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In a bit of a shocking move, HP has decided to make its upcoming Chromebook-focused virtual event into a public affair, issuing not only an open invite for anyone to attend, but also a sign up form to get a feel for the number of attendees expected for the event. From what we can tell at this point, the form entry isn’t required to watch the event, but by filling it out I’d assume you’ll get a followup email to confirm the details of the event before things go live on May 5th at 10AM PST.

While we will be getting the scoop on all this a few days prior, it is an interesting play by HP who, by and large, don’t hold these types of events on a regular basis for any of their products. As a matter of fact, as long as we’ve been covering Chromebooks, there’s never been any sort of public-facing device reveals for Chrome OS hardware. We’ve had a couple press-only virtual events, but that is about it. While I expect companies like Apple, OnePlus, Google, and Samsung to figure out ways to deliver their normal keynote events in an all-digital manner, it’s great to see HP dive in and do the same even though we didn’t really expect it at all.

Even more interesting is the fact that this event looks to be squarely for the new Chromebook Enterprise offerings. I could see HP putting together a whole event to unveil a bunch of stuff while including a few new Chromebooks, but to do all this for only Chromebooks? That’s a bit new to us as well.

Whether you sign up or not, we’ll be sharing the details of the event – mainly the link for your watching pleasure – at a later date when we have them. More importantly, we wanted to share with you the first look at one of the new devices HP is ready to unveil to the world as ‘The Chromebook of the Future.” That’s a bold statement and from what we can gather, this will likely be one of the ‘Hatch’-based Chromebooks like the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook and the ASUS Flip C436. That means all the goodies are on the table like fingerprint scanner, Bluetooth 5, WiFi 6, NVMe storage, and 10th-gen Intel processors.

Behold, our first look at HP’s latest, greatest Chromebook. This image is directly pulled from the sign-up form for the event we mentioned above. There are a few observations we can make quite quickly. First, this is what appears to be a very thin convertible. Second, pen support looks to be on board as well. Third, the bezels on all sides are very thin, giving the device a very futuristic look. Finally, it would appear this device will be a 16:10 or 3:2 device, making the tablet orientation a bit more tablet-like and less ridiculous when held vertically.

From some of the language in the emails we’re seeing about this event, we’re expecting more than one device to be debuted, but we don’t have those firm details just yet. My guess is we could see a convertible and clamshell device, but likely no tablets. This event looks to be focused towards the enterprise end of the market, so it will be interesting to see how HP targets these new Chromebooks both from a marketing and price point angle. Their last big enterprise effort – the HP x360 14 G1 – was basically a regurgitation of the well-liked x360 14, but did little to justify the massive price hike. I sincerely hope HP doesn’t make that mistake again and gets back to delivering cutting-edge Chromebook experiences like the HP Chromebook 13 G1 did in its day.

We’ll get more info about where to check out the event in the coming days, but if you think you’d like to attend live, make sure and fill out the form and let them know Chrome Unboxed sent you.

Lenovo’s Yoga C630, which we reviewed late 2018, got high marks for its convertible design, excellent battery life, and LTE connectivity. It was an ARM-based device running on a Snapdragon 850 processor (CPU) and 8GB of RAM, which at the time made it rather powerful in this category of devices. It was compared as a cheaper alternative to the Samsung Galaxy Book2, another hot ARM-based device at the time.

Lenovo has refreshed the C630 with the C640 I’ve been using for the last week. Instead of running on ARM, it has moved to 10th Gen Intel Core “Comet Lake” CPUs. Also gone, unfortunately, is LTE connectivity for staying in touch with cellular data instead of Wi-Fi. A lot has otherwise remained the same with a few tweaks here and there. Is it still worth the bargain price?

Lenovo Yoga C640 at a glance

Lenovo supplied Windows Central with a review unit of the Yoga C640, with 10th Gen Intel “Comet Lake” Core i3-10110U CPU with two cores and a turbo frequency up to 4.1GHz. Backing up the CPU is 8GB of DDR4-2400MHz RAM that is soldered to the board (no option for upgrades) and a 128GB M.2 PCIe solid-state drive (SSD). It uses a small 2242 M.2 format that can be upgraded, but not to something larger like the 2280 size.

This is the baseline model that Lenovo has to offer, starting at about $630. That’s a stellar price even for the relatively low-end hardware inside, as we will see when it comes to features and build quality.

Lenovo allows you to customize the Yoga C640 to your liking at checkout, currently offering up to a 512GB SSD and 10th Gen Intel Core i7-10510U CPU. This high-end model tops out at about $910 before any of the frequent Lenovo coupons and sales.

