This is the one I’ve been waiting for. Ever since it was announced at CES last year, and it’s absolutely ruined my experience when using any other monitor.
As someone who has personally bought and used daily, every single version of the 49” G9 Screen AND screens like the ridiculously big 55” Samsung Ark. The monstrous 57” Samsung G9 Neo is pretty much the End Game when it comes to the World's Best Monitor. For Gaming. For Productivity. For everything.
Or is it?
OUT OF THE BOX
So, the unboxing experience is a fun one. The box is ginormous - I’d recommend 2 people for this one. However, the process is pretty straightforward as long as you open the box the right way up.
In the box, you get the white blanking panel to cover up the wires, the stand, the feet, cables for power, display and USB, though the DisplayPort cable they include is so short it doesn’t even reach the other side of the screen! Which might be fun. And you also get the VESA mount and a plastic cover for the back of the screen.
It’s definitely possible to unbox this yourself; you attach the stand whilst it’s in the box and then lift it out using the stand onto your desk. But it’s pretty heavy.
Specs (and pricing)
Let’s cover the specs because this is a monster.
It is a 57” Mini-LED Panel with 2,392 local dimming zones that hits a resolution of 7680 by 2160. This means it’s the world's first Dual UHD monitor that can actually display two 4K pictures side by side.
Other features are a 240hz Refresh Rate with a 1ms Response Time, along with HDR1000 and FreeSync Premium Pro - so it’s killer for gaming and is predominantly marketed as a Gaming Monitor, but in my opinion, it’s way more than a gaming monitor.
Curve
This screen also sees the return of the 1000R Curve which I’m a HUGE fan of. As the curve wraps around you instead of screens that have a less pronounced curve, like an 1800R curve where, at least on the most recent 49” G9 OLED, you find yourself leaning over slightly to see to the edges.
Of course, the size of this thing does mean that you have to move your head a fair bit to see everything unless you sit yourself a bit further back from your screen.
For reference I have the screen sat on quite a shallow desk that’s just over 2ft deep, and I find the screen and that curve quite comfortable to use for extended periods of time.
Reflections
I’m also hugely impressed with the screen's ability to prevent any reflections. I’ve got a huge window on one side, and even if I switch on my studio lights which are directly behind me, I can’t see any reflections whatsoever. It’s actually pretty incredible - some kind of black magic. So the matte coating they’re using on this screen obviously does a great job, and I’d have no concerns over using this in challenging environments where you have a bright light source like a big window or lights around you.
Design
The design also hasn’t changed much from the previous generation screens.
You get a glossy white finish on the back that you’ll likely never see again once you set the screen up, if you’re like most people, who back their desk and their screens onto a wall like I do. Though if you do have it on show, it does look nice. It’s very clean, I like the detail that you get on the back as well. It looks very gamery and futuristic if that’s what you’re into.
The center also lights up with Samsung's Core Lighting system which features on all the previous generation screens.
It’s much larger than the previous generations, mostly because the screen is larger, but disappointingly, it’s still no brighter. Which, when you're targeting a gaming market that loves to pimp their setups with multiple colour LEDs - well, Samsungs Core Lighting is just a bit pointless because even with the screen up against a wall, you can barely tell the difference when it’s on or off.
The stand also hasn’t changed much. It’s height adjustable, it pivots, and there’s a loop included on the back for cable management. But the feet… Holy cow. The feet.
They’re ginormous.
Which they need to be for a screen that weighs this much. The sheer size and weight of this thing means that you need a substantial stand.
The only problem is that the design of these feet means they take up a lot of desk space, and your ability to put anything under or near the screen, even something as simple as a desk mat, can get tricky.
It’s no different than all of the other G9 Screens, other than the recent G9 OLED, which has a new design due to the much lighter screen.
But I’ve always preferred mounting my G9 Screens onto an Ergotron Monitor Arm, just to reclaim all of that wasted space beneath the screen.
The Ergotron arms are also one of the only mounts I’ve come across that can support the weight of these ultrawide screens.
The stand officially supports weight of up to 19kg, this screen weighs 15.4kg, but with the 57” G9, it definitely is pushing the limits of its capabilities.
I’ve had to tighten up everything I can, and everything works brilliantly, except that if I want to tilt the screen up beyond where it is, it’s not strong enough to hold it there.
Now, that’s not a problem for me because it actually sits in kind of the perfect position anyway, but if you wanted to have the screen perhaps lower and tilt it up then it’s going to struggle.
I’ll link below to the mount I’m using now because you need the heavy-duty version, and I reached out to Ergotron, who did confirm they’re working on an updated version that does support the weight, so once that does become available I’ll update the link below. I don’t think they’ll be developing a whole new arm, though, it’s just the heavy-duty Tilt and Pivot mount which needs updating.
Connectivity
For connectivity, we get a plethora of options.
3 HDMI 2.1 Ports, with one of them limited to 120hz.
A single DisplayPort 2.1 Port
2x USB Ports to let you use the screen as a USB Hub and for firmware updates, and a Headphone Port.
