The 8 Best 1080p Ultrawide Monitors of 2023
I updated this feature in June after reviewing the new ultrawide releases of 2023. None of the top choices have been this time around, but I’ve added a couple of good alternatives where relevant.
Ultrawide monitors make for some of the best screens for immersive gaming and media viewing, not to mention providing an aspect ratio perfect for extended productivity.
Which is why today’s feature is here to guide you through the best UWHD monitors available today at various price-points/specs.
- Overall Best 1080p Ultrawide Monitor: Sceptre Curved C305B-200UN
- Best IPS 1080p Ultrawide Monitor: LG 34WN650-W 34-Inch
- Best Cheap 1080p Ultrawide Monitor: LG 25UM58
- Best 1080p Super Ultrawide Monitor: Samsung 49-Inch CHG90
Best of the Rest: Quick-Fire Picks
- 34″ 1080p Ultrawide Alternative: Sceptre C345W-2560UN
- Cheapest IPS 1080p Ultrawide Monitor: LG 34WL600-B
- Mid-Range 1080p Ultrawide IPS Monitor: Philips 342E2E
- Best 200Hz 1080p Ultrawide Monitor: MSI Optix MAG301CR
Overall Best 1080p Ultrawide Monitor: Sceptre Curved C305B-200UN
No monitor better encompassed what we think our gaming readers will be looking for than this fantastic Sceptre display.
Offering an unrivaled balance in picture quality, build quality, and price, the Sceptre C305B ticks all the boxes at a lower cost than we expected.
Note: We’ve based this top pick specifically around the best 1080 ultrawide gaming monitor. If you have no interest in gaming (or it’s at least not your main priority), the next 2 picks will be better suited for you.
To start, you are getting up to a whooping 200hz when using DisplayPort. Combined with its ultrawide resolution, this is a truly fantastic coupling of specs for competitive gaming/e-sports and playing through more immersive titles (if you haven’t played at high refresh rates before, it’s hard to overstate just how much they improve gaming).
On top of these leading specs, you’re also getting a display with a 90% sRGB color gamut, excellent blacks with its VA panel, and a 5ms GTG response time; you are well-positioned to have an excellent picture quality.
Freesync is also supported, enabling you to minimize ghosting/stuttering at the C305B’s higher refresh rates.
What makes us love this cheap 1080 ultrawide gaming monitor, even more, is that it’s not compromising on build quality too.
Built like a premium display should be; the stand/overall design is durable, the bezels are incredibly thin and there is even some subtle LED lighting on the back, which if your monitor is near a wall, will add some nice light-blend.
While we wouldn’t recommend any monitor speakers for an audiophile gaming setup, this display’s included sound is decent compared to many others we’ve experienced.
On top of everything else that’s great about this pick, it’s also a curved 1080p ultrawide monitor. Truthfully, there was enough going for this Sceptre display that we would’ve given it the top spot without this feature, but having curvature too will really take the immersion in gaming, media, and general use that extra bit further. If you’ve never used a curved monitor before, it’s something that is simply more impressive in person.
There is simply so much to love about the C305B.
Coming in at an incredible price range, we think anybody in the market after a full HD ultrawide monitor for gaming will simply love this pick.
2023 update: The C305B is still my top choice for the best 1080p ultrawide monitor. None of the new options I’ve reviewed balance price and quality better than this pick with the mid-range buyer in mind.
Best IPS 1080p Ultrawide Monitor: LG 34WN650-W 34-Inch
Our next pick is for those focussed less on a gaming monitor, and more on a very vibrant picture quality that’s perfect for media and general use (also perhaps best 1080p ultrawide monitor for Mac).
This LG display has one of the best picture qualities on the list, especially when considering its mid-range price.
Boasting an IPS panel, VesaDisplay HDR400, and an sRGB99% color gamut; the picture here is simply stunning, with excellent colors, blacks, and whites (particularly from the HDR400). This is easily our pick for the best 1080p ultrawide monitor for video editing and other production work.
With its core target focussed around being the perfect general use/office ultrawide monitor, this LG offering has some great quality-of-life features for users focussed on business software and general internet use; utility like flicker safe/reader modes, screen split, and ergonomic tilt/height options. It’s a nice, well-rounded display that meets its goals as a productivity monitor perfectly.
If you are still into gaming, we’re not trying to imply this LG 1080p ultrawide monitor isn’t more than capable of it. With its gorgeous picture quality and some decent game modes available, you can still have a quality, immersive setup on here (we just think that if you’re serious about gaming, the utility of the high refresh rate on the Sceptre ultrawide monitor or Samsung pick will be so beneficial for you).
With all that said, if you are focused on picture quality and great utility for a productivity/office monitor, this is easily the best IPS full HD ultrawide display for the job.
Best Cheap 1080p Ultrawide Monitor: LG 25UM58
Our next pick is arguably the most impressive display on the list.
Not because it’s the best, but because it’s an incredible budget 1080p ultrawide monitor. We’ve seen 16:9 full HD displays in this price-range with lower picture quality, so this LG monitor feels like it was made with some kind of wizardry to achieve a decent 1080p 21:9 display at this budget.
With an IPS panel, 99% sRGB color gamut, and up to 250-nits brightness, the specs here will still provide a decent enough picture for a nice office/budget gaming setup.
This 21:9 ultrawide display lacks support for Freesync, which isn’t as good as our top pick for hardcore gamers/those interested in esports, but will still be fine for many gamers who can’t stretch to the pricepoint.
As far as business and personal use go, we think the 25UM58 has the specs you need to create a productive visual workspace.