What I love about Lenovo’s Yoga C640

Compared to the Yoga C630, the C640 is a bit thicker at 0.67 inches (16.95mm) compared to 0.49 inches (12.5mm). It’s also heavier at 2.98 pounds (1.35kg) compared to 2.65 pounds (1.2kg). However, thanks to the chin bezel being shrunk down to better fit the 16:9 display, the laptop isn’t quite as deep. That means the palm rests are about a half-inch less spacious, but I didn’t find it to be an issue when typing.

Whereas the Yoga C630’s lid was aluminum and base was magnesium alloy, the C640 employs an aluminum lid and PC plastic with a glass fiber blend for the base. It’s plenty sturdy, and it’s finished with an iron-gray “sandblasted” coating that feels a lot like the soft-touch type Lenovo uses on the ThinkPad lineup. It’s smooth to the touch and overall just a lot more comfortable to hold compared to something like the all-aluminum Yoga C740.

The backlit keyboard stretches from edge to edge, leaving just enough space on either side for dual top-firing 2W speakers. Like the C630, audio is still a bit flimsy despite Dolby Atmos. Sound is clear and unmuffled (especially when in notebook mode), but it’s not as deep or full as larger Ultrabooks. Typing is stellar with full-size Shift, Ctrl, Tab, and Backspace keys. There’s plenty of key travel despite the thin chassis, and keys are spaced appropriately. The only thing to note is that the up and down arrow keys are compressed into the size of a single regular key.

Just below the keyboard is a fingerprint reader embedded into the palm rest. It works with Windows Hello for extra security. Lenovo’s trend of putting an unobtrusive webcam shutter into its laptops continues here. The 720p camera is nothing miraculous but gets the job done for video conferencing, something especially important while many people are working from home. The Precision glass touchpad is sized appropriately for the device and tracks perfectly.

The C640 is perfectly sized to be a convertible that can convert into tent, stand, and tablet modes. It’s not too heavy or thick to be held as a tablet, and the narrow bezel that remains prevents accidental touches. The power button has been repositioned and set into the chassis edge to prevent unwanted presses when the tablet is held in two hands. You can add Lenovo’s Active Pen 2 for about $70; the review unit didn’t include one so I can’t comment on how well it inks. However, the pen offers 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity and two customizable buttons.

The touch display is rather basic with only an FHD option, but that’s sort of expected at this price. It is considered “anti-glare” to help with the glossy finish, but at a maximum 305-nits brightness, there are still some issues with working in a sunlit room. I had brightness cranked up above 85% when working during the day. It does lower down to just 2.9 nits brightness, though, making it ideal for late-night viewing even without Windows 10’s night light feature.

I tested brightness and color with Datacolor’s SpyderX Pro and came away with 100% sRGB, 80% AdobeRGB, and 81% DCI-P3 coverage. It’s a great looking panel despite the average brightness, and it will do the trick for work or media.

I used the Yoga C640 for everyday productivity work for a few days, including word processing, heavy web browsing, video streaming, and email. Even with the low-end Core i3-10110U CPU, it handled everything efficiently. I didn’t get into photo editing or gaming — if those are on your list and you’re firm on this laptop, you’ll want to consider upgrading to a Core i5 or Core i7 version. Even then, something with Intel’s Ice Lake integrated Iris Plus graphics or a dedicated GPU will make a lot more sense.

One of the shining features that have carried over from the Yoga C630 is battery life. The 60Wh battery is rather large for a laptop this size with this level of hardware, and I clocked just less than 14 hours from PCMark10’s Modern Office battery test. That’s slightly less than the 15 hours seen in the C630, but 14 hours is still above average and figures out to about 11 or 12 hours of regular usage. If you’d like to head out in the morning to the office or elsewhere, you won’t have to worry about hauling the (albeit small) AC adapter with you.

What I dislike about Lenovo’s Yoga C640

Other than the middling audio and so-so webcam I already mentioned — both things I can live with — I must talk about port selection. The Yoga C630 featured dual USB-C ports (one reserved for charging) alongside dual USB-A, a 3.5mm audio jack, and a SIM slot. The Yoga C640 has been pared down to just one USB-C, with charging instead of going through a barrel slot. No, you cannot use the USB-C port on the right side for charging. It would have been nice to see the dual USB-C ports make a return here, especially considering how long the battery lasts and the options for alternate connectivity without a charger attached.

Finally, the fan behavior is notable. Even with Lenovo’s Intelligent Cooling feature disabled in the Vantage app, it seemed to kick on and off way too frequently, sometimes spinning up and down 40 times in a minute under low load. With the PC being pressed, it turns on and stays on as it should, which is far less noticeable. At least it’s quiet, so if you’re not in an otherwise silent room, you likely won’t hear it. Still, it’s an issue that should be fixed.

Should you buy Lenovo’s Yoga C640?

