Samsung C34J79 34” curved monitor with Thunderbolt 3

monitor

The Samsung C34J79 is the world’s first 34” quantum dot, QLED, curved monitor with Thunderbolt 3 connectivity.

GadgetGuy had the C34J79 for a few weeks, and it is one that is extremely difficult to give back. A huge 34” 1500R curved, 21:9 ultra-wide, 3440 x 1440 screen. Colours that only Quantum Dot can provide. Add Thunderbolt connectivity, and it is almost perfect.

Let’s look at it from a business perspective where screen real estate is everything. While it would make a good consumer gaming monitor e-sports, fans would look to dedicated ones.

What is a C34J79 and Thunderbolt?

(Australian website here)

At CES 2018 the 34” C34J79 took honours as the world’s first curved Thunderbolt 3 monitor. There are a growing number of Thunderbolt 3 monitors from BenQ, Philips, Dell, Acer, LG and more. Thunderbolt is the HDMI of the future.

Thunderbolt 3 is on modern Mac/Books and premium Intel 8th generation Windows 10 devices. It has up to 40Gbps data transfer, DisplayPort and power transfer up to 85W over the one USB- C cable.

This monitor is different in that it has two Thunderbolt ports – one downstream from the PC and one can daisy chain another Thunderbolt monitor or device.

Simply put you can use Thunderbolt 3 instead of HDMI or DisplayPort to display an image.

1500R Curve

A 1500R curve (a 1.5m radius to complete a circle) is a little tighter than the 1800R curve found on many Samsung monitors. 1500R means the monitor can sit quite close to the human eye which has a natural radius of about 1000R at 600mm distance.

This almost bezel-less 34” fits into the space a 32” flat monitor does so it is compact lengthwise and slightly deeper.

The actual screen size is 797.22mm x 333.72mm. An A4 sheet of paper is 210 x 297mm, so it fits 3.8 across at full page size with room for Word’s top ribbon command bar above. Perfect.

I tested it beside my reference HP Z34c 34” 3000R, 3440 x 1440, 21:9 screen (same resolution and format) and while I love the HP, I can see the Samsung’s difference in crisper text and blacker blacks. To me, the ultimate would be two Samsung’s in a dual monitor setup – like mission control. Its bezels are narrow, so it is good for that purpose.

Colour/brightness

The 8-bit colour is factory calibrated and very accurate. 125% sRGB and, 92% DCI-P3 means lifelike and realistic colours. It is perfect for office use and very close to prosumer still photo editing standards.

Brightness is 250/300 nits (minimum/maximum), and contrast is 2400/3000 (minimum/maximum). It does not have HDR, but it has a good black and bright area definition. It is very good under standard office or home lighting and has an effective anti-glare screen.

Motion/vision/sound

21:9 gives an immersive viewing experience.

It is a 100Hz VA panel and supports AMD Freesync and 4ms grey-to-grey. Although it has a game mode, gamers will not flock to this as it lacks some of the dedicated e-sports features. It is great for the casual gamer.

It has enough processing power to upscale lower definition images to 3440 x 1440 (Ultra WQHD).

Using two different computer sources, you can have Picture-By-Picture (two computer screens side-by-side) or Picture-in-Picture up to 25%.

The 2 x 7W stereo speakers reach 80dB and are suitable for small room viewing. Sound signature is warm and sweet (good) although the bass is a little thin. If you were going to use it for movies, a Bluetooth headphone or speaker would be a good investment.

There is no perceptible back light bleed.

16:9 movies will show black bars on either side but take up the full height. You can run a movie in full width, but you lose slices off the top and bottom image. Many Hollywood blockbusters are available in the ultrawide format.

Most games (Wide Screen Gaming Forum) and productivity software support the ultra-wide format. If the software does not, it elongates the picture – wider like squashing a balloon slightly out of shape.

Stand/build

It uses the typical Samsung round stand, and it has -14/+22° tilt. It can VESA wall mount (supplied). The screen looks well built, it’s not too reflective and certainly the quality I expect from Samsung.

Size with the stand is 808.7 x 516.0 x 309.4 mm x 7.7kg.

It comes with an HDMI cable and a .5m Thunderbolt 3 passive cable.

Ports

  • HDMI 1.4
  • DisplayPort 1.2a
  • Two Thunderbolt 3 ports with 85W USB Power delivery
  • Two USB 2.0 ports (total 5V/3A or 15W charge)
  • Headphone port

Price

The recommended price is A$1599 (Model LC34J791WTEXXY). In part, the 10% drop in the Aussie dollar has put it up there. Shop around as you might find it closer to $1000 on existing stock if you hurry.

GadgetGuy’s take. C34J79

As I said earlier, I will miss it when it goes back to Samsung. I love lots of screen real estate, and this is amazing. I was a little concerned about the tighter 1500R curve, but practically I sit closer to it and future from the 3000R HP z34c.

Thunderbolt is convenient and dual Thunderbolt more so. That is going to make this a must-have for MacBook owners who can use it to power the laptop too. You can read more about Samsung’s Thunderbolt range here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQAfGnKUXvE
Features
Value for money
Performance
Ease of use
Design
Reader Rating0 Votes
1500R curve draws you in - immersive
QLED colours are accurate and crisp
Two Thunderbolt 3 connections
Pricey due to the falling Australian dollar
4.5