MSI, Samsung and Asus announce their latest monitors for office work and gaming. The announcements claim not one, but two world firsts: the first 27-inch 4K monitors and the first 27-inch 500 Hz monitors.
CES 2025 kicked off with monitors. MSI, Samsung and Asus are presenting their newest screens on the same day. Usually monitors are not the most exciting product launches, but that is different this year. The three manufacturers claim some world firsts to their credit.
The first scoop falls to the MSI MPG 272URX QD-OLED, the Samsung Odyssey OLED G8 and the Asus ROG Swift OLED PG27UCDM. These screens have one thing in common and that is not their smoothly pronounceable product name. They support 4K resolution in a 27-inch format, something we have not seen in the monitor world to date. The Asus monitor measures 26.5 inches to be exact.
read also
How do you choose a monitor?
High pixel density
Monitors are available in many sizes and resolutions, but that doesn’t mean that every combination of size and image quality produces equally good results. Normally, the larger the screen, the more pixels it must contain to balance the pixel density (pixel per inch, ppi). A large screen with lower resolution produces blurry images, but too high a resolution in a small screen is also not ideal.
MSI, Asus and Samsung are breaking with this trend. The manufacturer’s new screens are the first 4K monitors to dip below the more common 32 inches (or larger). This combination results in a ppi of 165 (or 166 according to MSI). The manufacturers also point to the low response time of 0.03 ms, which is of particular interest to gamers.
500 Hz
For the same target audience, MSI and Samsung are competing for another world first. The 4K displays have a refresh rate of “only” 240 Hz: more than sufficient for office work (most office work does not need more than 60 Hz), but for gamers the refresh rate cannot be high enough.
That’s why MSI and Samsung are simultaneously announcing the world’s first 27-inch monitors with a 500 Hz refresh rate. The MSI MPG 272QR QD-OLED X50 and the Samsung Odyssey OLED G6 refresh pixels faster than their shadows. With a resolution of 2,560 x 1,440, you still have a more than nice resolution. MSI completes its lineup with an MPG 322URX QD-OLED, a 32-inch monitor with 4K resolution and 240 Hz refresh rate.
3D without glasses
Samsung has a few more special features up its sleeve. For example, the Odyssey can display 3D 3D content without having to wear 3D glasses. The Smart Monitor M9 is simultaneously monitor and television screen: a trend Samsung itself started in 2022. Samsung is on board with the trend, calling this model the first monitor with on-device AI. Finally, the ViewFinity S8 looks like a dead boring office monitor, but then again it is the largest 16:9 4K monitor to date.