The Yoga C640 sits among some tough 13-inch convertible competition, including premium options like the HP Spectre x360 13 and Dell XPS 13 2-in-1. That’s where most people begin their search, and both devices toe the line of being perfect PCs. Despite competitive pricing, however, they’re out of budget range for a lot of people. That’s where a truly budget option like the C640 excels.

It doesn’t quite have all the same magic as the C630 predecessor, but it still nails the basics. Typing and pointing are comfortable, the display is colorful and is inking-compatible, and it’s built to a high standard that’s not always evident with a device at this cost. Lack of LTE is a shame because it helped make the C630 something special for those always on the move. LTE was included in the features when the C640 was first revealed, but it has since gone by the wayside in North America. Lenovo does say it expects LTE is some other regions at some point.

Canon’s RF mirrorless lenses have received lots of praise for pushing optical boundaries and for their great image quality. This great video review takes a look at one of those lenses, the RF 15-35mm f/2.8L IS USM.

Coming to you from Gordon Laing, this excellent video review takes a look at the Canon RF 15-35mm f/2.8L IS USM lens. The 15-35mm f/2.8L comes with two Ultra-Low Dispersion elements for reduced chromatic aberrations, three aspherical elements for reduced spherical aberrations and distortion and improved sharpness, Air-Sphere Coating for reduced flaring and improved contrast, image stabilization of up to five stops, Nano USM for quick and nearly silent autofocus with full-time manual override, a customizable Control Ring, and fluorine coating on the front and rear elements to resist smudges. It also comes with a nine-blade diaphragm for smoother bokeh. Beyond the optical features and improvements, the RF version also comes with an extra millimeter on the wide end over its EF cousin, extending its versatility. Altogether, the RF 15-35mm f/2.8L looks like a fantastic upgrade over its EF predecessor and a great addition for many photographers using Canon’s mirrorless system. Check out the video above for Laing’s full thoughts. 

If you’ve shopped for a graphics card that is small enough to fit inside a mini-ITX case lately, you may have been frustrated with the results—there’s just not a lot of them available. Don’t blame PowerColor (not entirely, anyway). It just released its second mini-ITX graphics card in four months, a Radeon RX 5600 XT.

This newest entry follows the launch of a miniaturized Radeon RX 5700 XT last December. It was reported at the time that it would be exclusive to Japan, and that still seems to be the case.

In contrast, PowerColor’s shortened Radeon RX 5600 XT is listed at Scan for £299.99. A straight conversion puts it at around $372 in US currency. As our friends at Tom’s Hardware note, subtracting VAT puts the cost closer to $300 (which is more in line with regular 5600 XT cards), if and when it launches in the US. I’m guessing it probably will.

The listing doesn’t specify the dimensions. However, it’s not going to be bigger or longer than the ITX version of the 5700 XT, which measures 175mm x 110mm x 40mm (6.89 x 4.33 x 1.57 inches). Like that model, the 5600 XT occupies two PCI Express slots.

One other notable bit about this card is the memory. Though the dimensions are not specified, the listing indicates it ships with 6GB of GDDR6 memory at 14Gbps. 

The 5600 XT launch was a bit of a mess because AMD changed the specs at the last minute, from 12Gbps to 14Gbps memory. This left its hardware partners scrambling to update their designs to validate the new memory, and when possible, issue BIOS updates for existing cards that shipped with the slower memory. Neither of those headaches apply to this card.

What other options are there? I sorted Newegg’s GPU section to only show mini ITX cards and it only came up with just six models. Out of those, only half them showed up as being in stock, and all three were from marketplace sellers with inflated prices. No thanks.

Scan has a few more options, just be sure to check the listings to make sure the card is actually an ITX model (a search for ‘ITX graphics cards’ returned some results that were clearly not ITX). In case you’re not familiar, mini ITX cases are even smaller than micro ATX ones. They’re great if you’re dealing with limited space, they just require more careful component selection.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 20 is one of the most anticipated phones of 2020, which is why when an image of what appears to be a brand new Note phone was spotted on the South Korean maker’s own website, and that new phone had no notch or pin-hole camera to be seen on its screen, phone enthusiasts the world over got excited.

They got excited as the prospect of a Samsung Galaxy Note 20 smartphone equipped with a futuristic under-screen front-facing camera could of just crept a tiny bit closer.

The mystery Note-style phone is sandwiched between a Galaxy S10+ and Galaxy S20, and while its top-left hand corner of the screen cannot be seen, thereby holding the potential for a tiny pin-hole camera to be tucked away out of sight, the chances of Samsung abandoning its Infinity-O screens and moving the pin-hole from where it was positioned on the Galaxy Note 10 series, bang in centre, seems off.

And it especially seems off considering the mystery Galaxy phone looks so much like a Note phone. You can check out the image (which has now been taken down from the Samsung website) causing all the ruckus below and make up your own mind.

The new Samsung Galaxy phone image was first reported on by SamMobile, with one of the site’s readers spotting it on the Samsung Rewards section of the official Samsung website.

