LG 32ML600M Review: Affordable 32″ 1080p IPS Monitor

The LG 32ML600M is an affordable 32" 1080p IPS monitor with wide viewing angles, wide color gamut and quick response time speed.

Bottom Line

As long as you don’t mind the low pixel density, the LG 32ML600M is an excellent 32″ 1080p IPS monitor with a 95% DCI-P3 wide color gamut and a 75Hz refresh rate.

Design:
(3.0)
Display:
(4.0)
Performance:
(4.0)
Price/Value:
(4.0)
3.8

Need a big and affordable 32″ monitor for everyday multimedia use? The LG 32ML600M-B might just be for you!

Image Quality

Thanks to its IPS panel, the LG 32ML600M monitor offers 178° wide viewing angles, ensuring that the colors, brightness, contrast and gamma will remain consistent regardless of the angle you’re looking at the screen.

Further, it has a wide 95% DCI-P3 color gamut coverage (~125% sRGB gamut size) for more vibrant and saturated colors, while dithered 10-bit color depth support provides smooth gradients.

With a peak brightness of 300-nits, the screen is able to get more than bright enough under normal lighting conditions. If you have a lot of direct sunlight or room lighting facing the screen, you might get some glare and will need to use blinders/curtains.

As expected from an IPS display, the static contrast ratio is 1,000:1, so you won’t get as deep blacks as that of VA panels. Of course, VA technology has its own disadvantages.

Another weakness of IPS monitors is IPS glow. It’s characterized as visible glowing around the corners of the screen that gets more noticeable at high brightness settings when watching dark content in a dark room. Its intensity varies from unit to unit, but it’s manageable in most cases.

The LG 32ML600M has a resolution of 1920×1080 (Full HD), which on its 31.5″ viewable screen results in a low pixel density of 70 PPI (pixels per inch).

In comparison, a regular 24″ 1080p monitor has ~92 PPI. So, you will get less screen real estate on the 32ML600M. Moreover, details and text will not be as sharp.

When playing games or watching videos, the low pixel density is not that big of an issue, especially if you’re sitting a bit further away from the screen. In fact, at ~4 ft (~120cm) away, individual pixels won’t be discernible at all.

For everyday activities, such as web surfing, writing e-mails, etc., the low pixel density is also tolerable. However, if you plan on using the monitor for a type of work that involves a lot of writing and requires a lot of screen space, you should get a smaller 1080p monitor or a higher-resolution model.

Performance

The LG 32ML600M input lag amounts to only around 9ms, which makes for imperceptible delay between your actions and the result on the screen.

It also has a fast pixel response time speed as there’s no particularly noticeable ghosting behind fast-moving objects. The ‘Faster’ response time overdrive option introduces overshoot, so we recommend sticking with the ‘Fast’ mode.

If you’re using the monitor over HDMI, you can bump up its refresh rate from 60Hz to 75Hz, which will provide you with a small but noticeable boost in motion clarity as long as you can maintain ~75FPS.

Sadly, AMD FreeSync is not supported for a variable refresh rate.

The backlight of the monitor is flicker-free as it doesn’t use PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) to regulate brightness and there is a Reader mode that reduces the emission of harmful low-blue light.

Features

LG 32ML600M On Screen Control

There’s a directional joystick for quick and easy navigation through the OSD (On-Screen Display) menu beneath the bottom bezel of the screen – or you can use LG’s OSC (On-Screen Control) desktop application instead.

Other useful features include Black Stabilizer (improves visibility in dark scenes), crosshair overlays and various picture presets.

Besides the standard image adjustment tools (brightness, contrast, aspect ratio, input source, etc.), you also get access to advanced settings, such as 6-axis hue/saturation, sharpness, manual color temperature fine-tuning in 500K increments and four gamma modes.

Note that Auto Input Switch is not available on this model, so if you connect a new source to the screen, you’ll have to manually select it in the OSD menu.

The LG 32ML600M display also supports HDR (High Dynamic Range). However, due to its low peak brightness and lack of local dimming, you’re not getting the true HDR viewing experience.

Thanks to its wide color gamut though, some HDR scenes in some content might look a bit better than SDR, but you’ll mostly prefer it disabled. There’s also the HDR Effect feature that simulates HDR, but the results are usually not very good.

Design & Connectivity

LG 32ML600M B Review

The monitor’s stand is tilt-only and has a 100x100mm VESA mount pattern.

Some users reported that the stand quality is bad and prone to breaking, so you might consider getting a third-party stand.

The screen has a low-haze anti-glare coating that prevents reflections without making the image too grainy.

Connectivity options include two HDMI 1.4 ports, VGA and a headphone jack.

Price & Similar Monitors

The LG 32ML600M price ranges from $200 to $250, making it the most affordable 32″ 1080p IPS display.

You might also find some 32″ TVs around this price range, but they usually do not support 4:4:4 chroma subsampling, resulting in inferior text clarity when connected to a PC. They also have significantly higher input lag and slower response time, among other things. So, the LG 32ML600M is the perfect budget monitor if you need a 32″ screen for basic multimedia purposes.

Alternatively, check out the LG 32MR50C with a 32″ 1080p curved VA panel and a higher 100Hz refresh rate for less than $200.

For gaming, we recommend getting a 144Hz gaming monitor at this price range, while for office-related use, you should get a higher-resolution display. Visit our best monitors under $200 and best monitors under $250 buyer’s guide for more information.

Conclusion

Overall, if all you want is a 32″ monitor for everyday use, such as web surfing, watching videos, casual gaming and writing a few e-mails, the LG 32ML600M offers excellent value for money thanks to its IPS panel with a wide color gamut.

In case you mostly need a monitor for gaming and/or office-related work, there are better models available at this price range.

Specifications

Screen Size31.5-inch
Resolution1920×1080 (Full HD)
Panel TypeIPS
Aspect Ratio16:9 (Widescreen)
Refresh Rate75Hz
Response Time5ms (GtG)
Ports2x HDMI 1.4, VGA
Other PortsHeadphone Jack
Brightness300 cd/m²
Contrast Ratio1000:1 (static)
Colors1.07 billion (8-bit + FRC)
95% DCI-P3
HDRHDR10
VESAYes (100x100mm)

The Pros:

  • Wide color gamut
  • Wide viewing angles
  • Quick response time, 75Hz
  • Inexpensive
  • VESA-mount compatible

The Cons:

  • IPS glow and mediocre contrast ratio (as expected from this panel technology)
  • Low pixel density
  • Tilt-only stand
  • Stand prone to breaking

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Rob Shafer

Rob is a software engineer with a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Denver. He now works full-time managing DisplayNinja while coding his own projects on the side.