Over the past few years, curved monitors have gone from being rarities to familiar, if not commonplace, sights. They tend to be panels for gaming and professional design and content-creation use, but some general-purpose home and business monitors have adopted a curved design, too. And while they’re stylish, for sure, their appeal goes beyond mere appearance.
The experience of using a curved display is often described as “immersive.” It draws you into the scene, lending a feeling of dimensionality, which you don’t get with a flat panel. Many recent ultrawide monitors, including all of the 49-inch gaming and business monitors we have reviewed, are sharply curved, which gives the user a wider field of view with a minimum of distortion at the edges.
Below, we’ll get into everything you need to know about buying a curved display. Look below for a breakout of our top tested picks, followed by a buyer’s guide and detailed specs on our choices. Let’s dig in.
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Deeper Dive: Our Top Tested Picks
Dell 34 Curved USB-C Monitor (S3423DWC)
Best Curved Monitor for Business Productivity
Bottom Line:
The Dell 34 Curved USB-C Monitor (S3423DWC) is a good dual-use monitor for home-office multitasking and light-duty gaming. You can find better choices for either alone, but this display straddles both worlds well.
PROS
- Ultrawide curved screen
- Very high contrast ratio
- Full sRGB color coverage
- Virtual KVM switch
- USB-C port supports DisplayPort and up to 65 watts power delivery
Samsung 24-Inch CF396 Curved LED Monitor
Best Budget Curved Monitor for Business Productivity
Bottom Line:
Samsung’s 24-Inch CF396 Curved LED Monitor has the modest port selection and 1080p resolution of a typical under-$200 display, but the panel is bright and vibrant, with some surprising features on call.
PROS
- Curved screen
- Great sRGB color coverage
- Bright for a budget monitor
- Mini-joystick controller
CONS
- Sparse port selection
- Stand limits you to tilt adjustment
- Meager one-year warranty
LG 49WL95C-W
Best Ultrawide Curved Monitor for Business Productivity
Bottom Line:
The LG 49WL95C-W, a business-centered 49-inch monitor, is a multitasker’s dream panel, letting you manage and view several full-size windows on your screen at once.
PROS
- Spacious 49-inch screen.
- USB-C port can charge devices, including laptops.
- Good color accuracy.
- Can handle HDR content.
- Powerful speakers.
CONS
- Skimpy one-year warranty.
- On the pricey side.
NZXT Canvas 32Q Curved
Best Mainstream Curved Monitor for Gaming
Bottom Line:
NZXT’s first foray into monitors is a successful one, as the Canvas 32Q Curved impresses with its handsome design and low input lag.
PROS
- Attractive design
- Affordable price
- Good color range and low input lag
- DisplayPort-capable USB-C included
CONS
- Limited screen settings
- Color accuracy, HDR implementation don’t impress
- No built-in speakers
Dell 27 Curved Gaming Monitor (S2721HGF)
Best Budget Curved Monitor for Gaming
Bottom Line:
The Dell 27 Curved Gaming Monitor (S2721HGF) offers great 1080p gaming performance in an affordable 144Hz display.
PROS
- Inexpensive for a 27-inch high-refresh gaming panel
- Very low input lag
- Excellent Nvidia G-Sync performance
Asus ROG Swift PG35VQ
Best Cost-No-Object Curved Monitor for Gaming
Bottom Line:
If you have the money to spend on the ultimate ultrawide gaming monitor, the Asus ROG Swift PG35VQ has the features, the power, and the prowess to sit atop the segment for the foreseeable future.
PROS
- Exceptional gaming experience at 200Hz refresh
- Top-notch color accuracy
- Beautiful HDR
- Low input lag
- Integrated headphone DAC
- Responsive OSD
CONS
- Heavy
- Expensive compared to competing options
- Low DCI-P3 numbers
Alienware 34 Curved QD-OLED Gaming Monitor (AW3423DWF)
Best Ultrawide Curved Monitor for Gaming
Bottom Line:
With a slight price drop and a switch from Nvidia G-Sync to AMD FreeSync, Alienware’s latest 34-inch QD-OLED is still one of the best curved gaming monitors on the market.
PROS
- Familiar, gorgeous design
- Excellent picture quality in SDR and HDR
- Superb color coverage results
- Low input lag
CONS
- Alienvision image presets have limited usefulness
- No HDMI 2.1 port
Read Our Alienware 34 Curved QD-OLED Gaming Monitor (AW3423DWF) Review
Samsung Odyssey Ark
Best Oversize Curved Monitor for Gaming
Bottom Line:
Samsung’s Odyssey Ark is a massive and marvelous curved gaming monitor packed with features sure to impress gamers all over—if they can afford it.
PROS
- Immersive panel curve
- Wide color coverage
- Fantastic sound quality
- Extensive port selection
- Packed with cloud gaming options
CONS
- Too expensive for most gamers
- Color accuracy needs adjustment
- Ark Dial remote is a bit clunky
- Very heavy
Asus ProArt PA34VC Professional Curved Monitor
Best Curved Monitor for Creative Pros
Bottom Line:
The curved, ultra-wide Asus ProArt PA34VC is a good choice as a monitor for creative professionals. It also touts gaming features such as a 100Hz refresh rate and support for AMD’s FreeSync adaptive-sync technology.
