Nothing short of VR can beat the immersion of a super-ultrawide monitor with a 32:9 aspect ratio. But big monitors often carry a big price tag, and many models come in at $1,000 or above. The LG Ultragear 45GR75DC-B offers a more affordable alternative with a 45-inch panel and an MSRP of just $899.99 (or $799.99 if you opt for the 45GR65C, which ditches USB-C connectivity). The low price requires a few compromises, but the 45GR75DC-B remains a great onramp to super-ultrawide bliss.
LG Ultragear 45GR75DC-B – Design
I’ll start with the obvious first. This is a 45-inch super-ultrawide, which differs from the common 49-inch super-ultrawide format.
Does the loss of four inches matter? Not really. The 45GR75DC-B’s screen is roughly 4 inches more narrow and an inch shorter than a 49-inch alternative. It’s smaller, but I doubt most people would notice it without a side-by-side comparison.
What you will notice is the monitor’s simple, professional design. LG rethought the Ultragear line’s look for 2023, replacing the gaudy red plastics of past models with matte black. It’s a reserved look and doesn’t impress, but also avoids offense.
The 45GR75DC-B ships with a heavy, wide stand that keeps the monitor firmly planted and minimizes display wobble if you bump or jostle your desk. It also offers ergonomic adjustment for height and tilt.
The stand’s neck is deep, though, which is a problem if you have a narrow desk. On my desk, which measures about 25 inches deep, I couldn’t push the monitor back far enough to place the screen at a comfortable distance from my eyes.
Fortunately, a third-party stand is an option. The monitor supports a 100mm x 100mm VESA mount. The display panel is relatively light (for a super-ultrawide) at 13.7 pounds, so most mid-range monitor arms and stands will be able to support it.
LG Ultragear 45GR75DC-B – Connectivity & Features
LG released not one but two 45-inch super-ultrawide monitors: the 45GR75DC-B and the less expensive 45GR65DC-B.
They differ only in connectivity. The 45GR75DC-B, which I received on loan for this review, has a USB-C port that supports DisplayPort Alternate Mode (meaning it can handle video input) and up to 90 watts of USB Power Delivery. The 45GR65DC-B lacks USB-C.
Both monitors have HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort input 1.4. All video inputs are rated to support a refresh rate up to 200Hz at the native resolution of 5,120 x 1,440, which is nice to see. A couple USB downstream ports and a 3.5mm audio-out jack round out the connectivity. The 3.5mm audio-out is a four-pole jack that supports DTS:X audio, but I didn’t have compatible headphones on hand to try this feature for myself.
The monitor’s on-screen menu is controlled with a joystick found on the monitor’s lower lip. It’s responsive and easy to use thanks to a simple, well-labeled menu. Image quality customization is good and provides several gamma modes, multiple color temperature modes, and six-axis color adjustment. LG also includes a black stabilizer (which can increase the brightness of shadows to reveal details, like foes in an FPS game), an on-screen crosshair and a framerate counter.
None of these features are remarkable on their own, but the LG Ultragear 45GR75DC-B doesn’t leave anything out. Alternatives often stick to HDMI 2.0, for example. The comparable 49-inch Asus ROG XG49WCR has USB-C and even Ethernet (a rare extra), but it’s limited to a refresh rate of 75Hz at its native resolution over HDMI. The same is true of many older and less expensive super-ultrawide displays.
LG Ultragear 45GR75DC-B – Gaming Image Quality
The LG Ultragear 45GR75DC-B isn’t the least expensive super-ultrawide monitor available but, at $899.99 (or $799.99 for the model without USB-C), it’s close. LG achieves the price by sticking with a basic display panel that lacks fancy features like a Mini-LED backlight, but the monitor still looks attractive.
Let’s talk contrast. The 45GR75DC-B, like most super-ultrawide monitors, has a Vertical Alignment (VA) panel. Panels of this type are known for reasonably deep and immersive contrast. The LG doesn’t disappoint with a maximum measured contrast ratio of 3650:1. Dark scenes offer good detail and usually reach deep, inky black levels.
The panel has its limits, though. Viewing the 45GR75DC-B in a dark room will reveal a slight glow to the screen, even when it should be perfectly dark. That’s a problem if you like games that lean towards a dark presentation, like Diablo IV or Resident Evil: Village.
Gamers looking to eliminate that problem will need to upgrade to an OLED or Mini-LED display. However, super-ultrawide displays with better contrast ratio are more expensive. The Samsung Odyssey OLED G95SC is gorgeous, but it carries an MSRP of $1,799.99 and often retails near or above $1,500.
If your preference leans towards bright and vibrant games, like League of Legends or Civilization VI, you’ll be happy with the 45GR75DC-B. It reaches a reasonable maximum brightness of 387 nits, which is more than enough for gaming in SDR. Color performance is good, too. The color gamut spans 100 percent of sRGB and 95 percent of DCI-P3 with excellent color accuracy.