Perhaps the most important distinguishment between this and our other choices is that this LG display ultrawide display is 25 inches, versus the 34″+ of our other favorite choices.
This is a notable decrease. You still have a gorgeous workspace compared to traditional aspect ratios, though, but it’s probably the biggest reason why it’s still worth stretching to the better picks if you can.
Of course, at this price range, you’re not going to get the vibrance, low response times, high refresh rates, and fantastic blacks/whites as our other picks.
But we’re still floored by what a great option this is if you can only stretch to a budget display. The monitor even has bezels as thin as many of the more expensive picks which we would never expect usually with a budget pick.
If your wallet is tight but you still want a 21:9 desktop then this is, without doubt, the best cheap 1080p ultrawide monitor on the market today.
2023 update: I still highly rate the 25UM58, but wanted to make readers aware of the Philips 292E2E which often hovers around 5-10% more expensive but offers 4″ more screen space, slightly superior color, and, in my view, a more attractive design than our top LG pick; if you can fork out a little more, I think it’s worth the upgrade.
Best 1080p Super Ultrawide Monitor: Samsung 49-Inch CHG90
The last main pick on our list is for the best 1080p ultrawide screen money can buy.
Yes, it’s an expensive offering, but this Samsung ultrawide monitor is something truly special.
To start, this is a super ultrawide display.
Sounds like marketing jargon, we know, but it in fact means the CHG90 boasts a 32:9 monitor aspect ratio and a 3840 x 1080 resolution.
With standard monitors being a 16:9 aspect ratio, this Samsung offering is literally the size of 2 1080p monitors in one screen; and with its enormous 49-inch size, you really feel the presence of 2 monitors (effectively both 24.5 inches).
This dual monitor in one design makes this a beast of a productivity display, with pretty much limitless potential for business and personal use.
And combined with its QLED screen, 350-nits brightness & HDR support, the vibrant picture you will get on this display is simply phenomenal.
But there’s more; let’s talk gaming.
With a 144hz refresh rate, 1ms response time, stunning picture quality, and, of course, the 32:9 aspect ratio, this is one of the best ultrawide gaming monitors on the market.
It’s hard to overstate just how more immersive a normal ultrawide monitor can be; to get the extra screen width of the CHG90 takes this to a whole other level.
There is also a decent amount of support for this aspect ratio too. You may be worrying if you have a gaming PC powerful enough to run 3840x1080p 144hz, but this resolution has half the pixels of a 4k monitor, and there plenty of 4k 144hz displays on the market. As long as you have a mid to high-range setup, you should be able to run an array of titles here.
To top off the gaming features is built-in support for AMD Freesync 2, which is one of the best technologies available to minimize common monitor issues such as ghosting on high-end displays.
Then there is the build quality; this Samsung 1080p ultrawide display is gorgeous, with a sturdy, well-built frame. It’s worth mentioning that it doesn’t have speakers, but we think you’ll want a real audiophile solution for gaming/general use to appreciate how immersive/productive this display can be anyway.
Last but not least, this is a curved super ultrawide monitor. On top of everything else this display has going for it, its 1800R curvature offers an additional layer of immersion.
Between all the great features we’ve discussed, you probably realize why we rate this screen so highly.
If you have the budget, this is an incredible choice, and the best 1080p ultrawide monitor on the market; something truly special that will last you a long time.
Alternative Picks – Best of the Rest
While the top 4 picks are our absolute favorite options for gaming, media, and general/business use alike, we wanted to provide a few more quick-fire picks in case any of our readers have very specific requirements/briefly explain why we may not have chosen them above the top 4.
34″ 1080p Ultrawide Alternative: Sceptre C345W-2560UN
While we think the main Sceptre monitor we’ve recommended is the better choice value-wise, this is a great option if you happen to find it at a discount/if the top Sceptre choice is out of stock and you want something of similar quality.
Second Cheapest IPS 1080p Ultrawide Monitor: LG 34WL600-B
If you like the look of out budget 1080p ultrawide display pick but want something with a better design/picture quality, this LG monitor is a great pick “in-between” our top cheap and high-end IPS choices. We’d just say it will usually be worth picking up the top Sceptreor LG displays if possible over this.
Mid-Range 1080p Ultrawide IPS Monitor: Philips 342E2E
Operating in a similar space to the LG pick directly above, this is a good middle-ground pick for users focussed on a business/general use display (while we prefer our main picks, it would be decent on a discount).
Best 200Hz 1080p Ultrawide Monitor: MSI Optix MAG301CR
Our last pick is an MSI gaming monitor with a superb refresh rate; the main reasons we don’t rate this as highly as our top pick is its significantly larger price-range and user-reports of ghosting. We’d say this is only worth considering if you’re after a very high refresh-rate monitor and the other viable picks are not available.
1080p vs 1440p Ultrawide Resolution
Before we wrap up, we wanted to address the common question on the differences between 1080p and 1440p for ultrawide. Some users seem to think that 2560 x 1080 resolution is “not good enough” for ultrawide monitors. This simply isn’t true.
Of course, if you have the extra budget and a semi-powerful PC, 1440p ultrawide is a marvel to behold. But there is nothing wrong with 1080p, UWFHD monitors are still far superior and more immersive than their 16:9 counterparts and you can still expect a crisp image with full HD, making them a perfect budget ultrawide option; not to mention our Samsung monitor choice proves that this form factor has some incredible premium options too.
If your budget is more in-line with the cost of 1080p ultrawide, don’t fret! We think you’ll love the options above, with the top picks selected with a balance of the picture, high refresh rate, and build quality in mind, you can expect them to be excellent options for gaming, media, or general use.
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