I got this monitor to use as my primary photo editing monitor. I mainly use Lightroom and Photoshop for editing. I often use an Intuos S tablet when editing in Photoshop. Additionally I do a little video editing, plus I develop websites and iOS/Android apps.
I got this to use with my old 15" 2014 MacBook Pro and it was unusable. I didn't look into the specifications deeply enough, and my laptop could only push 30Hz with an egregious 75ms lag to the display, which made using it an exercise in patience. Since, I've upgraded to a 2018 MacBook Pro and it hums along smoothly at 60Hz and no noticeable lag. According to the MacBook specs, I could hook up an another 3 of these monitors and it would still display at 60Hz.
I was excited about having an incredible amount of editing space in Photoshop. However, since it's super wide, it will not map proportionally to any pen tablet. This caused my horizontal pen gestures on the Intuos to be translated into more on-screen movement than my vertical gestures, which was disorienting and counter-intuitive. I first tried to solve this by only mapping the top of my tablet to the screen in order to keep proportions correct between the tablet and the screen. But on my Intuos S (active area 6x3.7"), that was just way too sensitive for finer detail. It might be a passable solution for a larger tablet such as the Intuos Pro M or L. So instead I had to map the middle of the screen to the entirety of my tablet -- meaning that large areas on either side of the screen are not accessible by my pen. I size my photoshop window to fill only the pen-accessible area, but that raises my next point.
When I picked the 38" monitor over the 34" I did so because I wanted "the best money could buy" and I "didn't want to settle". Now as I edit photos with swaths of unused real estate on either side, I'm convinced I would be totally happy with the 34" version.
I do use near the full 38" when I'm working on programming projects and thus have 5-10 different windows and tools open that I'm using simultaneously. But the size of the monitor alone (I use it with a clamshelled laptop) is actually too small for all of those to be visible at the same time -- so I end up having to switch windows between the foreground and background a lot anyway. This monitor is a somewhat awkward size -- it's bigger than it needs to be for any single application, but too small for multiple applications that require space and attention.
Color is accurate. Pixel density is no retina display, but it's high enough to look sharp at a normal viewing distance. I cannot speak to its usefulness as a gaming monitor, but from the literature I'm assuming this is more for visual media professionals than gamers.
If you know exactly why you need 38", go ahead and get this. You will be pleased.
If you just want this just because it's "the best", go for the 34".
If you need a lot of work space, consider dual 24-32" monitors instead.
One final note. If you get this monitor, it's worth it to use a window management tool. On Mac I use Spectacle, which is free software that allows you to easily arrange windows into screen halves/thirds/quarters etc with keyboard shortcuts.
| Standing screen display size | 37.5 Inches |
|---|---|
| Screen Resolution | 3840x1600 |
| Max Screen Resolution | 3840 x 1600 Pixels |
| Number of USB 2.0 Ports | 3 |