The 45GR75DC-B has a native resolution of 5,140 x 1,440. That’s typical for a super-ultrawide, though the LG’s smaller 45-inch display slightly boosts sharpness. The 45GR75DC-B packs 118 pixels per inch, while a 49-inch ultrawide with the same resolution has 108 pixels per inch.
However, I didn’t find the improvement noticeable.
Still, the LG’s sharpness is on par with the best 27-inch 1440p monitors – which means it's good. Games with an effective anti-aliasing (AA) look crisp, though those with lackluster AA can still appear noisy. 2D games also look great on the monitor and small text is rendered without the sub-pixel color issues that are sometimes found on OLED displays.
LG Ultragear 45GR75DC-B – HDR Image Quality
The LG Ultragear 45GR75DC-B is VESA DisplayHDR 600 certified. Don’t get too excited, though. HDR remains rather bad on this display.
I measured a sustained maximum brightness of 422 nits. That’s a fair bit off the quoted maximum of VESA DisplayHDR 600. But, to be honest, whether the monitor achieves 400, 500, or 600 nits is close to irrelevant.
Why? The monitor lacks an effective dynamic backlight (a dynamic backlight is available, but only provides a handful of dimming zones, which makes it pointless). That means the display can’t become brighter without also elevating the brightness of dark portions of the screen, and the overall contrast ratio remains restrained. Also, even 600 nits of brightness is merely passable for HDR – a brightness of 1,000 nits or more is preferable.
It's best to think of the 45GR75DC-B as an SDR monitor. HDR tends to look different, not better, than SDR. The same is true of other inexpensive super-ultrawide monitors, however, so this flaw is not a disadvantage.
LG Ultragear 45GR75DC-B – Motion Performance
LG supports a refresh rate up to 200Hz on the 45GR75DC-B. And, as mentioned earlier, this refresh rate is supported at the monitor’s native resolution across all video inputs, including HDMI 2.1. The 200Hz refresh is an upgrade over most alternatives, which usually have a maximum refresh rate of 144Hz or 165Hz. Samsung’s Odyssey Neo G9 line, which reaches up to 240Hz, is a popular exception (and more expensive).
Motion clarity is crisp at 200Hz and superior to similarly priced super-ultrawides. Quick camera pans preserve good detail in a game’s environment and small, fast objects are easy to pick out. The monitor also supports Adaptive Sync (through AMD FreeSync Premium Pro) and I had no issues with flickering or drop-outs.
There’s just one problem. The monitor can show dark trails behind some moving objects and a smearing effect in dark scenes. Turning the pixel response time up to “Fastest” in the on-screen menu noticeably reduces the problem but also causes overshoot. Overshoot means the dark trails are reduced, but some objects instead show bright trails or an odd halo effect.
But don’t let that scare you off. The 45GR75DC-B still beats alternative budget ultrawides with a less impressive 120Hz, 144Hz, or 165Hz refresh rate. You’ll be able to see fine details in objects and read moving text that’s obscured on other, less capable monitors.
Only the most intense competitive gamers are likely to find the 45GR75DC-B’s motion clarity a problem – and players in that category probably aren’t interested in super-ultrawides to begin with.
LG Ultragear 45GR75DC-B – Day-to-Day Use
The LG Ultragear 45GR75DC-B delivers good image quality in games, and the same is true when using the monitor for day-to-day productivity or content creation.
As mentioned, the monitor has a color gamut that spans 100 percent of sRGB and 95% of DCI-P3. That’s not the best color gamut available (monitors that use Quantum Dots or have an OLED panel usually achieve 98 or 99 percent of DCI-P3), but it’s more than adequate if you want to edit videos for YouTube.
Text clarity is great, too. It’s not as sharp as a 4K display, but that’s only obvious when viewing small fonts (smaller, I think, than most people will find comfortable to read). The monitor also lacks the sub-pixel color issues that can make small text hard to read on an OLED alternative.
The monitor's 1500R curve, however, could prove a problem. It’s not as wild as the 1000R curve found on Samsung Odyssey G9 displays, but mildly more aggressive than the 1800R curve provided by the Asus ROG XG49VQ, Acer EI491CR, and Monoprice Dark Matter 43305 (among others). An aggressive curve can make apps look warped, cause problems when attempting to straighten or level a photograph, and intensify the glare of ambient light.
Curve aside, the 45GR75DC-B is a great monitor for day-to-day use. It’s bright, sharp, and offers good color performance while avoiding major flaws. The 200Hz refresh rate is another bonus, providing an ultra-smooth feel when moving or minimizing/maximizing windows.
LG Ultragear 45GR75DC-B – The Competition
The LG Ultragear 45GR75DC-B faces a long list of competitors that includes the Asus ROG XG49VQ and XG49WCR, Acer EI491CR, Monoprice Dark Matter 43305, Innocent 49C1G, AOC AGON AG493UCX2, and Lenovo R45w-30, to name a few.
Most alternatives are older 49-inch displays discounted to low price points, though, and lack the features found on the new 45GR75DC-B. The LG offers USB-C, a refresh rate of 200Hz, and supports that refresh rate at its native resolution across all available display inputs. That gives the LG an edge.
