Ultrawide Monitor vs 4K TV – Which one is the Best?

One thought that may have popped into your head while looking at the plethora of absurdly expensive ultrawide monitor is, hey why don’t I buy a TV instead. Why not right? You’re on the verge of spending upwards of 1000 dollars on a 34-inch ultrawide monitor, why not get a comparably sized 4k TV instead? You may surprise, going with the latter option is going to save you a few hundred dollars in a lot of cases. So in this article, we compare ultrawide monitor Vs 4K Tv Best Option for you.

Ultrawide Monitor Benefits

Before we get all excited about this prospect, let’s consider the benefits of an ultrawide monitor over a TV. Ultrawide monitors (and monitors in general for that matter) are much better suited for high-performance gaming. They are often capable of higher than 60hz refresh rates and typically have shallow response times of under 10ms. To put that in perspective, some TVs can have input lag as high as 40ms. That doesn’t seem like much, but you’d surprise how sharp the human perceptual system is.

You can without a doubt notice these differences, especially in competitive, fast gaming. If you’re interested in having the best performance possible, definitely stick with an ultrawide monitor, perhaps even one with a 144hz refresh rate. We Recommend you take a look at our ultrawide monitor guide. We’ve listed several options with over 60hz refresh rates.

Another likely benefit of ultrawide monitors is the potential of picking up a model that features G-sync or Freesync. This is a technology that syncs the FPS of your GPU with the refresh rate of your gaming monitor to eliminate any tearing or stuttering that you may experience. This technology in combination with a high refresh rate yields the smoothest gaming experience possible. It is incredibly optimal for high-performance gaming.

TV Benefits

With that out of the way, let’s look at the advantages of buying a TV and using that as your monitor. TVs right off the bat tend to be much larger than the largest of ultrawide monitors. Ultrawide monitors reach their peak at around 34 inches, whereas modern TVs typically start around 40 and move up to a whopping 70 inches. While TVs may not have the performance and speed of a typical ultrawide monitor, they’re as eye-catching, if not more so.

Best Feature Of 4K Tv

You see, the best resolution you can get on an ultrawide monitor is 3440×1440 which you might think on the surface is “4k”, but it’s really. Resolution numbers a little different compared to what you’d expect because of that 21:9 aspect ratio.

TVs are almost always 16:9. So basically, a real 4K display at a typical aspect ratio of 16:9 is 3840×2160, which is much more pixels than what you can expect out of an ultrawide monitor.

This not intended to conclude that 16:9 is superior. Just because you can have a higher pixel density on a 16:9 display as compared to a 21:9 monitor (as of now), does not make it better. It is up to personal preference at the end of the day. An ultrawide monitor is going to give a superior experience for movie watching because movies shot in that format. On an ultrawide monitor, there are no black bars when watching movies.

Besides the entertainment aspect, ultrawide monitors are fantastic for productivity. Because they’re wide enough to allow you to multi-task with multiple windows without you having to buy separate monitors. Also, at a resolution of 3440×1440, high-end ultrawide monitors offer fantastic clarity without compromising on readability. You see, windows never designed for crazy resolutions like 4k and above, so text and windows get shrunken down.

To combat this, you have to increase the scaling in your options which often leaves things looking wonky because it only was not designed for such a high resolution. It is still the early days of ultra-high resolution monitors. Most people are still at 1080p after all.

Anyway, the point is it offers you the perfect balance between size, resolution, and practicality, making ultrawide monitors an excellent choice for productivity.

Real-world comparison

So we’ve discussed the potential benefits and disadvantages of both options in theory. We’ve looked at the differences in performance with regards to refresh rate, response time, and technologies like G-sync/Freesync which all contribute to smoother, seamless gameplay. Differences in resolution, size, and aspect ratio have also compared to help give us a clearer picture of what option provides the more productive, more immersive experience.

Now we’re going to be comparing two products you can buy today. It’s time for the showdown between the high-end ultrawide monitor and 4K TV.

Ultra-wide Monitor

Our ultrawide monitor of choice for this comparison the ASUS Designo Curved MX34VQ. This ultrawide monitor features a 34-inch display at a resolution of 100hz.

It also features gamer-oriented features like a response time as low as 4ms and Free Sync for seamless gameplay. This is one of the best curved ultrawide monitors on the market today. It is incredibly premium and versatile. It works great for productivity, watching movies, and doing competitive gaming.

4K TV Samsung UN40

For our TV we have the Samsung UN40KU6300 40-Inch 4K smart LED TV. Starting at 40 inches and a resolution of 3840×2160.

This TV already outranks our high-end ultrawide monitor in overall size and resolution. Regarding refresh rate and response rate, this 4K TV is at 60hz and 22ms respectively. While this isn’t that bad, it doesn’t at all compare to the ultrawide monitor’s ultra-low response time of 4ms and high refresh rate of 100hz.

Also, don’t forget that TVs don’t come with technology like Freesync and G-sync, so that’s another aspect where they just can’t compete.
With that said, this TV is significantly more affordable than the ultrawide monitor, and that’s a significant factor to consider.

Conclusion

As with many technology-related products, it all comes down to preference. If gaming, productivity, and watching movies is a big part of your life, the ultrawide monitor is a fantastic option. Now if you’re looking to save a little money and still have a kick-ass display.

You really can’t go wrong with a 40-inch 4K tv as a monitor. It might not be competitive for games, but it’ll be immersive. The price difference is significant, so if you don’t care about having all the little bells and whistles that may or may not help your game or be slightly more productive, the 4K TV is a no-brainer.