Please help me choose between this Dell 24.1“ 16:10 display and this LG 29” 21:9 display

Question

I have a Dell U2415 24.1" (16:10) display and I've very pleased with it, except this morning I found out one of the kids hit it with a pan and cracked its display panel.

Now I need to buy a new computer monitor and I was thinking of buying the exact same model, only I've stumbled upon this LG 29UM69G-B 29" (21:9) display at pretty much the same price and I'm tempted to buy it instead.

I've compared the specs of both monitors found them to be equivalent in most respects except the LG would give me a much bigger desktop at the same pixel size (~0.26cm if my calculations are right).

My only concern is that the LG seems too cheap?

My question is - Am I missing something in the comparison between the two displays? Is there some disadvantage in the LG display that explains its lower price compared to other 29" displays?

Answer 1

The main difference between the LG and the Dell monitor is that the LG monitor has an "Ultra-Ultra-wide" aspect ratio, meaning that you will have a lot more horizontal real estate. I've heard of 21:9 aspect ratio monitors feeling like the real estate of two normal computer monitors which might be a plus or minus to you depending on your usage scenarios. The LG also has a higher refresh rate at 75 hz which technically makes it slightly better for gaming, though most people find 60 to be enough to suit their tastes.

Addressing your concern for price, I think that the Dell monitor is a bit over priced. I find that certain big name brands in particular tend to over price their products in comparison to others that have similar specs. I believe that this is the case here at a $400 list price, which is what 2K and 4k monitors can go for. In my experience, DELL products, in general, tend to be either hit or miss when it comes to good value.

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Between your choices in a purely objective sense, the LG monitor will probably be of better value as it has a pixel density of 2.76 (+33% megapixels), has a slightly higher refresh rate (+25% Hz), and also supports AMD FreeSync (this is an anti screen tearing technology see link for more details, I believe you need an AMD GPU for this to apply).