The LG 38WN95C-W is a great ultrawide, curved screen monitor with an IPS panel. It has a ton of features aimed at improving your workflow at the office. It has a Picture-by-Picture mode, allowing you to display images from two input sources at once. Its Thunderbolt 3 support lets you display an image from a compatible device and charge it at the same time, and provides higher bandwidth and power delivery compared to a DisplayPort Alt Mode connection. Its uncommon 3840x1600 packs in more vertical pixels, allowing you to see crisp, detailed images. Despite being mainly designed for the office, it's packed with gaming perks, such as FreeSync variable refresh rate (VRR) support, G-SYNC compatibility, a remarkable response time, and low input lag. It gets very bright and makes highlights pop in HDR, but doesn't perform very well in a dark room. Its low contrast ratio means blacks appear closer to gray, and it has a terrible local dimming feature.
Our Verdict
The LG 38WN95C-W is a great overall monitor. It's very good for office use or watching content, because it gets bright enough to combat glare, has wide viewing angles, and displays a wide color gamut. It's impressive for gaming due to its extremely quick response time, incredibly low input lag, and FreeSync support. HDR content looks good as it gets bright enough to bring out highlights, but it has a low contrast ratio and the local dimming feature is terrible.
- Wide viewing angles.
- Gets very bright.
- Remarkable response time.
- High resolution.
- Low contrast ratio.
- Terrible local dimming feature.
The LG 38WN95C-W is very good for office use. The 38 inch, 3840x1600 screen provides enough space for you to open multiple windows at once. It gets bright enough to combat glare, but the reflections may be too distracting if it's placed opposite a window. Even though the stand doesn't offer much in terms of ergonomics, it has wide viewing angles, making it easier to share your screen with others.
- Wide viewing angles.
- Gets very bright.
- Thunderbolt 3 support.
- Disappointing ergonomics.
- Struggles with direct sunlight.
The LG 38WN95C-W is impressive for gaming. It's packed with gaming features such as FreeSync support, G-SYNC compatibility, low input lag, and a remarkable response time. Unfortunately, it doesn't have a Black Frame Insertion feature to improve the appearance of motion. The low contrast ratio means it's not ideal for dark-room gaming. However, it has wide viewing angles, great for co-op gaming.
- VRR support.
- Remarkable response time.
- Incredibly low input lag.
- Low contrast ratio.
The LG 38WN95C-W is very good for multimedia use. Its 3840x1600 resolution allows you to watch high-resolution videos online, and the wide viewing angles means you can easily watch content with friends. Unfortunately, it has a low contrast ratio, so blacks appear closer to gray when viewed in the dark. Fortunately, it performs well in bright environments because it gets bright enough to combat glare.
- Wide viewing angles.
- Gets very bright.
- High resolution.
- Disappointing ergonomics.
- Low contrast ratio.
Great for media creation. The LG 38WN95C-W's high resolution allows you to see images in fine detail. It has excellent coverage of the Adobe RGB color space used in photo editing, and it displays a wide color gamut for HDR content. It has limited ergonomics, so it may be difficult to place in an ideal position, but it has wide viewing angles if you need to share your screen with others.
- Wide viewing angles.
- Gets very bright.
- Thunderbolt 3 support.
- Exceptional gradient handling.
- Disappointing ergonomics.
- Low contrast ratio.
The LG 38WN95C-W is decent for HDR. It displays a wide range of colors in HDR for a life-like image and gets bright enough to make highlights stand out thanks to its great peak brightness. However, it struggles in dark rooms because of its low native contrast ratio, and while it has a local dimming feature, it performs terribly.
- Gets very bright.
- Exceptional gradient handling.
- High resolution.
- Low contrast ratio.
- Terrible local dimming feature.
Changelog
- Updated May 03, 2024: Added that the Dell U4025QW has better Contrast.
- Updated Feb 01, 2023: Added text in the macOS Compatibility and Console Compatibility boxes and clarified text throughout as part of Test Bench 1.2.
- Updated Feb 01, 2023: Updated to Test Bench 1.2, resulting in changes to the results and scores with the Response Time and Input Lag. Added tests for Console Compatibility and macOS compatibility and made minor changes to other tests, which you can see in our Changelog.
- Updated Sep 21, 2020: Review published.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We tested the LG 38WN95C-W, which is the only size available for this monitor. If you have this monitor and it's different from ours, let us know and we'll update the review.
Note that some tests, such as gray uniformity, may vary between units. Our unit was manufactured in May 2020, and you can see the label here.
Popular Monitor Comparisons
The LG 38WN95C-W is a great ultrawide monitor that's very versatile. It's great for office use, and if you want to game with it after work, it provides all of the gaming features you need. It's also one of the brightest we've seen in HDR, which is a nice touch. However, it's the same price as some larger TVs, and if you don't need all of its extra features, there are cheaper ultrawide options out there, like the Dell U3818DW. Also see our recommendations for the best ultrawide monitors, the best 34-49 inch monitors, and the best office monitors.
The LG 38WN95C-W and the Dell U4025QW are both large, ultrawide productivity and editing monitors. The Dell is the better choice if you're looking for better image quality and more productivity features. The Dell displays deeper blacks that appear less gray in a dark room than on the LG. Additionally, the Dell has productivity-enhancing features such as a KVM switch and the ability to subdivide the screen into multiple smaller virtual monitors for easier window management. However, the LG is a better choice for brighter environments, as it gets far brighter in both SDR and HDR.
The LG 38WN95C-W and the LG 38GL950G-B are similar-performing monitors aimed at different uses. The 38WN95C-W is an office monitor that supports Thunderbolt 3 and has built-in speakers. It also gets brighter in HDR, displays a wider color gamut, and has better ergonomics. However, the 38GL950G-B is a gaming monitor with native G-SYNC support, a 175Hz refresh rate, and quicker response time at 60Hz.
The LG 38WN95C-W and the Dell AW3821DW are each very good overall monitors. They're both 38 inch models with a 3840x1600 resolution and a 144Hz refresh rate. The LG is mainly designed for office use, but it's slightly better than the Dell for gaming because it has a quicker response time, resulting in clearer motion. It's also slightly better for HDR gaming because it gets much brighter in HDR. However, if you have an NVIDIA graphics card, the Dell may be a better choice for you because it has native G-SYNC support.
Overall, the LG 38WN95C-W is slightly better than the Acer Nitro XV340CK Pbmiipphzx, mainly due to its faster response time, higher peak brightness, and better HDR color gamut. However, the Acer has significantly better ergonomics and reflection handling, and a Black Frame Insertion feature to help reduce motion blur.
We buy and test more than 30 monitors each year, all of which we purchase ourselves, without cherry-picked units or samples. We put a lot into each unbiased, straight-to-the-point review, and there's a whole process from purchasing to publishing, involving multiple teams and people. We do more than just use the monitor for a week; we use specialized, custom tools to measure various aspects and deliver objective, data-driven results. We also consider multiple factors before making any recommendations, including the monitor's cost, its performance compared to the competition, and whether it's easy to find.
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