Samsung C27HG70 27" HDR QLED 144Hz 1ms Curved Gaming Monitor with FreeSync

TLDR: Very well built with a fantastic screen.First off, I am using this for everyday use, but I work in IT in front of monitors all day long so comfort and clarity is key. This monitor is being used in my home office. Originally I bought a 27" 1080p but it was terrible and I realized it was too big for my setup. I read that curved screens help with that so I ordered this one.The build quality is very nice. The stand was a little PITA to put on (screws didn't want to go in). But once it was together, this is the best monitor stand I've ever seen. Height wise, it will go all the way down to about an inch off the desktop. That is really nice for people like me that sit lower. It also comes with a VESA adapter which is a nice touch. Also in the box is an HDMI, DisplayPort, and USB 3 cable.Picture quality is also very nice. No dead pixels. Very bright... So much that I had to turn brightness down from 100 to 40. The resolution is perfect. Sure it's 2k, but it's 144hz and very sharp. No blurry text. No screen tearing. My old Radeon r270 picked it up and adjusted to 2k at 144hz just fine. I have not ran any games yet since I rarely play on PC these days, but I tested video in VLC and it was really good. I really want to get work to buy me two of these.It has DisplayPort, HDMI, and a mini USB 3 hub which is great for connecting a keyboard and mouse. One note: I tried both HDMI and DisplayPort (DP). DP is the clear the winner here. HDMI had blurry fonts but DP was perfect so be sure you are using that if you can (no converters). I also tried the light ring on the back. Nothing fancy here. Just some ambient lighting which can help with eye strain at night but it's not really bright enough to do that. It turns off automatically when the monitor sleeps. It's more for show than anything else.Overall, this is an awesome monitor.A few notes on install: I have 20+ years of IT experience so I skipped the instructions and went straight to putting it together. Probably should have looked it over first because there is a ring that covers the mount and you can only put it on from the bottom of the stand but before you screw the base in. So be sure you put that thing on first. Also, the stand looks like it's VESA, but you have to slide a tab into a slot before screwing it down. Also, the threaded holes can be tricky to line up so if they aren't screwing in, adjust it and keep at it.

My previous monitor was the Viewsonic XG2401, so I will be drawing direct comparisons to it.The viewing angles on the HG70 angles are great. There is no noticeable color shift when sitting in front of the screen and shifting my head. The XG2401's viewing angles were quite awful imo. On the XG2401, I could see a shift in brightness at the top of the screen to the bottom of the screen by looking up and down the screen without moving my head.The pixel density at 27 inches and 1440p resolution is the sweet spot for me (I sit 2 feet away from my monitor). The pixel density on the XG2401 (91.79 PPI 1080p at 24') was not enough for me. I was able to see the pixels and the image wasn't as sharp as I wanted it to be.Competitive gaming performance is pretty good. There is not noticeable motion blur. There is slight ghosting with the response time setting set to fastest. Response time is good but slightly slower than the XG2401. This will only matter if you meet your complete equal in CSGO and he/she has a faster TN panel.HDR performance on this monitor is mixed. Colors in HDR content pop. The wider color gamut allows for sharper colors in HDR content, making them more lifelike. The contrast ratio, maximum brightness, and only having 8 local dimming zones is where the monitor gets heavily critiqued for having "fake HDR". I'm not convinced that it's that bad. In Shadow of Mordor, the colors were great. I didn't notice any crushed blacks in dark caves. In Atomic Blonde (HDR), there's a scene where most of the scene is dark except parts of the character/scene are highlighted in bright shades of blue. The dark parts of the scene lack detail because it's...well dark. The parts of the scene highlighted in blue were perfectly visible and bright. Is this the crushed blacks people are complaining about? Is it the monitor or are is the scene meant to be dark and we're not supposed to be able to see much details in dark scenes. Are critiques complaining about lack of detail in dark scenes just too used to IPS panels, which portray dark scenes poorly. There's a reason why it's advised to not buy IPS TVs. Before the XG2401 monitor, I had an IPS monitor. It did not display dark scenes very well, and I was used to being able to see everything in dark scenes. When I switched to the XG2401, I had a hard time adjusting because dark scenes were actually dark. I kept squinting trying to see the details that weren't there. For it's price, I wouldn't say the HDR performance is bad. The only available monitor that meets HDR10 spec is the Dell UP2718Q, but it's a different beast (4k 60hz vs 1440p 144hz) and costs $1500.With the latest firmware, I'm noticing some yellow ghosting with the FreeSync mode set to ultimate engine. The XG2401's freesync worked perfectly fine with the same freesync range.As others have noted, I had pretty bad color banding in grey backgrounds when I first received the monitor. After a few months of usage, it's mostly gone with only a small section of the screen still suffering from it in solid grey or greyish backgrounds. Not sure if it's the firmware update or if it just goes away after some time of usage.

This is an excellent product. I purchased the Samsung C32HG70 32-Inch HDR QLED. I went with the 32" because of the larger screen. 32" is perfect for me, the 27" is a bit small for my taste and anything bigger then the 32" is too big. I have experienced almost zero black-light issues. The contrast is definitely the best I've ever seen. It's a VA panel so it doesn't have the horrendous IPS back-light bleed that so many high-end gaming monitors seem to suffer from. The Quantum Dot colors are very good. It's not a 4k monitor (1440P) but yet still produces HDR and over a billion shades of color (impressive). This screen has excellent 3D-like images that makes gaming a joy, and the contrast is great for Skyrim and games with a lot of dark scenes. The curved screen makes for an incredibly immersive experience. The 144hz is very smooth. I'm using a 1080ti EVGA card, so Freesync obviously won't work. However, I've experienced zero issues with even the most demanding games on high settings. I honestly think G-sync wouldn't even make a difference with the 1080ti because the frame-rates are so high. In any case, it's the best monitor I've ever seen. It's not 4k nor does it have G-sync. But right now 4k is too demanding for high frame-rates so it's not really needed, and all 4k monitors are currently limited to 60hz (which I don't like). Very happy with this monitor.Pros: Great picture, great colors, high refresh rate, 3D-like images, excellent contrast, and a immersive curved screen.Con: No G-sync (not a big deal right now), not 4k (too demanding for current graphics cards), and it's not OLED (one day, we can dream).