MSI Optix MEG381CQR Plus Monitor Review

I’m drooling like an idiot over this thing, that 3840 x 1600 resolution is just epic, full 4K width, non of that half-arsed 3440 x 1440 you normally see on ultrawides. The difference may not sound like much, but sitting in front of it right now, it’s certainly there and it looks CRISP!

The RGB strips on the front are really nice, they light up themselves but not the room or your desk, so they’re actually not distracting and quite pleasant. Yes, you can turn them off too.

The totally just a dial on the side is really slick. Weirdly, it offers no features before what’s in the standard OSD. However, it outputs the info on this little OLED display instead, so it’s not going to overlay what’s on the screen.

It’s great for checking things quickly though.

And overall, it’s mostly a gimmick, but one that actually does work.

Of course, being an ultrawide, it means you no longer have to put up with black bars on a lot of movies. A cheeky bit of Bond while I work (bonus points if you can name which movie).

Being a full 4K width means you don’t lose any information in the picture either, unless you’re watching 16:9 content, in which case you get black bars at the sides. Honestly, these do not bother me at all, even though it was a concern when ultrawides were first introduced.

Even with two displays side by side, the pixel density to each window is superb. You’re still giving each window a 1920 x 1600 resolution to play with, making documents very easy to read, even with small text.

Or you can go for the triple portrait style, with three 1280×1600 windows. This is by far my favourite, you can really boost your productivity and procrastination all at the same time… that’s why reddit is in the middle.

Video and photo editing are hugely benefitted by the high resolution and panel size too. Working on my movie 500 movies in 365 days challenge poster I’m making is really easy. I’m on day 318 and movie 438, if you were wondering, oh yeah!

Tamriel, in all its glory, seriously, the colours, resolution, and refresh rate are just utter porn. This monitor costs an absolute bomb, but it becomes clear why as soon as you start digging into your favourite games. It’s got all the best-of-the-best features, and it’s just an absolute joy to use.

I’m not even going to linger on the endless compliments here, as the performance is virtually unmatched.