Now, whether the phone is genuine and what we’re looking at here is a teaser image of the Galaxy Note 20 remains unclear. The image is obviously a mock-up of sorts, and Samsung has past form using made-up concept phones in its advertising imagery, so it is definitely worth taking with a grain of salt. And especially so as the design leaks we’ve seen so far show the Note 20 with hardware buttons on the right hand side of the frame, which in this image remains completely clean.

However, there have been rumours that Samsung is working on underscreen camera technology and that it is going to launch a phone with the technology this year, so this image certainly can’t be ruled out entirely. After all, the Note series is Samsung’s technical leader and it would make perfect sense for a new technology of such magnitude to debut on a Note phone.

Other World Computing (also known as OWC) is a very Apple-centric company. Its products are typically designed for Mac computers, such as the iMac, Mac Pro, and MacBook to name a few. Hell, the company’s website is MacSales.com — what does that tell you? Despite primarily focusing on Apple products, its offerings aren’t exclusive to Mac. Many of its storage, memory, and docking products are compatible with Windows and Linux computers too.

OWC’s latest storage product is sure to be cross-platform, as it is merely a solid state drive. The SSD is a very fast M.2 PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe variant, but that isn’t what makes it so exciting. Actually, it is the capacity — an insane 4TB! And yes, as you can expect, the 4TB Aura P12 M.2 NVMe SSD (S3DN3P2T40) is quite expensive.

ALSO READ: PATRIOT PXD is a PCIe USB-C SSD

“The Aura P12 SSDs give users the freedom to dramatically up their game, utilizing 3D NAND flash memory and security features including TCG Opal and TCG Pyrite. These SSDs are engineered to give users the best and longest working life, with read speeds up to 3400MB/s and write speeds up to 3000MB/s, a perfect blend for media-heavy projects, on-location downloads and faster previews, renders and processing in audio and VFX programs,” says OWC.

Larry O’Connor, Founder and CEO, explains, “Our SSDs have traditionally been a knockout with professionals and prosumers across industries, especially those who have a truly demanding workflow in rugged environments or studio spaces. We are very excited to be the first to offer this 4TB Aura P12 SSD to expand our Envoy Pro EX, ThunderBlade and Accelsior 4M2 line-ups. We know that users will get the highest performance they’ve ever experienced and can continue to count on OWC for superior reliability.”

OWC shares specifications below.

Capacity: 3840GB useable

NAND: Toshiba Triple-Level Cell (TLC) 3D NAND Flash

Form Factor: M.2 – 2280 “M Key”

Interface: PCIe 3.0 x4, NVMe 1.3

Formatted Capacity: 3576GiB

Controller: Phison E12 with 7 percent over-provisioning

RAID Support: Yes

SMART Attributes: Standard

Native Command Queuing (NCQ): up to 32 commands

RoHS Compliant: Yes

Height: 1.2mm (0.047″)

Width: 22.0mm (0.866″)

Length: 80.0mm (3.150″)

Weight: 7 grams (0.247 oz)

So, how much does the OWC 4TB Aura P12 M.2 NVMe SSD cost? A sky-high $1,149.88. Yes, that costs more than many computers. But hey, if you have the need for it, I am sure you are willing to shell out the bucks. You can score it here now.

While it isn’t the newest idea to hit the smartphone world, the pop-up selfie camera is certainly a novel way of decluttering the handset’s face and allowing for an uninterrupted display in doing so.

A few manufacturers have already implemented this trick – the OnePlus 7 Pro and Oppo Reno are some notable examples – but the latest leak suggests that Samsung will be joining them in the near future.

A number of renders have been ‘acquired’ by design website Pigtou in collaboration with veteran leakers OnLeaks, showing off the alleged Samsung handset from all angles.

The renders show a phone with a fingerprint scanner on its rear, as well as a triple camera array, so it’s likely that the device won’t be in Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S series, and will more probably be in the mid-range Galaxy A series.

The selfie camera is contained in a small, squared-off protrusion that pops up from the top edge of the phone, slightly offset from the handset’s centre. Some other details that can be gleaned from the renders include a USB-C port, lack of headphone jack, and an all-display design with some minor top and side bezels and a slightly larger chin bezel.

Given that any evidence of this handset’s existence lies purely in the form of some leaked renders, there’s no telling if it’s accurate at this point, let alone when it will release. 

In the past, we’ve seen rumored Samsung prototypes of the Galaxy A series turn out to be wildly different than the final design, so we can’t be certain of the veracity of these renders.

We may be in a global lockdown but it looks like Samsung is pressing ahead with its Galaxy Watch smartwatch sequel regardless.

