you can’t play online as it may result in a ban.
So, whether or not an ultrawide monitor is worth it for gaming depends on the type of games you play.
Conclusion
Hopefully, we provided you with enough information to decide whether an ultrawide monitor is for you, but feel free to leave us a comment below if you have any questions.
