ViewSonic XG321UG, analysis and opinion

Choosing a good monitor is a super complicated task. If you start looking for your setup, there are a lot of parameters that you must take into account such as the panel, the format, the resolution, the brightness level, the support, the refresh rate, the color reproduction, etc.

If you want the best of the best, you have to scratch your pocket, but until very recently, even if you bought a very expensive monitor, you still did not have features that have been present in televisions for years, such as the latest generation HDMI or high brightness levels.

Now, however, we are seeing models that already incorporate HDMI 2.1 to enjoy consoles (such as Sony’s Inzone M9) and others like this ViewSonic XG321UG that have a MiniLED panel with a Full Array backlight capable of reaching spectacular brightness .

Sections of the analysis of the ViewSonic XG321UG:

Sober aesthetic that does not attract attention, but with interesting details

When we talk about monitors, we usually do not have a design section that is out of the mold. Yes, there are exceptions like the mentioned Inzone M9, but they are usually quite “serious” and traditional.

This ViewSonic, the truth, is not one of those that attracts attention to the naked eye, but that is not, at all, something negative and, in fact, It has a couple of details that I loved.

The first thing is that the assembly process is extremely simple. This is the case in many monitors, but there are others that force you to take the screwdriver. Not here, since the base (which seemed very robust to me) is joined with a thread to the arm and this to the monitor by means of a ‘click’ system.

The monitor has a 100 x 100 VESA system, so you can hang it from the wall or from another desk arm that you already have (if it has that standard, of course), which makes it much easier for you to change monitors.

One of those things that I liked so much is that the arm allows a wide variety of angles to view the monitor in the optimal way. You have a tilt adjustment from -5º to 20º, it can be rotated 50º to the right and left and you will also be able to control the height in a very, very simple way.

It’s big, yes, since it’s still 32”, but if you need to control the angle, at least you won’t have to fight with the base because the movement system is very smooth.

And around the VESA system we find an RGB LED perimeter which gives some atmosphere to the room. It is not a very powerful system, but if you play with dim lighting in the room, you will notice it. At the bottom ends there are also LED strips to illuminate the desktop a bit.

Control is very simple thanks to both the navigation joystick and a very comfortable OSD system. If you want to change any monitor settings, you won’t have to fight with tabs or anything too complicated.

And something that stands out on the front (the only thing, really) is an ambient light sensor located on the chin.

The monitor has a system that automatically regulates the brightness of the panel depending on the external light so that we do not have to constantly fiddle with the adjustment and, thus, have optimal lighting at all times.

It is something that I love and that, I think, all monitors in a certain price range should have, as well as the handle to hang the headphones that, in this model, is on the left side.

Everything you need to play to the fullest on PC, not so much on PS5 and Xbox Series X

And little else, I already say that the design is not something that excites me, but that has not prevented ViewSonic from implementing little things here and there that play in favor of quality of life.

That quality of life also depends to a large extent on the ports and, truthfully, here we are served. We have 3.5mm output, DisplayPort 1.4, HDMI 2.0, three USB-A 3.2 and one USB-B 3.2.

These USBs are very useful because we can connect a PC with USB-B and peripherals directly to the monitor, which works as a HUB. This, for certain scenarios, is very convenient and comfortable, but there is something that I did not like.

Although to play on PC at the highest quality we have everything we need (because of DisplayPort 1.4), HDMI 2.0 prevents us from enjoying the latest generation consoles properly.

Yes, it is clear that you will be able to play PS5 and Xbox Series X, obviously, but you will not be able to benefit from technologies such as 4K at 120 fps or others such as VRR. In another type of monitor I would not care more, but in this one, which costs more than 2,000 euros, I find that it is a fairly important deficiency.

I really don’t understand why we don’t have HDMI 2.1, but hey, it’s still something that a lot of manufacturers are forgetting to incorporate into their next generation monitors. At least we have courtesy cables like USB-B, an HDMI 2.0 and a DisplayPort.

A spectacular panel with an outstanding brightness

But the most important thing, in the end, is the panel, and it is the main headache when buying a monitor. Here we have good news because I think it is one of the best monitors currently on PC to play and, in addition, it will allow you to work with images.

You already have the main characteristics in the table that we leave you at the beginning of the analysis, but we go with the main ones when playing. The first thing is that it is 32” with 4K resolution and it seems to me an ideal size for certain types of games.

The adventure ones like Spider-Man (which just came out on PC), God of War or Cyberpunk, I think it’s a spectacular monitor. Games like Gray and others with bold color palettes also play beautifully thanks to this monitor’s color reproduction.

For first-person shooter games with a competitive focus, I find this size to be less than ideal. 32” at an arm’s length, more or less, from our eyes, I think it’s very big for an Overwatch, for example, but this is very personal and you may love it.

Guide to buy a curved monitor to play or work: advantages and differences with flat monitors

Secondly we have the G-Sync Ultra technology and the maximum 144 Hzalthough this is tricky. And it is that, it is a 10-bit panel, but those real bits will only be shown with the refresh rate of 120 Hz.

If we set the rate to 144 Hz, we have 8 real bits, which causes those image artifacts colloquially known as the “YouTube effect”. Obviously, I recommend setting the maximum to 120Hz because it’s easier for you to take advantage of 120Hz in 4K to begin with than 144Hz. On the other hand, we have a higher color depth in 10-bit.

And finally, we have the glitter. In televisions we have had super-high brightness for many years, but the same does not happen in monitors, where the maximum brightness is usually 400 nits, in most cases.

Recently we are already seeing other maximums with 600 or 800 nits, but this ViewSonic is one of the brightest with a maximum of 1,400 nits in HDR mode. It is spectacular in this sense and, together with the automatic brightness adjustment, it is one of the best experiences I have had with a monitor.

As always, we have measured and we have an average of 387 lux in SDR mode and an average of 985 lux in HDR. It does not reach the extreme marked by ViewSonic, but in the end it is a somewhat different unit of measurement and ViewSonic speaks of a peak at a given time, not a constant.

In certain types of games that allow HDR to be activated, it is a real blast. Battlefield 5, for example, although it’s not the best in the series, far from it, it’s amazing on this monitor if your GPU can handle 4K, ray tracing and HDR.

Also, backlighting is through a Full Array panel with 1,152 lighting zones that allow no light leaks and very good contrast thanks to deeper blacks than on monitors with conventional backlight panels.

The blacks do not reach an OLED level (logically, due to OLED technology), but they greatly improve what we have in conventional monitors.

And to edit photos and videos, it is also a very interesting panel both for its brightness and its color coverage. It has a coverage of 98% DCI-P3 and 99% AdobeRGB and, the truth is, in the weeks that I was working with him, I did it to taste both to edit the photos of the analyzes and a couple of videos.

One of the best monitors to play on PC, although you have to pay for it

And, in the end, it is one of the best monitors I have tried for gaming. I’ve also worked really well, yes, since this IPS panel has great color reproduction, but the truth is that I’m not as much of an image specialist in photography or video as I am in video games.

Here I can tell you that, both by colors and by the 10 bits and the brightness levelsurely it is the best thing you can buy if you want to enjoy video games and, above all, if you have a PC that supports moving 4K resolution with graphics in high parameters and HDR.

It also works to connect consoles, of course, and the colors are still great, but not having HDMI 2.1 is an important deficiency because we are talking about a monitor that costs more than 2,000 euros and that, for that price, should offer the latest technology on the market .

But if the consoles do not matter to you because you are a PC Master Race and you can afford itIt is one of the best monitors you will find.