How much would you spend for a no-compromise mini-LED gaming monitor? Samsung thinks it has an answer. The company will start taking pre-orders for its long-teased Odyssey Neo G9 display on July 29th for $2,500. Yes, you could buy a nice PC for less than the cost of this curved, 49-inch beast — although you might have good reasons to buy this over smaller, flatter Odyssey screens.
As you might have guessed, the use of mini-LED delivers very high contrast ratios for an LCD monitor. Samsung claims a black level of just 0.0004. However, you’re also getting extremely bright HDR thanks to a peak brightness of 2,000 nits that makes many TVs seem dim by comparison. Customizable lighting effects help add to the flash.
You should also see the same 5,120 x 1,440 resolution, 240Hz refresh rate and 1ms pixel response time from last year’s Odyssey G9, not to mention connectivity that includes two HDMI ports, DisplayPort and a pair of USB 3.0 connections.
You’re clearly getting features that are hard to match. However, it’s also apparent that Samsung is targeting a fairly narrow audience — The Neo G9 is meant for well-heeled gamers who want the most immersive non-VR experience possible. It could easily hit the sweet spot if you’re in that demographic, but creative pros (and anyone on a budget) will probably want to look elsewhere.