A large swathe of MSI’s CES 2024 suite is devoted to QD-OLED monitors. Partnering up with Samsung as the panel-maker, MSI is busy releasing multiple models. Club386 came away suitably impressed with the in-market 342C to furnish it with an Editors’ Choice gong, so there’s hope for a decent selection of upcoming screens.
First up at the suite is the MAG341CQP. The name doesn’t give too much away, but it’s a 34in curved display (1800R) with a standard 3440×1440 resolution. Sharing a number of similarities with our reviewed model, the 48-175Hz refresh rate bodes well for gaming.
Offering 97.8% of the AdobeRGB space and an impressive 99.3% DCI-P3, it ought to be a decent performer for office work. As is the way with QD-OLEDs, near-instant response time, true blacks, and popping colours are a hallmark. DisplayPort 1.4a is augmented by two HDMI 2.1, and there’s also a Type-C port offering charging at up to 15W.
MSI says the monitor carries its OLED Care 2.0 system that offers more ways to detect dreaded OLED burn-in, though it’s too early for us to say whether it’s an effective weapon against the scourge. That said, having used two OLED TVs for the better part of 18 months, this is fast becoming a non-issue.
Releasing later in Q1, expect pricing to hover around the $899 mark.
Fancy a resolution more amenable to high-quality gaming and fine-grained spreadsheets? The upcoming MPG321URX is due out in February and priced at $999. For that dosh, you get a 4K UHD monitor equipped with a lofty 240Hz refresh rate. Needless to say, you’ll need a meaty graphics card to drive the pixels at anywhere near maximum refresh, and I recommend a GeForce RTX 4090 with some DLSS 3.5 loving. There’s also a subtle Mystic Light escaping from the edges and lending a sense of ambient immersion.
Carrying the same inputs as the curved 341CQP above, this 16:9 panel wins out in Power Delivery by offering charging at up to 90W. Having seen it in person as the suite, I prefer it to the wide, curved monitors for high-octane gaming. The only downside, I suppose, is the stand doesn’t look anywhere near as nice, though that really ought to be a lesser concern.
Calling all gamers, MSI is considering producing a 27in Mini LED Rapid IPS monitor imbued with a 500Hz refresh rate. The MPG272QPX packs in a QHD resolution and uses 1,152 individually-controlled LED zones for OLED-like colour reproduction.
The real kicker, other than refresh rate, is HDR brightness, quoted at over 1,000 nits. Inputs are the same as MPG321URX, so it fares well in that regard, too.
The company is waiting on customer feedback before committing to production, but if it was me, I’d release it as soon as possible. Super-high refresh rates and Mini LED are a great match for a monitor capable of serving pro and aspiring gamers.
