It’s been a few years since I transitioned my primary monitor to a super-sized ultrawide. While I did it for gaming, it’s been a shockingly good boon for my productivity, too — I’m using apps side-by-side for just about anything that isn’t video. If you’d like to join the club, today Microcenter is selling a full-res 34-inch ultrawide monitor from Samsung for just $199.99.
What do I mean by “full-res?” Well, this ViewFinity S5 has a resolution of 3440×1440 — it’s basically the same vertical resolution as a 27-inch, 1440p monitor, stretched out into a 21:9 aspect ratio. We’ve seen a few similarly-sized monitors on sale, but they cheaped out on the screen panel with a 1080p base. This is the real deal.
Though there are a few compromises to hit that low price. It’s a VA panel, not IPS, so the color accuracy isn’t really good enough for media or pro photo work. And with a refresh rate of 100Hz, it’s decent for gaming, but you won’t be maxing out a more powerful system even with the AMD FreeSync tech. It’s also lacking a fancy curve. Also note that unless you have a MicroCenter retail store near you, you’ll need to pay for shipping.
(By the way, if you need massive resolution and a color-accurate IPS panel, this smaller 4K Acer monitor is still on sale as of today.)
But if you’re looking for the productivity and field-of-view boost an ultrawide monitor brings, this is about as cheap as they come, even if you do have to pay for shipping. Note that MicroCenter’s deals often don’t last very long, so this might go out of stock quickly.
Author: Michael Crider, Staff Writer
Michael is a former graphic designer who's been building and tweaking desktop computers for longer than he cares to admit. His interests include folk music, football, science fiction, and salsa verde, in no particular order.