Unfortunately, no USB C which is something that I really think you should get when you’re spending pretty significant amounts of cash on a screen like this.
And whilst we’re here, there’s no separate power brick for this screen; it’s all built in so there’s just a 3-pin on the back.
Now, I have bought every single one of the Samsung G9 screens over the years, with my own money. And even though I’ve spent thousands on buying them, even though thousands of people have graciously used my affiliate links to buy one for themselves, Samsung still refuses to sponsor me or send out their screens for review - which is a blessing in a way, because at least I’m free to say whatever I want about their screens.
What I can say is that I legit plan on keeping this monitor for the foreseeable future.
Resolution
One of the biggest reasons I was looking forward to buying this screen is to finally, FINALLY get an increase in resolution over what we’ve seen on the previous 49” Models.
Maxed out, this thing hits 7680 x 2160, the equivalent of two 3840 by 2160 4K Monitors, side by side.
For comparison, the 49” Models ran at 5120 by 1440. So you’re getting a little more space on the side, a lot more vertical space - and that’s also at 140 Pixels per Inch on the 57” Model, compared to only 108 pixels per inch on the 49” Neo.
All of this combined, the additional space you get on the screen, and the improved Pixels per Inch is just incredible to experience.
Everything on my screen now looks crisp, and sharp, and if I really want to pixel peep to try and see the individual pixels, then I have to get so close that I go cross-eyed before I do.
Refresh Rate
But it’s not just the incredible resolution, it’s the fact these screens can reach refresh rates of up to 240hz that makes these a great purchase for gamers and for general day-to-day use.
The only problem is that even though Samsung has been producing these 240hz screens for quite a few years now, the industry is still playing catch up. On my Mac, which is a $3,000 M1 Max Mac Studio, it only has an HDMI 2.0 port, which restricts what it can do.
The Best I can get on my M1 Max Mac Studio is the larger 5120 x 1440 resolution and up to 120Hz. And to even get that I need to use a specific USB C to DisplayPort Cable, which I bought on Amazon when I ran into issues with my previous G9 Screens, so I’ll link that down below.
But, to give Samsung credit, at least with that cable, the screen instantly works without messing about with custom display tools I’ve had to tinker with before.
It just sucks that I can’t hit the full resolution. But, there is a workaround, which I’ll get to.
For those of you with M2 Mac Studios, they do support 8K Resolution and up to 240hz, so you SHOULD be able to get the most out of this monitor.
But I’m not about to chop in my perfectly good and very expensive M1 Mac Studio for an M2 Version.
PC - 2080
My gaming PC, which has a 2080 card, which I’m about to upgrade, doesn’t support HDMI or DisplayPort 2.1 - So it gets the full resolution, but only 120hz, unless I drop the resolution.
Even a friend who I reached out to on Twitter who also bought the 57” G9 who also has a 4080 card, ALSO doesn’t support 2.1, so he also can’t get the full resolution and 240hz.
It’s only if you have a card that supports DisplayPort or HDMI 2.1, and for me, that’s going to wait until I build my next gaming rig with a 4090 Graphics Card.
HDR
Now I’m not the kind of tech reviewer who does in-depth stats and comparisons and benchmark tests. I’m sure there are reviews out there that already compare contrast colour calibration and brightness.
So all I’m going to go off is my actual experience of using this thing daily.
In terms of brightness - I know this is HDR 1000 Certified, and Windows tells me that it should hit around 1000nits peak brightness.
But in terms of sustained brightness, the most I can get is around 630 nits when I take Windows out of HDR Mode.
To me, all that means is that this screen is plenty bright enough to use in even the brightest of environments.
The colours look great contrasty, blacks are OK. Is it as good as an OLED screen? Definitely not.
Because OLEDs don’t suffer from this HALO’ing effect which you can see here, where the light bleeds around bright objects.
The good news is at least that as a Mini LED Screen with over 2000 dimming zones, that Halo effect isn’t as pronounced as it could be.
Productivity
Mac
I know this is predominantly a Gaming Monitor, but let's talk about productivity for a moment. Web browsing, email, music, calendar, stock traders - all of the good stuff.
Well, the good news is that this is nearly perfect when it comes to all of that - because of the extra vertical and horizontal resolution, I can have way more apps open and visible on my screen at one time than I could before.
In fact, this monitor has fixed the one thing I missed when I went from a 38” Screen all those years back to an Ultrawide 49” Screen. And It’s finally fixed here in this 57” G9 Neo.
Both on Windows and Mac. Windows at least has some pretty decent controls for managing multiple windows. For Mac, I use a tool called MOOM which allows me to position windows in a certain place and then recall those positions with a keyboard shortcut.
So I can fire everything up in the morning and hit one keyboard shortcut to have all of my windows snap to where I want them to be.
The great news with using a screen this big and with both Mac and Windows is that the menu bar, by default, is in the centre of the screen where your natural resting position is.
PIP/PBP
More good news is that, unlike Samsung's recent G9 OLED, we get full Picture In Picture and Picture By Picture support.