A Samsung smartwatch (spotted by Sammobile) has hit Chinese regulators – codenamed the SM-R840 and SM-R850. For those who follow this kind of thing, those monikors clearly refer to Samsung’s range of smartwatches, and have been named in Galaxy Watch leaks in the past – although we don’t know whether this will be a Galaxy Watch 2 or Galaxy Watch Active 3.

Two codenames points to two sizes, so we’re likely looking at the similar 40mm and 44mm to the existing Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 or the 42mm/46mm versions from the original Galaxy Watch.

We’ve also seen R845 and R855 models mentioned, which should be the LTE equivalents.

So what do we know? The answer to that is (still) not a great deal.

We know from previous certifications that we’re likely to see the device in black, silver, and gold.

And it seems rumors we previously reported about storage being upped to 8GB will happen – great news for those enjoying Spotify offline syncing, which has been supported for a few generations of devices now.

And it seems the battery will increase in size, from 247mAh on the Active 2 to 330mAh – which seems unlikely to majorly change longevity from the current 36(ish) hours – but could power new, current smartwatch features.

And from the way the smartwatch wellness industry is moving, that will likely be further elements of 24/7 tracking.

Samsung has never been a brand to shy away from adding new features, so we’d expect to see something that competes directly with the Apple Watch Series 5. We’d expect ECG, sleep tracking, blood oxygen and blood pressure – for which Samsung recently won clearance from the Korean health authority.

The Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 has always enjoyed an always-on display too, so Samsung already has the jump on Apple in terms of battery life.

But given Apple seems to be dabbling with even more potent health tracking stats ahead of its Series 6 launch later this year, we wouldn’t bet against Samsung taking a deeper look at stress tracking as part of its wellness offering.

That’s as well as building upon things like Spotify support to compete with Apple Music on the Apple Watch.

This is all speculation, but we’d also hazard a guess that we won’t have to wait too long.

If you’re looking to improve your CPU’s performance through overclocking, the key is to manage your CPU’s temperatures. You can make huge strides by simply installing a chunky CPU cooler, but die-hards often want to take things a step further. A UK company called NUDEcnc has released tools for helping you with just that, and they’re dirt cheap.

However, it must be noted that these are not for the faint of heart. The next step after a big CPU cooler is to delid your processor, which involves removal of the metal IHS (integrated heat spreader), so that the cooler can make direct contact with the CPU die. For this, NUDEcnc has the NLAP IHS tool.

If you’ve completely lost your mind and decided that even delidding (which we already advise against unless you know what you’re getting yourself into) is not enough, NUDEcnc also has the Nlap Die, which you can use to very precisely lap your CPU’s die. Lapping involves skimming the top layer off your CPU, improving thermal transfer. Typically, the CPU’s IHS get lapped as a safer alternative to delidding, so you can imagine that lapping your CPUs die below that is quite… next level. Thankfully, the tool is also good for lapping the IHS if that’s the most you’re comfortable with.

Of course, we have to give the obvious disclaimer that any of these activities will void your warranty on the CPU, and are entirely at your own risk. While you can get a warranty from Intel on damage from overclocking your CPU, you’re on your own if you take things this far.

Nevertheless, NUDEcnc assures us that both tools are built with such precision that they’re safe to use if handled with care—they can measure your progress down to 0.01mm accuracy. If by this point you’re still interested, you’ll be happy to know that risk is the biggest price you’ll be paying. The NUDEcnc Nlap Die and Nlap IHS tools cost $20, or $32 for the set.

HDR support is becoming increasingly important to having the best gaming monitor. We all agree that AMD FreeSync or Nvidia G-Sync is a must regardless of a display’s max refresh rate. But more games are appearing that take advantage of HDR and the extended color of the DCI-P3 gamut. To fully realize the creator’s intent, one must consider adding these features to their shopping list.

AOC has produced many high-performance gaming screens, and today we’re looking at one with HDR and FreeSync, the AOC CU34G2X. It’s an ultra-wide curved VA panel, 34-inches diagonal, 3440×1440 resolution and the promise of high performance, thanks to a 144 Hz refresh rate and a claimed 1ms response time. 

AOC starts with a 1500mm radius curved panel. It features a claimed 300 nits of brightness, and although AOC’s product page doesn’t advertise the CU34G2X as an HDR monitor, it supports HDR with HDR10 and an extended color gamut. FreeSync is the adaptive refresh tech of choice, but we confirmed in our tests that the CU34G2X will also run G-Sync (follow our instructions on how to run G-Sync on a FreeSync monitor), and both flavors worked with HDR. Color depth is 8-bits, so 10-bit HDR signals are compressed, but this is common practice in all but the most expensive 10-bit native monitors.

