I Bought an LG 32 QHD IPS (32QN600) Display
With the onset of Covid, as the persistent work from home culture started taking its place in the software engineering industry, I started noticing that just the 15" screen of my MacBook left me a bit too constrained. There was a lot of switching between screens, which not only hampered productivity while WFH but was also quite annoying. Watching the small screen everyday for ~8 hours was hard on the eyes too. So I switched to a 22" 1080p external display. A lot of the productivity issues were solved with me now having two screens to split my work on. The 22" screen was big enough for me to increase the font size to a comfortable level so it doesn’t stress my eyes too much. This screen served me well for a good amount of time for my work, gaming, Netflix, and pretty much everything else.
A few days back I decided to upgrade to a bigger screen, primarily because the 22" felt small for movies and gaming. I didn’t want to invest more than 25k INR (350$) and decided based on my budget that a 32" 1440p screen should be good enough. Why I thought so? Based on pixel per inch reference,
32" 1440p = 24" 1080p = ~90 PPI
I had never felt any issues with resolution on the 22" screen, so a 1440p resolution on 32" was perfect for me. What mattered more was the display technology, I wanted an IPS panel which supported HDR.
After a lot of research, I narrowed down my list to 3 options —
- Acer EB321HQU 31.5 Inch IPS Display
- ViewSonic VX3276–2K-MHD 32 Inch IPS Panel
- LG QHD 32 Inch IPS Display 32QN600
As you know from the title of this blog, I went ahead with option 3 — the LG 32QN600. All three displays are more or less similar in technology, with each display having some feature the others don’t have. The LG supports AMD FreeSync, the Acer has an in-built blue-light filter, and the ViewSonic supports a higher frame rate of 75 Hz. What drove me to choose the LG over others was majorly the user reviews. Although all 3 of them had mostly mixed reviews, the LG had more positive reviews among users.
After a few days I had the display at my doorstep delivered by Amazon. I was eagerly waiting to set it up on my desk and experience the big 32 inch screen in all its glory.
Screen Setup
Setting up the screen is fairly easy which can be done within minutes, with the stand clamping to the screen with a clasp. It also supports VESA and can be mounted on a wall or a VESA compatible mount if needed. There’s an HDMI and a standard display cable that comes in the box, and a power cable with an external power adapter.
After using the display for a few days with both Windows and MacOS, here’s what I think about it.
Design
The build quality of the display is good. The monitor has an edgeless design which looks quite modern. The stand is curved and feels sturdy enough to hold the monitor’s weight. The screen’s thickness is acceptable, it is neither paper thin like some displays out there, nor too thick.
Everything, from the screen’s body to the stand is made of plastic, there’s no metal or aluminium finish anywhere. It’s understandable as it is a more budget oriented screen. The plastic is of good quality though and doesn’t feel cheap.
Viewing Experience
By default for both Windows and MacOS, the screen resolution is set to 1440p. Though this resolution can be increased further, I will advise against it as it leads to jagged edges as the display itself is capable of up to 1440p only.
The display resolution of 1440p provides a decent pixel density to keep the screen sharp enough for programming, movies, or gaming.
The colour accuracy is surprisingly good. It is definitely not as accurate as my MacBook, but good enough for developers and recreational gaming. IPS technology makes it viewable from any angle and not loose on colour accuracy. This is especially a boon when watching movies as I don’t always sit up straight in front of the screen while watching a movie. The screen also has an anti-reflective coating which aids in the viewing experience.
What should be mentioned is that irrespective of resolution, the big 32" screen makes gaming and watching movies a joy. My experience with X-Plane 11 on this screen was way more immersive than ever before. I compared the screen real estate between this and my older 22" screen and the difference is massive.
Menu and Controls
There are loads of options in the menu to control colour settings, FreeSync etc. What’s peculiar is that all those settings are controlled by a single joystick type button which definitely takes a while getting used to.
There’s no remote that comes out of the box, everything is controlled by the single joystick. Another point to note is this screen doesn’t have built-in speakers. You’d need external speakers if you decide to use this screen as a TV.
Backlight Bleed
One major issue I found while reading users’ reviews on this display was the screen backlight bleed. There is definitely some amount of backlight bleed in the screen which is visible when watched with a completely black background. It is prominent on higher brightness settings around the corners, but I highly doubt people will use this screen at such high brightness. I’m using it at 25% and the bleed is pretty much non-existent at this level. On another note, the screen maximum brightness is very high considering it is meant to be used indoors.
Should You Buy One?
I definitely suggest anyone working from home who relies majorly on their laptop for work to have an extended screen setup, which screen size should one buy depends on the individual needs. The 22" screen was serving me well for work, and I only bought the bigger 32" screen for more immersive gaming or movie experience. I would suggest to upgrade to a 32" inch screen if you use the screen for everything, from work to gaming and movies. If you only use the display for work especially for software development, you should just stick to 22–27" displays, they’re more than sufficient.
Coming to the display, the LG QHD 32 Inch IPS Display 32QN600 is one of the best displays I’ve found at under 25000 INR. Picture quality and resolution is decent, the edgeless design looks modern, and overall the display is solidly built. Sure there’s the issue of backlight bleeding but to me it was insignificant enough to be completely ignored.
