LG Display has announced that its 27-inch 1440p resolution OLED panel with a 480Hz refresh rate, which the company unveiled in early 2024, is now in mass production. So hopefully it won’t be long before another potential contender for our best gaming monitors list is available to buy from LG.
The big selling point LG is highlighting, aside from the stunning refresh rate – which we’ve already seen on the LG 32-inch UltraGear OLED, which offers 480Hz as an option in a ‘dual mode’ setup – is a “WRGB pixel structure optimization that improves text readability compared to conventional displays.”
Add to that super-thin bezels and a panel with a Micro Lens Array to improve brightness and viewing angles (and better control on-screen reflections), plus a 0.02ms response time, and you’ve got a recipe for a tasty 1440p gaming monitor.
And then there’s the possibility that it’ll be easier on your eyes, because as LG notes in the press release for this monitor, its OLED panels emit “half the blue light of LCD screens, protecting users from its potentially damaging effects,” while also being equipped with Flicker-Free technology to help reduce eye strain (as many monitors do these days).
LG has yet to announce a price for this 27-inch OLED monitor.
Pushing the boundaries to Hertz (your wallet)
LG is the only company to offer an OLED with a 480Hz refresh rate, with other panel makers lagging behind (Samsung has a 360Hz OLED panel – and of course there are LCDs that go faster). It’s worth noting that with this new 27-inch monitor, the company has also reduced the response time from 0.03ms (in the 32-inch OLED) to 0.02ms, which is about as close to instant as you can get. (Or one stop away – presumably 0.01ms is the next step).
With this smaller 27-inch display, we’re hoping that LG is bringing a relatively more affordable high-end gaming monitor to the market, compared to the aforementioned LG 32-inch UltraGear. This is an OLED display that will put a serious dent in your wallet ($1,400 in the US, £1,300 in the UK).
Other monitor manufacturers will also use this 27-inch panel from LG, reportedly including Acer and Asus. Of course, these types of monitors are aimed at competitive gamers, so they’re never going to be cheap. Simply put, the average gamer doesn’t need to spend all that money to get one of these blazing fast panels, if we’re being honest and stepping away from the refresh rate race for a moment.
The tricky thing with sky-high refresh rates is the GPU required to consistently push demanding games to 480 frames per second – to take advantage of that 480Hz refresh rate – and that’s made even trickier in this case because this is a 1440p display, not 1080p (the resolution paired with the 480Hz option on LG’s 32-inch OLED sibling). You’ll need a decent gaming PC to drive this 27-inch OLED, to be honest.