Samsung Odyssey G9 Neo Review: Super-wide is Complicated

All that setting up and later tearing it down to pack it back in box, all by myself better be worth it. Because this Samsung Odyssey G9 Neo, just like how tough it was to set it up, it’s a bit of a complicated monitor to recommend no matter what. But that doesn’t mean, it doesn’t have some good qualities, and to be frank, you have to try and see if the pros outweighs the cons for you and here’s our Samsung Odyssey G9 Neo Review.

Specification

Here’s the specification of the Samsung Odyssey G9 Neo that we received from them:

• 49” 32:9 Aspect Ratio Mini LED DQHD Display (VA Panel)
• HDR10+ Supported with 1ms Response Time
• Refresh rates of up to 240Hz supporting G-Sync and FreeSync Premium Pro
• 1000R Curve display
• Tilt, Swivel and Height Adjustment with Headphone Stand on the back

It’s Beautifully Wide and Immersive

The moment you assemble the monitor and put it up on your table, displaying all in its glory with the display turned off, you will notice how beautiful it is. The super-wide aspect looks as if it’s going to offer an immersive look which you don’t get from a 16:9 monitor.

The stand is wide enough to support the behemoth of a display. While the display isn’t covered edge-to-edge, it does have a bit of black bezels all around. Otherwise, yes, it is a pretty looking monitor that’s gives the impression that it’s going to be immersive indeed. But seriously good luck setting it up all by yourself because it’s the hardest thing to do as its extremely heavy.

The Curve is necessary but not this Curvy

Based on my experience, a normal 16:9 aspect display doesn’t need to be curve. 21:9 can be curve and it’s still acceptable without the curve, which is how I like it. This Samsung Odyssey G9 Neo is one long monitor as mentioned earlier and needs the curve to bring the display as close as possible to your eyes. Instead of making it curve at 1800R, Samsung decided to make it a lot curvier at 1000R. This curve takes a whole lot of time to get used to. The curve is “inspired” by the Human eye but to be honest, this curve is very aggressive.

Making it this curvy is, well sure, in a way good, as it brings things close but that’s the thing. The display isn’t entirely close and only parts of it are close, which means your eyes has to do a lot of work to accommodate to the distance as you move across the display. Curving it at 1700-1800R would not just keep the curve at a decent level, but also keeps the eyes from straining a lot to move from closer area of the display to the centre which is the furthest.

Compromises Vertical Space for Horizontal

16:9

18:9

21:9

32:9

One of the most important aspects of a monitor is its display real-estate or space. Unlike a flat 16:9 display, where 49”-inch means exactly what it means, the Odyssey G9 Neo doesn’t quite really fit into a true 49-inch display. Let me explain. The Odyssey G9 Neo is a 49” monitor with a 32:9 aspect ratio and it comes in the resolution of 5120 X 1440 – which indicates that you have more horizontal space than vertical space. That means you lose out on the vertical space for a lot of horizontal space. In a way it’s two 27” displays but it doesn’t perform that way.

You see, when you hook up two 27” monitors, the system treats it as two individual 27” display, and so you don’t lose a lot of vertical real estate. But in this Samsung Odyssey G9 Neo case, you have two 27” inch display worth of real estate, combined into one display and connects via one port, which means things are a bit different.

This may seem like a small deal breaker but in reality, it’s a huge one. A good example is showing a video on how much you look in the vertical space. Majority of the video we watch comes in the usual 16:9 ratio and with the help of a plugin, you can see how much of that vertical information you are losing. This is a big deal for someone like me who needs that space to be able to have the right amount of space to enjoy.

The Magic doesn’t last that long

The thing about the Samsung Odyssey G9 Neo is that the magic doesn’t last long, and it isn’t just us that feels the same way. Regardless of the ton of awards on their site, I don’t think its justified.

