Well, you got your head or looked at the Xiaomi website and decided to purchase a large curved monitor with 4K resolution and high refresh rate to do noble things on it and immerse yourself in an exciting world of games and entertainment. This deed is correct and pious, and in the face of potential pandemics it is also rational. But before you run headlong for a purchase, you must carefully weigh the pros and cons.
As you can see, Xiaomi offers a very fair price, estimating every inch of the monitor at 1029 rubles. But, there are subtleties here too …
Content
- Positioning, or the main advantages of the monitor from Xiaomi
- Price
- TECH SPECS
- What’s in the kit?
- Assembly process
- Monitor menu
- Important information and monitor impressions
- Conclusion
Positioning, or the main advantages of the monitor from Xiaomi
Xiaomi, faithful to its traditions, produces products that are superior to the average, are inferior to the top ones, but have such an attractive price that they make you wonder whether it is necessary to overpay?
The selling features of the Xiaomi Mi Curved 34 Gaming Monitor are:
- Huge 4K curved screen. You cannot understand this from the pictures, but curved screens are much more impressive than similar flat ones.
- 21: 9 aspect ratio and 1500R extreme curvature
- Flicker-free and low blue light mode
- 144Hz refresh rate and variable refresh rate FreeSync Premium technology
- Wide color gamut 121 sRGB
- 300 nits brightness, 3000: 1 contrast ratio with blinding white and rich blacks
- The ability to split the screen in two from two different systems
Who can use a Xiaomi monitor? To begin with, I’ll tell you who it won’t suit. The monitor has a VA matrix and 121% sRGB coverage. If you understand what abbreviations mean and what restrictions impose in professional activities, then, apparently, the monitor will not suit you.
Everyone else should like the monitor. It will be appreciated by both game lovers and those who just want a large monitor to work at the computer with office chores or watch movies.
Price
The declared price of the monitor is 34 rubles. Yes, Xiaomi will forgive me, but the search on Yandex.Market does not find such a price, offering options for 990, 4, or even 7 thousand rubles cheaper. But there are pitfalls, as those who saved themselves write, that the menu contains only Chinese. And if there are any problems, then for a guarantee you will have to contact the “gray” store where you bought.
In any case, even the official price is good, because the closest curved competitor with similar characteristics in picture quality from AOC is available only in one store and costs 41 thousand rubles.
A more common competitor from the MSI brand costs 55,5 thousand rubles. Samsung is also close by. And for this money you can buy both a monitor and a smartphone.
On the other hand, you can always buy a simple flat panel monitor. Yes, it will not have 144 Hz, but the price is in the region of 23-27 thousand rubles.
TECH SPECS
- Resolution: 3440 by 1440 dots
- Matrix type: VA
- Screen curvature: 1500K
- Aspect ratio: 21 by 9
- Refresh rate: 144 Hz
- Response: 4ms
- Color Gamut: 121% sRGB
- Colors: 8 bit
- Contrast: 3000 to 1
- Brightness: declared 300 nits, in fact 335 nits
- Modes: split screen, picture-in-picture
- Ports: HDMI 2.0 – 2 pieces, DP 1.4 port – 2 pieces, AUX port – 1 piece
- Bracket: Wall-mounted, includes a foot, adjustable in height and tilt
- Official warranty: 3 years
What’s in the kit?
The set includes:
- Leg and stand
- Set of screws for attaching the leg to the stand and for wall mounting
- DP 1.4 cable
- Set of instructions and manuals
- Monitor (agree that everything else from the set would not make sense if there was no monitor)
Assembly process
The monitor comes in a colorful box and is tucked away securely in foam for the hope of surviving falls with ease. When I went to the Samsung TV factory, I watched how the packed models pass the tests, when the box is dropped from a meter height both flat and end. And in those models, there was less foam in the package. So Xiaomi should be even more resilient.
I am still in awe of the ease of the build process. Don’t get me wrong, but my experience suggests that Xiaomi gadgets often require attention, patience and light perseverance, that is, qualities that every gentleman of the past century should have had on a date with a lady. It was necessary to twirl gently here and there, say a couple of gentle phrases, perhaps, clarify something on the Internet. And now your smart kettle gurgles with joy!
Not so with the Mi Curved 34 Gaming Monitor. This is a 2020 product. No instructions or internet needed. The bracket snaps into the monitor with a pleasant click. And to remove it, you just need to press the switch. And the leg is screwed to the bracket with a standard screw with a handle on the head. In addition, there is only one hole in the entire monitor, so there is no chance of missing and screwing it into the wrong place. The best part is that, firstly, you don’t have to tighten the screw, since the monitor will be held under its own weight. Secondly, an absolutely standard screw. So if you lose it, you can buy it at any hardware store. Hexagonal screw M10x10.
Another cool feature of the monitor is the panel that covers the ports. It has magnetic mounts, so it is very easy to remove and install it. By the way, the panel is also removed from the bracket and the wires can be passed through the bracket leg and carefully removed.
Under the panel there are 2 x HDMI 2.0, 2 x DP 1.4 and a 3.5 mm port for connecting acoustics.
