LG goes wide for monitors, small for projectors in 2015

If you still like an external monitor or projector, LG will have a few options in both categories, with the emphasis this year being on size.

“Wide” appears to be the word on the lips of LG executives this year, as the company talks up new monitors heading to store shelves shortly, while “compact” is the word being used to describe projectors, with each category made for a different group of people.

We’ll start with the smaller devices first, the projectors, which this year includes four newbies that it describes as “mini masterpieces”. We’ll reserve judgement until we see them, but the range runs across the compact and battery-based to the regular projector size made for wireless display technology and HDMI, with this last one meant to be left at home.

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First there’s the PH300, a pocket friendly projector boasting a rechargeable battery capable of providing up to 2.5 hours of battery life, with support for video through either an MHL cable — think phone or tablet — with media also able to beep lugged into a USB drive and run directly from the projector at up to high definition resolution at 1280×720 (720p).

The PH300 does lack a replaceable lamp, that said, but LG is sending word that it should survive up to 30,000 hours of use thanks to the LED technology that powers it, with this one made for taking media on the go.

If you don’t necessarily need the projector to go, there’s a slightly bigger unit coming in the form of the PW800.

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This one relies on much the similar technology, with an LED lamp and high definition picture (though at 1280×800 instead of 1280×720), and without the battery. What you get instead of the battery is an HD TV tuner, relying on DVB-T2, while support for technology also includes wireless connections such as Miracast and Intel WiDi, with wired handled by MHL.

A version of the projector will also be available without that tuner, found in the form of the PW800G.

Finally, there’s a proper projector, again with an LED lamp source capable of lasting up to 30,000 hours — that’s a little over three years of constant use — with two conventional HDMI ports, MHL, Miracast, WiDi, and up to 3 metres of screen size possible from this Full HD 1920×1080 projector.

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That’s the PF1500G, which also supports 3D provided you go all out for the glasses which do not come in the box, though interestingly, there is no TV tuner provided in this projector.

The projects are priced from $899, which will get you the PH300, while the PW800 and PW800G (without the tuner) are priced at $1199 and $1099 respectively, and the big guy, the PF1500G being priced at $1999.

Finally there are monitors, and this year, LG’s range is wide.

Specifically, they’re very wide.

“Our range of monitors has been a particular highlight in our product range in the past couple of years,” said Lambro Skropidis, General Manager of Marketing at LG in Australia.

“Last year we saw some incredible new technologies in our monitors and when we thought we were at the peak, we’ve improved them yet again. LG really is setting the pace for the monitor market.”

To help “set that pace” as Skropidis says, the monitors being launched this week are all relatively wide, offering curves as well.

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They start with the UM67 series, ultra-wide monitors made for gaming that lack a curve and yet offer the 21:9 cinema aspect ratio, with support for AMD Freesync to minimise game latency with compatible video cards to help video games to load and play better.

Because these are ultra-wide displays, they don’t technically conform to standard 16:9 or 16:10 resolutions, and so therefore both rely on 2560×1080 display sizes, not quite as high as 4K, and essentially only Full HD, but ultra-wide Full HD.

There are two of these, the 29 inch and 34 inch versions, with these priced at $499 and $749 respectively.

Next up is a 4K gaming monitor — an actual 4K Ultra HD gaming monitor — the 27MU67.

The name probably gives away that this includes a 27 inch screen size, but beyond it, LG is also including a Ultra High Definition 3840×2160 resolution, with a 10-bit IPS display and support for AMD’s FreeSync technology, with this one coming in at $799.

Finally, there’s something else, something curved.

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This is LG’s 34UC87M, a curved 34 inch display with the 21:9 aspect ratio again, but relying on a much bigger resolution, with 3440×1400 used here, higher than both the MU67 models.

This model is also curved, which can feel like it’s wrapping around you, with mounting the screens also possible if you have more than one, and LG has highlighted a couple of usage scenarios, such as connecting two and four for different configurations.

Pricing on this one isn’t particularly cheap, and arrives at $1699 when the monitors land in June.