Gaming is Nauseating

If you think gaming is going to be fun, it depends on how you look at it. 2D games that has little to no demand on the graphics card nor on the content itself, its quite alright. Seeing games like Carrion is pretty okay. But that’s where it stops. The gaming experience on the super-wide aspect ratio is, lack of better word, nauseating. Now this isn’t just this monitor that gives you that kind of experience. Any 21:9 or 32:9 is bound to do that.

When you play a 3D graphics game such as Horizon Zero Dawn, the field of view affects the game where the middle of the display looks alright but, on the sides, it look warped as it cant display the information properly. Our eyes don’t behave that way. What we see in our peripheral vision is the same as what we see head on. You can alter the FOV which some games offer, but it still gives that nauseating feeling.

Making matters worse, fast paced games like Doom: Eternal is really an absolute hell to play as you move a lot which creates this warp, and the motion gives you enough sickness that you’d want to put your eyes to rest. It doesn’t end there. Not all games support super-wide ratio. Which means that you will have to play these games with the black bar on the sides. There are mods to take advantage of but when you do just that, things get a lot more complicated as those settings to change FOV doesn’t translate well. So, yes, gaming on this monitor is a big asterisk. You can play but at your own risk.

In fact, there’s a good video done by the folks over at TechCritter you should watch that dives a little deeper than what we have said.

You will feel Distracted

As you have this vast space in front of you, chances of getting extremely distracted is high as you feel like you do not know where to focus. On a traditional monitor, we have one screen, smack right in the middle and everything is right there. On a super-wide like this Samsung Odyssey G9 Neo, things are everywhere, and you’re bound to get distracted more so than ever. As you maximize certain tabs, the immense movement across can be distracting as well.

There are some serious QC issues

Curved monitors are fragile. Wider the monitors, the more fragile they are as well. Combine these two, you have an absolute stressful product to deal with. We have been using this monitor for 3 weeks straight and we have encountered some bizarre issues: the display suddenly blurring out and doesn’t give input until we manually unplug the wires and reconnect it.

Secondly, during our Display test, we noticed that the 49” display has some dead pixels, which is disappointing. Now, this could just be our unit right outside the box but as it turns out, Verge too reported that their review unit too had some QC issues. So that means, you must be very careful when you get yours.

Finally, a VA Panel for the Price is…

Displays in general has come a long way and these days VA panel does fantastic job. Unfortunately, paying top dollar to get VA panel seems underwhelming given that the similarly, if not more priced Acer Predator X27 monitor I use on a day-to-day basis has a better Quantum Dot Display with an IPS panel. There are some good stuff about this display: good brightness zones ranging from 300 to 2000 cd/m2.

Since it’s a curve display, you can see the color shift as you move and view it from different angle. The HDR performance is a hit and miss too as sometimes it performs well and sometimes it doesn’t. The one thing I appreciate on this monitor is the on-board control which uses a joystick controller and has 3 quick setting modes which is neat and clean.

Lot of factors affects the experience, making it less versatile

Here’s the thing. Buying the Samsung Odyssey G9 Neo to get the immersive experience right outside of the box isn’t possible. Given that your display is not just wide but a lot curvier, you need more space on your desk to accommodate a display like this and not feel uncomfortable. Personally, I set this monitor up on my Balak’s table with 90cm distance. But the display sits close at the range of 60cm because the stand alone takes up about 30cm of the desk space.

So, if you set this monitor up on a 60cm table, you are going to lose a lot of your desk space and end up with the display in your face. So, think about it before you buy it.

Conclusion

Before you drop RM9000 on this…

Majority of the people would go, “It’s the best monitor you can buy” or “It’s the endgame monitor for that ultimate Desktop Setup”. It fits neither category. Giving credit where its due, the Samsung Odyssey G9 Neo is an ambitious monitor in offering an experimental experience to users but otherwise, I’d say it’s not a monitor I could recommend to users who have that spending power, which means even having RM9000 to burn on one, it’s not a clever idea.

Interestingly, you can find this monitor for as low as RM6000-7000 range. So, shop smart if you do want to get one. But personally, I am switching back to my trusty Predator X27 with the sweet 16:9 aspect ratio, which is all I need.