It also features the latest connectivity with DisplayPort 1.4 and HDMI 2.0 (see our DisplayPort vs. HDMI analysis for comparison), and the USB ports are version 3.2. For purists who would rather do without Adaptive-Sync, there is a blur-reduction option similar to G-Sync’s ULMB called MBR, and it works at speeds up to the max refresh of 144 Hz. The lower limit for FreeSync is 48Hz. You won’t need the best graphics card or even a high-end one to drive it, but you will want enough power to keep the action above 48 frames per second (fps). 

The CU34G2X is a bit pricier than 27-inch 16:9 1440p screens with similar feature sets but that extra screen width and its tight 1500R curvature should deliver a more immersive experience in first-person games and flight simulators. 

Unpacking and Accessories

AOC provides a quality stand and solid base for the CU34G2X that attaches to the panel without tools. The carton also includes DisplayPort, HDMI and USB cables. An IEC power cord provides the necessary electrons for a panel that draws 47 watts when the backlight is set to 200 nits. 

One thing we rarely see bundled with gaming monitors is a calibration data sheet. AOC provides color error information of a Delta E (dE) of less than 3 and a screen uniformity measurement as well. Our tests agreed with the data; this monitor is very accurate out of the box. 

Product 360

The CU34G2X has a thin bezel with a flush-mounted anti-glare layer that appears frameless when the power is off. The image shows an 8mm border with a wider trim strip across the bottom. The front layer has almost no air gap, which eliminates any grain from the picture and renders it very sharply. Uniformity is excellent with no bleed, glow or hotspots visible in our sample.

Styling is clearly gaming oriented, but AOC has left out RGB lighting. The red trim seems to glow in the photos, but that is simply its reflective surface in action. The only LED lighting is a miniscule power indicator that glows white in operation and orange in standby. The red trim extends around back with two large chevrons that accent the panel and a vertical stripe on the upright.

The stand is solid and features a 5-inch height adjustment with 30-degree swivel to either side and 21.5-degree back tilt. Movements are firm and sure with no play. If you’d rather use an aftermarket mount solution, the stand unsnaps to reveal a 100mm VESA bolt pattern. You’ll have to supply your own fasteners though.

The control buttons are in the expected place underneath on the right, but AOC chose to make them very small and recessed. Though they click firmly, they are hard to operate by feel. On a positive note, they don’t stick out visibly, but we really wish they were larger — or better yet, replaced with a joystick.

There aren’t any side-mounted USB ports, but you’ll find one upstream and four downstream v3.2 connections on the input panel. You also get two each of DisplayPort 1.4 and HDMI 2.0. FreeSync with HDR will work through any video input but to run G-Sync (unofficially) requires DisplayPort as usual. All support the CU34G2X’s full native resolution at 144 Hz.

OSD Features

The OSD is AOC’s usual strip across the bottom of the screen. It’s divided into seven sections and includes everything needed for calibration and gaming. You’ll have little need for the color controls though. The CU34G2X is very accurate by default.

The Luminance menu has brightness and contrast sliders along with eight picture modes (Eco Modes) and three gamma presets. The HDR Mode options are only available with HDR signals, meaning there is no emulation here for SDR content. We settled on DisplayHDR as the best choice for all HDR games and video.

You can calibrate the CU34G2X by selecting the User color temp, but in our tests, we couldn’t improve upon the monitor’s default grayscale or gamma tracking. Among the color temp options is an sRGB mode that’s accurate and the only way to reduce the monitor’s gamut from its native DCI-P3. The brightness slider is still available, so this mode is useful to those wishing to view their SDR content in the correct color space.

The Game Setup menu has all the necessary features to tweak gameplay, including an Adaptive-Sync toggle, blur-reduction (MBR), a frame rate counter and overdrive. For overdrive, any setting above Weak produced ghosting, but at frame rates above 80 fps, there wasn’t any blur to speak of anyway. Additionally, you must turn off Adaptive-Sync to access the MBR feature, which has 20 levels of control. Each one gets darker as blur reduces. Also here is a slider to adjust color saturation and a low blue mode for reading.

Setup and Calibration

The CU34G2X’s Standard picture mode with Warm color temp and Gamma 1 is the default and best setting. Our tests showed it to be very accurate, and we were unable to improve upon the initial numbers in the User color temp mode. If you want a darker gamma, Gamma 3 looked good too, thanks to the VA panel’s high contrast. The backlight doesn’t peak at a high level and will go down to a dim 38 nits if you zero the brightness slider. 

For HDR content, we suggest the DisplayHDR mode for the best contrast and color fidelity. Here are the brightness settings for commonly used output levels in SDR mode. When an HDR signal is detected, the backlight is locked to its maximum setting.

Gaming and Hands-on

Without a doubt, the CU34G2X excelled when playing SDR games like Tomb Raider. With its extra color and contrast, details like rock faces and metallic textures just popped off the screen. You can tell AOC engineered the color well here because reds never looked oversaturated, and the all-important flesh tones appeared perfectly natural. Highlights were nice and bright with deep shadows that retained their detail. We didn’t have to employ the shadow control option to easily see everything in the game’s darkest places.