And you can use this to have two separate sources together. You could Plug in an Xbox or PlayStation and play games on one side whilst you have your PC open on the other, perhaps streaming your game or running Discord or other social apps.
Using Picture By Picture is actually how I have been able to solve my issue with my M1 Mac of being unable to display the full 7680 x 2160.
I connect two cables from my Mac to the screen. One HDMI and one USB C to DisplayPort, then put my screen in Picture by Picture mode, and now I have two screens, each running at 3840 x 2160.
The only downside is that it impacts the refresh rate.
I get 120Hz on the DisplayPort side, but only 60 on the HDMI side due to the Mac’s limitations.
Also, if you watch a video with the window over the centre, the colours can look a little off.
But you can move the video off to one side, and for productivity use, 120 is just fine, and even 60 is fine, considering most of the time, you’re just looking at relatively static images or watching videos. None of which would go above 60 fps.
And you could say, well, why buy this monitor for productivity if you’re not even going to use the full 240hz?
For me - it’s the 57” Size. The Resolution. And that 1000R curve is a great reason to buy this screen, even without being able to reach 240hz refresh rates.
Being able to have multiple apps open and visible to you without having to constantly switch between apps, hunting for the right one, all on a single screen, and not on two separate monitors which have a bezel down the middle.
This screen feels like you’re getting three screens instead of 2 side by side because the centre part of your field of view, which would normally be taken up by the Bezels between dual screens, becomes a usable part of your desktop.
Gaming
Let’s talk about Gaming now because this is, of course, a Gaming Monitor.
And what an incredible gaming experience it offers, too.
First off, if you want to use your PS5 or your Xbox with this screen, then you will unfortunately get the black bars because game consoles just aren’t designed to handle these ultrawide resolutions.
But again, if you were to run it in Picture by Picture mode with something else like a PC, that works pretty well.
The good news is that this screen will future-proof you given that current generation consoles can reach 120hz; perhaps next-gen, they’ll go for higher.
Check if the screen checks all of Xbox’s Boxes.
But to get the most out of this screen, you’ll want to be playing on a PC, and with the limitations we’ve already mentioned about having support for HDMI or DisplayPort’s latest standards, you’ll get a great experience depending on the games you play.
With games such as Forza Horizon 5, being able to play on such a big, bright and wide monitor like this is just so much fun.
You’ve also got games such as CyberPunk, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, Overwatch, Fortnite, and even Minecraft support the Ultrawide resolution. And even GTA V, which still looks great.
Please let the GTA VI rumours be true.
Of course, the resolution and frame per second will ultimately come down to how good your gaming PC is. And for me, with a PC that is most certainly due an upgrade, my experience is fine, just as long as I lower the settings from game to game.
I was going to run through a bunch of games and tell you what settings I used and what frame rates I was seeing. But honestly, they were so bad that it’s really not worth it. We’re talking, like, 30fps and less in some games.
So yeah, this post has been a really big help in encouraging me to upgrade my gaming PC!
Problems
So, whilst the 57” G9 Neo is most certainly the best Gaming slash productivity Monitor in the World right now, at least in my opinion, there are some problems which I wish Samsung would address.
Considering this is the 4th or 5th iteration of the G9 Screen by now, I would have thought some of these would have been resolved.
The LED Core Lighting on the back isn’t bright enough to be worth using. I’ve ended up switching it off on ALL of my G9 Screens.
There’s no USB C, and it would be great to get support for plugging in a Mac directly without faffing with adapters or docks.
The interface also represents a step back. Given that the G9 OLED was running the more modern Tizen OS, which opens up things such as Smart Things support and the ability to watch TV. I’m not a fan of that because it’s quite a slow interface at times.
But what I’m also not a fan of is installing Firmware updates manually via USB in 2023. That was at least something that Tizen OS-powered displays have going for them. Automatic and easy firmware updates.
The screen can also get quite hot at the top. I guess in the Winter, it helps keep you warm. But not quite what you want when it’s 30 degrees outside.
Alternatives
And what about the Alternatives? Why would you get one of these when you could pick up a 55” Samsung Ark, the G9 OLED or even the 49” G9 Neo at significantly cheaper prices?
Well, having used all of the Samsung G9 Screens and the Samsung Ark, I can tell you without a doubt that this is better than all of them, even with those caveats.
The Ark felt ridiculously big because it had a different aspect ratio; I much prefer the 32:9 ratio of this 57” G9 Neo. And the Ark failed to run at even 120hz on my Apple devices.
The latest G9 OLED is great; it looks way more modern than this, BUT it has a shallower curve when I much prefer the 1000R curve that this and other 49” G9s have. But I prefer the extra vertical resolution and higher pixels per inch on this 57” Version.
So even though this is a damn expensive screen, in my eyes, it’s also a damn good one, and one that is going to sit on my desk, probably for at least a year - or until Samsung brings out their 2024 Models, perhaps there’ll be an OLED version of this next year.
But until then, thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one.
Links to buy! 👇
🛒 https://geni.us/ERGOTON-MONITOR-ARM
🛒 USB-C to Displayport Cable: https://geni.us/U5ebZZ
