It was almost five years ago that I first sampled the ultra-wide monitor space - a resolution that puts your aspect ratio at 21:9 over the standard 16:9 most monitors are today. Gaming and technology has progressed quite a bit since then - with resolution, design, and refresh rate all improving. So when I got the chance to check out the latest Ultra-Wide gaming panel from AOC, the 35” AG352UCG6, I jumped at the chance.
A few weeks back I suddenly found myself without a monitor. With a blank slate in front of me I started to decide what exactly I needed and wanted in a monitor. Gaming was obviously first priority, but content creation and screen realestate was big too. Having had an IPS display before, and really enjoying the contrast and quality it provided, I knew I wanted to go that route. But the next question I asked - could I live with 1080p or did I want to shoot for 1440p or the elusive 4K resolution.
Having worked on this website for almost seven years now, my inbox tends to get a few dozen press releases a day about not only gaming products, but various other pieces of hardware and software. One thing that piqued my interest was a monitor from AOC, whose 3D monitor we looked at last year. Their latest monitor is a 29” ultrawide display with a resolution of 2560x1080. While this is an uncommon form factor, it’s the features this monitor offered that attracted me to it among the others.
3D gaming and movies seem to be all the rage these days. Every big theatrical release touts it's 3D viewing and several big games tout their compatibility with 3D on the PlayStation 3 and PC. Most home 3D viewing is done using a system that requires a set of big glasses that use alternating eyes to give the impression of 3D. But there's another method that's a lot less expensive and a lot closer to the experience you'd find in a movie theater - and that's polarized. Over the past few weeks I've been using a new monitor from AOC that uses this method to display 3D images.
One problem I've always had with the current generation of active 3D glasses is that they just make the image on the screen appear darker. Today, NVIDIA has launched their 3D Vision 2 glasses for monitors, projectors and TVs that promise to alleviate that issue while also being a lighter and longer lasting pair of 3D glasses. The glasses are redesigned to be lighter and made from softer materials so wearing them isn't quite a burden, but the really attractive features of this kit is when you pair it with a new Light Boost capable display.
