LG’s new OLED monitor is big enough to replace your TV

LG is already an OLED TV king, but when it comes to PC monitors, the company’s OLED offerings are scant. That’s changing this summer with the LG UltraGear 48GQ900 announced this week. Just like LG’s other OLED monitors, you can expect this to be a lavish display for those with extreme needs and large budgets.

Aimed at console and PC gamers, the 47.5-inch OLED screen will have a 4K resolution at 120 Hz (overclockable to 138 Hz) and a 0.1 ms gray-to-gray response time. Some people consider 120 Hz beneficial for watching content made at 24 fps, like movies, to avoid the judder you might get with some 60 Hz displays. All that, combined with a generous panel size, makes it easy to see the monitor being a living room TV replacement, especially for a cable-cutter. It will even come with a remote.

For extreme competitive PC gaming, however, it’s worth noting that you can now reserve an OLED monitor with a 240 Hz refresh rate.

OLED has a reputation for generally being less bright than LED-backlit alternatives. LG didn’t specify how bright the 48GQ900 will get, but it noted that the panel will use LG’s proprietary anti-glare, low-reflection coating to reduce “visual distractions.” The screen will also have 98.5 percent DCI-P3 color coverage and HDR10 support.

The monitor is compatible with G-Sync and AMD FreeSync Premium. Both fight screen tearing when paired with an Nvidia or AMD graphics card, respectively, and you also get frame rate compensation, which allows the display to show frames multiple times if the frame rate falls below the lowest refresh rate that the monitor supports.

There’s also a pair of 20 W speakers, plus an audio jack that can add virtual surround sound to an attached headset via DTS Headphone:X. The port selection concludes with a pair of HDMI ports, a DisplayPort, a USB-A 3.0 upstream port, and two downstream ports.

But even after the 48GQ900 comes out, those interested in the rich contrast of OLED in PC monitor form will continue to have limited options. The majority are large screens built for gamers that are overkill for most people. LG’s 26.5-inch and 32-inch OLED monitors, technically aimed at businesses, continue to be some of the more accessible OLED monitors around, despite steep prices ($3,000 and $4,000, respectively).

LG hasn’t confirmed a US price for the LG 48GQ900 yet but said the monitor will come out in Japan this month before releasing in North America, Europe, and Asia.

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