PROS
- Excellent color accuracy.
- Software calibration tools.
- Ultra-wide screen with 100Hz refresh rate, 1900R curvature, and HDR support.
CONS
- Does not cover the full Adobe RGB color space.
Read Our Asus ProArt PA34VC Professional Curved Monitor Review
Buying Guide: The Best Curved Monitors for 2023
Understanding Degree of Curvature
Not all curved monitors are curved the same amount. General-purpose arc displays are typically gently curved, while gaming and ultrawide productivity monitors tend to be more tightly curved.
As it turns out, the degree of curvature is a measurable stat. Many curved monitors have what is dubbed “1800R” curvature, while wickedly curved ones have curvatures as tight as 1000R. An 1800R curvature means that if you were to place enough of these monitors side by side to form a circle, its radius would be 1,800mm—that’s 1.8 meters, or 5.9 feet. And if you were positioned that far from the screen, the center, the right edge, and the left edge all would be equidistant from your eyes.
(Credit: Molly Flores)
Few viewers would normally be that far from the screen, except perhaps when watching movies in a group. When you do move closer, especially with a large ultrawide monitor, the curve makes for a panoramic, immersive experience as the screen’s edges almost seem to wrap partway around you. This creates a three-dimensional effect (which a flat panel can’t provide) and is often said to reduce eyestrain.
What Resolution and Ports Should I Seek in a Curved Monitor?
Curved monitors tend to be large. A 24-incher is the smallest such display we have encountered. Most have 27-inch or larger screens (measured diagonally), with clusters at 30 inches, 34 inches, 35 inches, and 49 inches.
Often, curved monitors are also ultrawide panels, defined by having 21:9 or 32:9 aspect ratios. The former tend to have WQHD (3,440-by-1,440-pixel) native resolution, while the 32:9 monitors—which include all the 49-inchers we have reviewed—have native resolutions of either 5,120 by 1,440 pixels or 3,840 by 1,080 pixels.
As for ergonomics, height and tilt adjustment are common, swivel control less so (it’s seldom seen on the really wide monitors), and pivot control—allowing you to rotate the monitor from landscape to portrait orientation and back—is basically nonexistent. (For obvious reasons, the curvature doesn’t make sense in a vertical orientation.)
Ports on these displays tend to face downward in back, which is less than ideal considering that most of these are large, heavy, and unwieldy monitors. It’s a good idea to connect any cables you might ever want to use during the initial setup process.
(Credit: Zlata Ivleva)
Whether they are gaming, productivity, or professional monitors, curved displays commonly have a DisplayPort connector and at least one HDMI port; an upstream USB port for connection to your computer (commonly USB-C in newer monitors) and several downstream USB ports (for flash drives and other peripherals); and an audio-out jack to connect to a headset or external speakers. Some have built-in speakers, but they can vary widely in quality.
(Credit: Zlata Ivleva)
The controls to navigate the onscreen display (OSD) on general-purpose curved monitors tend to consist of small buttons, while those on gaming and some professional monitors are often four-way mini-joystick controllers, which are easier to use than buttons. (See how we test monitors.)
Factors for Artists, Gamers, and Multitaskers
If you look beyond general-purpose use, you can lump curved monitors into three categories: for multitasking (productivity work with several apps or windows at once), for professional use, and for gaming.
With a curved, large-screen productivity monitor, you can have several documents (or one gigantic spreadsheet) open in full-size windows at once, and view them with a minimum of eyestrain. A few monitor makers provide software to let you easily size, tile, and configure windows. You could even take this multitasking to another level by adding a second identical monitor for a dual-monitor setup.
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That said, you’ll want to look with care at the size of the bezels and the degree of curvature if you are considering pairing up more than one curved panel in a multi-panel display. You’ll need a big, wide desk with adequate front-to-back clearance to allow for the natural curve to align across two of these panels. Also, thick side bezels could mean a big black bar in the center of your sightline with two panels.
(Credit: Chris Stobing)
As for graphic designers, photographers, and other creative professionals, they could have several illustrations or photos open side-by-side on a curved monitor. This would provide more natural viewing angles than on a flat monitor, so that the artist could examine, say, three images at once without the outside ones appearing stretched.
(Credit: Chris Stobing)
Gamers get a more three-dimensional view with a curved monitor than with a flat panel. Curved gaming displays are particularly good for racing games and flight simulators, and other games (particularly non-shooters) that provide panoramic views. One thing to note, though, is that some older AAA games don’t support the ultrawide aspect ratios typical of curved gaming panels.
So, Which Curved Monitor Should I Buy?
Curved monitors aren’t for everyone. They are a mixed bag for gamers, and they don’t provide practical advantages at small sizes, which is why you don’t see them as much in panel sizes smaller than 30 inches. Apart from their aesthetic appeal, what sets curved displays apart from other computer monitors is that the edges of the screen face you, which isn’t the case with a flat panel. This provides a more panoramic view with less distortion, which can be a boon to gamers, graphic artists, and multitaskers alike.
Now that you know the basics of curved displays, you’re ready to dig into the details of some of our best-reviewed models. You can also find more information in our roundups of the best ultrawide monitors, gaming monitors, and 4K monitors we’ve tested. And below is a spec breakout of our curved favorites that have been outlined above.
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