You know, I don’t ask for much. I’m content with my PC gaming life and all the rigs I’ve got do me just fine. But if a genie popped up and granted me a lovely new gaming monitor, I’d only ask for a few things: 32 inches in size, 4K resolution, a refresh rate of 144 Hz or more, and a QD-OLED panel for the very best HDR experience.
Sadly, that’s never going to happen, but if I were to spend $700 on a luxurious new gaming monitor, this is the one I’d get without hesitation.
MSI doesn’t get everything right with its hardware (its laptops are especially variable) but when it comes to gaming monitors, its screen division is top-notch. This MAG 321UP is as close to my dream display as I’m going to get at the moment and it’s all down to the panel it uses.
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Coming in at 32 inches in size, with a resolution of 4K (3840 x 2160) and a refresh rate of 165 Hz, it’s perfect for my tired old eyes. To be honest, it should be perfect for anyone’s eyes because with a pixel density of 138 PPI, it’s in the sweet spot for ensuring Windows doesn’t look blurry or too small.
Sure, it’d be nicer to have a higher refresh rate but you get diminishing returns above 144 Hz, so the fact that this one is ‘only’ 165 Hz isn’t an issue for me.
As it’s a QD-OLED (quantum dot OLED) panel, you get near-instant pixel response times, ultra-low input latency, along with bright and vivid colors. Naturally, you also get the benefit that all OLED screens have: true black colors and an enormous contrast ratio.
OLEDs aren’t the brightest of screens, so they’re not perfect for a bright office room, but in a gaming den, they’re just a dream to game on. Enable HDR mode in any game that supports it and the level of immersion is just sublime. The panel has a glossy coating, too, which is great for combating reflections.
The MAG 321UP comes with a fully adjustable stand (height, tilt, and swivel), plus a wealth of inputs: two HDMI 2.1, one DisplayPort 1.4a, and one USB Type-C input.
I honestly couldn’t want anything more from a gaming monitor. Well, a $50 price tag would be very nice indeed but that’s just being silly. All this tech really shouldn’t be this cheap and at $700, this MSI MAG 321UP deal is an absolute bargain.
