Sometimes it can be very helpful to pull yourself out of your comfort zone and try something new. Moreover, this is relevant for many areas of life, including work and related scenarios. In my case, such an event recently happened in connection with the Predator X38 monitor that arrived for the test, which has already arrived in individual stores. I have not used anything like this before, so I will not pretend to a full review, I will limit myself to the impressions formed after a short testing, in the format of 5 facts.

Content

1. TECH SPECS
2. Appearance, connectors
3. Controls, menu
4. Ergonomics
5. Sound
6. Gaming experience
7. conclusions

TECH SPECS

• Matrix type: IPS
• Backlight type: Q-LED
• Diagonal: 37.5 ”
• Aspect Ratio: 21: 9
• Maximum resolution: 3840 x 1600
• Bending radius: R2300
• Native refresh rate: 144 Hz
• Maximum refresh rate: 175 Hz
• Response time: 1ms
• Contrast: 1000: 1
• Peak brightness: 750 cd / m2
• DCI-P3 Color Gamut: 98%
• Optional: NVIDIA G-Sync and HDR 400 support, VESA 100 × 100 mount compatible
• Package contents: monitor with stand, cables (USB 3.0, DP, HDMI, 2 power cables with European and British plug), power supply, wall mount
• Dimensions (with stand): 89.7 x 59.18 x 28.98 cm
• Weight (with stand): 9.5 kg
• Cost: ~ 180 rubles

Appearance, connectors

Already by the size of the box that had arrived and occupied half of the room, it was clear that the monitor was clearly rather big. Yes, there was a lot of packaging material, but this does not negate the impressive parameters of the Predator X38. Of course, everything is learned by comparison: on a regular basis I use a monoblock with a diagonal of 24 ”and an aspect ratio of 16: 9, but even this does not detract from the size of the hero of the material. The bezels are relatively thin, and the depth of the monitor is almost a meter, which is suitable for both games and for working with text.

In any of these scenarios, the large format of the Predator X38 will be a positive aspect, and you cannot immediately say in which one it is more useful. In my frequent mode of working with text, such a monitor fits three full browser tabs or three open text documents. Useful when you need to collect and cross-check information from multiple sources.

The monitor has 4 USB 3.0 ports, one DisplayPort and one HDMI, a power port and a headphone jack. Two ports are routed to the far left edge of the Predator X38, all other connectors are on the bottom panel facing the table. A popular life hack is to put a phone with the front camera on under the panel with connectors, the connection is faster.

Controls, menu

The Predator X38 has its own settings menu, with a five-way joystick and four control buttons to navigate.

All of these items are located towards the right edge of the monitor on the rear panel. When you press the joystick, quick settings appear: these are the volume, brightness and the choice of the input through which the connection to an external device is carried out. In my case, it was at different times two laptops (office and gaming) and a candy bar.

Pressing the joystick brings you to the main menu. The interface is extremely simple and straightforward: there are tabs on the left, and the settings on the right, which are switched by the notorious joystick. Three profiles are available to save a set of settings: Action, Racing, Sport; as planned by the manufacturer, the user will create profiles for different genres of games. In the settings, there are options for the image, color, sound (volume), game, the menu itself and individual system parameters. Of these, it is worth noting the work with colors, auto brightness, contrast, as well as the ability to overlay a virtual sight. Such a visual add-on is useful for games where there is no scope, a kind of legal cheat. The options for changing the black level and lightening shadows for especially dark games and films will also be useful.

Ergonomics

For better display of content, the monitor has a bend, it is slightly concave. Thus, in all its points, the image is not distorted and looks the same. I tried to remember the last time I had the opportunity to use the curved screen, I only remembered the presentation of the Predator 21x. By the way, the laptop still looks very much even nothing, except that the processor there is old and about the same as in my far from the most productive candy bar by modern standards. Well, I personally would change the video card to RTX.

The monitor is supported by a kind of tripod: two long narrow legs and one short wide one. There are no problems with stability, if there is a flat surface, 10 kilograms of the monitor’s weight reliably press it against it. Three round metal plates are fixed a little higher, they provide rotation of the monitor to the left and to the right. The degree of rotation is reported to be about 45 ° in each direction.

Moving higher: the vertical panel with the Predator logo provides vertical movement of the monitor up to a height of 13 cm. Attaching the panel to the monitor also provides a tilt of the monitor, the angle ranges from 5 to 35 degrees. All manipulations are easily performed with one hand, for confidence you can hold with the other. There is not enough vertical rotation for a full set, but in the case of a curved display, this does not seem to be a sane scenario.

As for ergonomics, there will probably be only a larger number of ports on the sides, it is not very convenient to connect from below. The monitor is compatible with Vesa 100 × 100 mm mount, in such a scenario it will look even more advantageous.

Sound

For the sound part, two seven-watt speakers brought out to the rear panel are responsible, their volume is quite enough for adequate gameplay and just listening to background music outside the game. From the point of view of frequency characteristics and situational response in games, I would still prefer headphones, since there is a 3.5 mm jack and you can connect a high-quality gaming headset. If you just watch movies, then you can use the built-in speakers, they are more than enough for an average room.

Gaming experience

Oh, again this moment when you need to somehow convey the behavior of the monitor in the game. Especially for this, I connected an excellent gaming laptop via HDMI and ran Doom Eternal at 4K resolution, in order to get an idea of ​​the game on the monitor, I had already tested this game on the laptop. First of all, I am very pleased with the presence of G-Sync, which, given the powerful hardware, literally leaves no chances for breaks and slowdowns. The native frequency can “swing” from 144 to 175 Hz, which will ultimately give the smoothest picture possible. Well, according to the classics of gaming monitors, any mouse movement will be immediately processed with a minimum delay, it is very difficult to feel it even in such a dynamic game.

By the way, about the dynamics. Thanks to the wide format of the monitor, the Predator X38, which seemed very fast and lightning-fast at the events of Doom Eternal, became quite measured, at least there was no such thing that it was necessary to turn around sharply in search of one or another rival. It is quite possible to keep all of them in the field of view, which is expanded due to the diagonal and the screen format of 20: 9. Probably, here it is, immersiveness, when the feeling of presence is especially strong.

The impressions of the monitor are expected to be very pleasant, both from games and from working scenarios. As often happens when testing devices that have been pumped according to their characteristics, you involuntarily begin to think that it would be nice for yourself to get such a monitor, at least from a widescreen position. In the case of games, there is a risk of missing all deadlines and falling out of reality a little, so immersion is so intense.

conclusions

The look at the top-end gaming monitor in the face of the Predator X38 turned out to be quite curious, and I appreciated the improved experience in working scenarios first of all and was strengthened in the thought that someday I would save up for something widescreen, but not for games, I do not earn that much yet.

Would I recommend such a monitor for gaming? Why not, despite the relatively little experience of dealing with such devices, I really liked the gaming component, it looks and feels decent. Yes, someone will say that Direct LED will be preferable, but the question will be in the aggregate of all characteristics. There are other solutions on the market with similar characteristics, for example, the LG UltraGear 38GL950G-B, which is cheaper but has a smaller bend radius.

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