LG Display has announced that its 27-inch OLED panel with 1440p resolution and 480Hz refresh rate, which the firm unveiled in early 2024, is now in mass production. So, we expect it won’t be too long before a new potential contender for our list of the best gaming monitors becomes available to buy from LG.
The big selling points highlighted by LG, aside from that astonishing refresh rate – which we’ve already seen on the 32-inch LG UltraGear OLED that offers 480Hz as an option in a “dual mode” setup – is an “optimization of the WRGB pixel structure that improves text readability compared to conventional displays.”
Plus, add in super-thin bezels and a panel with a micro-lens array to improve brightness and viewing angles (and better manage on-screen reflections), plus a 0.02ms response time, and you've got a recipe for a delicious 1440p gaming monitor.
There's also the potential for eye-sparing, because as LG notes in its press release for this monitor, its OLED panels “emit half the blue light of LCD screens, protecting users from its potentially harmful effects,” while also featuring flicker-free technology to combat eye fatigue (as many monitors do these days).
LG has yet to announce pricing for this 27-inch OLED monitor.
Pushing the boundaries until Hertz (your wallet) arrives
LG is the only company offering an OLED with a 480Hz refresh rate, while other panel makers are lagging behind (Samsung has a 360Hz OLED panel, and there are of course 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 (on the 32-inch OLED) to 0.02ms, which is about as close to instantaneous as you can get (or within a step of it; presumably 0.01ms is the next port of call).
With this smaller 27-inch display, we're hoping to see LG create a relatively more affordable high-end gaming monitor, compared to the aforementioned 32-inch LG UltraGear, which is an OLED display that will leave a significant hole in your wallet ($1,400 in the US, £1,300 in the UK).
Other monitor makers are also keen to use this 27-inch panel from LG, including, reportedly, Acer and Asus. Obviously, 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 a lot of money to get one of these ultra-fast panels, if we're being honest and stepping back from the refresh rate race for a moment.
The tricky point with high refresh rates is the GPU needed to push the most demanding games at a consistent 480 frames per second (to utilize that 480Hz refresh rate), and that's harder in this case since this is a 1440p panel, not 1080p (the resolution paired with the 480Hz option on LG's 32-inch OLED sibling). Frankly, you're going to need a pretty big gaming PC to drive this 27-inch OLED.