On the right side of the monitor control button. Quite a good location, allowing you to blindly run through the settings. There is a bump on the power button. You may be confused that the rest of the buttons are unmarked, but once you turn on the menu, everything becomes clear at once.
Monitor menu
The language can be selected from the menu. By default, my language was English.
You can either customize the picture yourself or choose ready-made presets.
One of the main features of the monitor is the ability to work with two systems. The screen is split in half and two computers can be connected. Or you can make a picture-in-picture mode.
Unfortunately, as I understand it, you can change the brightness only from the menu. I couldn’t change the brightness using Windows tools. Here you can say a slight “phi”, since to get to the brightness you have to go down 2 levels in the menu. Wouldn’t hurt any quick access.
Important information and monitor impressions
I think the main impressions and important information should be shared briefly and succinctly:
- To give you a better understanding of the monitor’s dimensions, I put a box of juice next to it. Xiaomi has chosen a classic strict design, so that the monitor will look appropriate both at home and in the office (if you are an analyst or programmer, feel free to ask your bosses to upgrade).
- The monitor can be tilted away from you and towards you, and it is also adjustable in height.
- VA monitor matrix, which stands for Vertical Alignment). In terms of technology, these matrices are close in characteristics to IPS. They provide 178 degrees of vision. Color reproduction is good, but it is considered to be less accurate than IPS panels. But the lower response time of 4 ms and very deep blacks. I even set a black wallpaper because black is really divine.
- The monitor has no PWM, meaning it does not flicker. And he has practically no highlights. The picky eye, of course, can see a slight milky glow in certain parts of the screen. But listen, if you have such an eye, then you must have money for some Samsung or Dell from 100 thousand rubles. As the saying goes, if there is no money for pills, then your head does not hurt either.
- A 4K monitor with 144Hz refresh rate is not as simple as it might seem. Cutting-edge gaming is still the entertainment of wealthy husbands. In order to play good games in 4K resolution and more than 100 FPS, you need a powerful desktop system, because even the latest mobile GeForce RTX 2080 Super is not capable of delivering more than 3 fps in The Witcher 2015 (60).
- The complete DP 1.4 cable is very important. He needs to be cared for and cherished. The fact is that in order to achieve 144 Hz, whatever cable is not suitable, therefore, having broken the complete cable, stifle your desires and go to Auchan and buy the first one you come across for 100 rubles. For 144 Hz, you need exactly DP 1.4 or HDMI 2.1 cable. These are still rare formats, so the DP 1.4 cable costs from 4 thousand, but the average price is around 6 thousand rubles. HDMI 2.1 is of course cheaper. But the trouble is that it is not enough to buy a decent cable, you also need to have the right ports on the devices. And the monitor has 2 HDMI 2.0 ports, respectively, plugging HDMI 2.1 into them, magic will not happen. And, of course, don’t forget about the correct ports on the signal source. If you have old HDMI and DP, then you can not expect a miracle.
- Xiaomi claims a brightness of 300 nits and a color gamut of 121% sRGB. And if the latter roughly corresponds to the truth, then the brightness of the monitor turned out to be even higher. A gorgeous 335 nits, which, combined with a matte anti-glare screen, makes the monitor look great even when exposed to sunlight. Look, in the photo below, the setting sun is directly hitting the screen, and it’s still fun to play.
- I emphasize once again that the monitor has an excellent anti-reflective coating. The sun hits the screen, but even on a black background, no reflections are visible.
- Is the monitor good for gaming? Definitely yes. When you play, you concentrate on events in the center of the screen, and your peripheral vision captures the edges of the screen. The illusion of immersion is created. For example, if you make a jump from a high cliff in Assassin’s Creed, then thanks to the visual effect in the graphics of the game and the large monitor, it seems to the brain that you jumped somewhere and, like on a roller coaster inside, everything inside freezes for a moment.
- It’s no less cool to play races or strategies like “Civilization” when a lot of things fit on the screen.
- As you remember, Xiaomi is always a compromise. In the case of the monitor, they saved on HDR plus 8 bits, not 10 bits. Someone in the comments on Yandex.Market complained that there was no headphone holder. They also complained about the quality of the audio jack. I disagree with the latter. Connector like connector. Nothing better or worse than most laptops.
- I would complain that in the monitor somewhere on the side there are not a couple of classic USB and USB Type-C, so that you can stick a flash drive and a keyboard.
Conclusion
The Xiaomi Mi Curved 34 Gaming Monitor can be safely recommended for purchase. Great design, great picture, all characteristics fully correspond to the declared ones or, as in the case of brightness, surpass them. I spent most of my time playing on the monitor in Microsoft Flight Simulator. And he was completely delighted. Well, and, of course, it all depends from what you “moved”. If you previously had a simple monitor, then with the Xiaomi Mi Curved 34 Gaming Monitor you will experience all the delights of the universe. If you previously had, for example, a 90-inch Samsung CHG49 C90HG49DMI QLED, then of course you will notice the difference. But get ready to pay 2 times more. Although Samsung is also not ideal, but for work, when you can mark up 4 full-fledged windows, it is fine.
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