With FreeSync on and Tomb Raider at medium settings, frame rates clocked in at 65-70 fps with an AMD Radeon R9 285-powered system. Even though the AOC CU34G2X isn’t officially G-Sync Compatible, we ran G-Sync on it with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti and hit 120-130 fps with details maxed out. We also tried the various overdrive settings and settled on Weak as the best option. It added a bit of motion resolution without ghosting.

Switching Windows to HDR proved interesting. The CU34G2X isn’t terribly bright, so we maxed the control panel luminance slider, then loaded up Call of Duty: WWII. A few tweaks of the in-game controls produced decent highlights and deep blacks with good shadow detail. This title is particularly well-designed to deliver a great image on any monitor when you use the provided adjustments.

Frame rates settled at around 50 fps with FreeSync and a Radeon R9 285 and 100 fps with G-Sync and a 1080 Ti. Call of Duty: WWII demands a bit more processing power, and HDR slowed things down a little. In either case, the picture looked fantastic. We spent some time exploring a Paris office building with rooms that were either brightly lit or cast in dark lamp shadows. The extra color helped bring murky details out of the fog, while highlights shined out. We wished for a bit more brightness, but once our eyes adjusted, the view was very engaging. That’s the magic of a tightly curved monitor like the CU34G2X. Its 1500mm radius wrapped the image to the edge of our peripheral vision when sitting about 3 feet away. Pixel density was never an issue with 109ppi available.

Like all curved monitors with good video processing and a fast refresh rate, the CU34G2X provides a game experience beyond what any 16:9 flat panel can deliver. While we’ve been more than satisfied with flat screens of 32 inches and larger, the ultra-wide is still our favorite gaming tool.

Uncalibrated – Maximum Backlight Level

All the monitors in the CU34G2X comparison group support HDR with edge backlights and max brightness that ranges from 350 to over 500 nits. Panels are a mix of VA (AOC Agon AG493UCX, Aorus CV27Q, Dell S3220DGF) and IPS (Aorus FI27Q, BenQ EW3280U). 

Our CU34G2X sample came up short of its claimed 300 nit output level, topping out at 232 nits. This is bright enough for SDR content though you won’t want to use this monitor in a super bright environment. Luckily, it produced good black levels that are on par with the better VA panels here. Resulting contrast is 2,394:1 with default settings in place. This is solid performance but not the best among our comparison group. 

Our calibration (see our recommended settings) consisted only of lowering the brightness setting to 200 nits. We didn’t make any other changes because we couldn’t improve upon the CU34G2X’s color accuracy in the User Color Temp mode. Regardless, black levels were quite good, and contrast was a tick higher at 2,428.3:1.

With excellent screen uniformity available, the CU34G2X also posted a solid ANSI contrast score of 2,257.7:1. You can see from all our test results that VA is by far the best panel tech for native dynamic range. Until you get into monitors with full-array local dimming backlights, which you’ll find in the best HDR monitors, this is the best way to get deep blacks on a budget. 

The CU34G2X ships in its Standard picture with the color temp set to Warm and gamma on preset 1. This is the best combination of settings as it delivers astounding out-of-box accuracy. 

Grayscale and Gamma Tracking

For an uncalibrated monitor, it doesn’t get much better than this for our grayscale and gamma tracking tests. Only at 100% brightness did the CU34G2X falter with a small rise in green, but that’s something only our i1 Pro spectrophotometer can see. Gamma was also perfect with only the tiniest deviations from the 2.2 line, again, an invisible error. AOC delivered on the numbers shown in the included calibration data sheet.

For SDR games and video, sRGB (2nd chart) is the correct color gamut to use. You’ll find the sRGB option in the color temp menu under Color Setup While many users opt for the larger DCI-P3 color space when viewing any content, color purists prefer using an accurate gamut option, and the CU34G2X provides this. There are no visible errors in the grayscale tracking test, and only 10% brightness shows an error of being too light. While that error helped bring out shadow detail, some dark scenes looked slightly washed out. You can compensate for this by reducing the Shadow Control slider in the Game Setting menu. That will make blacks a little truer. This is still great performance though. 

Comparisons

The CU34G2X easily took first place in the uncalibrated grayscale test with a super low 0.60dE result. All monitors except the AG493UCX had no visible issues before calibration. After adjustment, the FI27Q pipped ahead by a nose in the DCI-P3 mode. The AOC’s sRGB mode isn’t adjustable but still comes in with a very low error of just 1.31dE.

The top four screens deliver excellent gamma tracking with a tight range of values. The CU34G2X postrf a perfect 2.2 average score, with the BenQ and Aorus screens falling slightly behind. Gamma is important not only to shadow and highlight detail but to color tracking too, and the AOC excelled here.

