If you’ve wanted to have a monitor that will give you amazing picture quality, as well as sensitive enough for color-accurate work then you can do worse than looking at LG monitors. What we have here is a monitor that will immerse you when it comes to gaming, and will be a production powerhouse if you need it to be.
The LG 32UN500 is a massive monitor, coming at 32-inches. LG boasts that it covers 90% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, and it comes with gaming features such as AMD FreeSync. That’s all jargon if it really doesn’t deliver in real-life testing so let’s take a look at it.
The design of the LG 32UN500 is typical LG. It has the typical brushed aluminum stand that LG monitors have been using for years now. It also sports very thin bezels with just a thicker chin that sports the LG logo. It’s simple, just like most LG monitors, but why ruin a great thing? This fits in almost any desk setup and just boasts premium the moment you see it.
The back is covered by white plastic and has an embossed LG logo at the back that is very subtle. You can replace the stand with a VESA-compatible arm if you want this floating or on a wall. You have your typical connections at the back, 2 HDMI ports, 1 DisplayPort, a headphone jack, and power output. I would’ve wanted to see extra USB slots here at the back similar to other LG monitors of the past but that isn’t featured here.
The display of the LG 32UN500 is the highlight of the entire setup. It is a VA panel which means deep blacks and a great contrast ratio. I’d pick a VA panel, especially at this price point for contrast ratio as the next best thing, OLEDs, are way too expensive.
Let’s first talk about picture quality. Firing up some 4K HDR content online, and I was amazed at how colors just popped out of the screen. Seeing 4K HDR content on a screen this big right in front of your face is an experience you have to experience. What’s great for me is that no details are lost in this monitor, everything was sharp and the colors were great.
When it comes to productivity, I had no problems editing photos in Adobe PhotoShop. From our hands-on, I’d like to say that everything was accurate when it comes to color accuracy, but that will need further testing down the line.
While this is by no means a true gaming monitor, especially with its max refresh rate of 60Hz, it felt just as immersive. The large screen in front of you with a 4K resolution really adds to the experience of any game. Firing up Red Dead Redemption 2 and boy, this game just looks amazing. I thought that the graphics couldn’t get any better but with the LG 32UN500, it just looks that much better. I didn’t even notice the lack of a high refresh rate because of how graphically demanding AAA titles are, I barely even go past the 60fps mark when it comes to 4K gaming.
What does that mean? If you’re somebody who likes to stick to single-player games, triple AAA titles that will push your graphics cards to the limit then the 60Hz refresh rate will never be an issue with you. This is also made better if you have a computer that is compatible with AMD FreeSync which just smooths your gameplay out.
The only time this was an issue for me was on the desktop, having gotten used to high refresh rate screens over the years, going back to 60fps felt like a slog. It was something I had to get used to once again. The flip side to this is that having all the real estate of a 4K resolution monitor coupled with a 32-inch screen meant that I could have a lot of things open at the same time on my monitor and have ample space for all of them.
Another convenient thing that I appreciated with the LG 32UN500 is the OSD. LG has always had intuitive OSD controls and this one is the same, using the same nub underneath the device lets you access all the settings you need in this monitor.
So should you buy the LG 32UN500? At around PHP 28,000 I’d say it is a great entry into 4K territory. It does all the right things you would want from a monitor of this size. It has a great display that gets bright enough, it is very color accurate, and the colors are just amazing with this monitor. If the 60Hz refresh rate doesn’t bother you then go ahead, there are so many things to like with the LG 32UN500.