Color Gamut Accuracy

The CU34G2X was equally impressive in our color gamut tests. Both the native DCI-P3 and sRGB modes showed slight under-saturation in blue and magenta but compensated for it with extra luminance for those colors. The net effect is an extremely low error level in both cases. Green also came up slightly short in the DCI gamut. This is a common behavior for monitors with extended color. 

Comparisons

Thanks to careful tuning of color luminance levels, the CU34G2X managed very low errors of 1.28dE for sRGB and 1.98 for DCI-P3 after calibration to 200 nits. This is professional monitor territory for sure. Images looked natural and well-detailed with color that never looked overblown or washed out.

Since the CU34G2X’s primaries are slightly under-saturated, DCI gamut volume suffers a bit. 81.26% DCI-P3 coverage is a bit behind the latest extended color displays we’ve reviewed. The 95.03% score for sRGB is also due to its under-saturated blue primary. While these aren’t major issues, we’d like to see a tad more color saturation in general.

Applying an HDR signal to the CU34G2X automatically switches it to HDR mode, where you’ll find four picture options. DisplayHDR, the default, is by far the best, and it’s the only one that doesn’t apply edge enhancement to contrasting objects. 

HDR Brightness and Contrast

We had hoped to see more light output from the CU34G2X in HDR mode, but it topped out at about the same level as with SDR. The result was the same whether we measured full field or window patterns. Some sort of dynamic contrast or selective overdrive of the backlight would be a great improvement here. Many of today’s HDR screens can exceed 400 nits as the other monitors here do, and we prefer to hit at least 600 nits with HDR gaming. 

Fortunately, that is somewhat made up for by an excellent black level. The HDR contrast level is about the same as SDR, which isn’t ideal, but the CU34G2X still looks better than the FI27Q or EW3280U HDR monitors. Dynamic range is king, and no edge-lit monitor does it better than the Dell S3220DGF with over 18,000:1 contrast, achieved by some clever engineering of its firmware.

Applying an HDR signal to the CU34G2X automatically switches it to HDR mode, where you’ll find four picture options. DisplayHDR, the default, is by far the best, and it’s the only one that doesn’t apply edge enhancement to contrasting objects. 

Curved monitors are generally less consistent when it comes to screen uniformity, but the CU34G2X is clearly one of the better examples. Our sample showed no visible issues, even at the edges. The anti-glare layer is fitted tightly, making that performance even more impressive. The picture modes include a uniformity option that marries up with the included calibration data sheet, but that only serves to raise black levels. Clearly, it’s not necessary anyway; 9.09% is a solid score in this test. 

In the response time test, the CU34G2X was just 1ms off from the 165 Hz screens. We thought it would beat the 120 Hz AG493UCX, but it didn’t quite pull that off. It did lop 2ms off the total lag score, fitting in right between the 120Hz and 165Hz levels, as it should. While the most competitive gamers will want even less lag, the majority of players will enjoy the smoothness and responsiveness of the CU34G2X. We certainly observed no issues during gameplay with perfect synchronization of our gaming mouse and gaming keyboard inputs to on-screen action. 

There is no question that ultra-wide displays have become a de facto standard for gaming enthusiasts. What began a few years ago as a novelty–an answer to an unasked question–has evolved into a desirable piece of hardware for gamers seeking full immersion. While the best VR headsets still provide a greater sense of sensory deprivation, a curved 21:9 screen manages to capture much of that feeling without a bulky apparatus on your head.

The AOC CU34G2X is a great example of the genre and the evolution of gaming monitors in general. It takes the staple features of fast refresh and Adaptive-Sync and adds image-enhancing elements: extended color, HDR and QHD resolution, which still represents the sweet spot between pixel density and frame rate performance. To that, it adds blur-reduction that works up to 144 Hz, a rare thing since most backlight strobes only go up to 120 Hz and some top out at 100 Hz.

However, the monitor misses its claimed 300 nits brightness and doesn’t provide any extra light in HDR mode. Though the VA panel delivers around 2,400:1 contrast, it doesn’t offer any extra dynamic range for HDR material. We saw good black levels, but there are a few HDR monitors that do more with their HDR modes.

If you’re looking for solid video processing, the CU34G2X has it. FreeSync and G-Sync (unofficially) both worked with HDR, and overall input lag kept with other 144 Hz screens we’ve tested. Panel response was fast enough to keep motion blur low, and blur reduction wasn’t necessary as long as frame rates stayed over 80 fps. At QHD resolution, that won’t require an expensive graphics card to achieve.

The CU34G2X sells at a near-premium price point but doesn’t cost much more than other 34-inch ultra-wide displays. Better HDR performance, more brightness and a larger color gamut can be had but at a higher price. However, this monitor delivers excellent performance for the money.