MSI Optix MEG381CQR Plus Monitor Review

Looking for a new monitor that's affordable, compact and reasonably well equipped? Then bugger off, you're in the wrong place today! The new MSI Optix MEG381CQR is here to kick ass and chew bubblegum, and it's all out of bubblegum. At a multi-wallet busting £2000, it's not a cheap endeavour, but for a high-end gaming setup, workstation or editing suite, the massive and feature-packed panel it offers is sure to delight. MSI Optix MEG381CQR Plus It features the latest Rapid IPS panel technology with a 1ms response time, and it promises exceptional colour performance with 96.2% DCI-P3 and 128.7% SRGB. It has a UWQHD+ resolution, or to put that into something you can understand, 3840 x 1600 pixels, which is nice, as most monitors of this shape only have 1440 pixels on the vertical axis. It has Nvidia G-Sync Ultimate, a 175 Hz refresh rate, VESA Display HDR600, and much more, so really, you are just going to get the best out of movies, games, editing suites and more with relative ease. Furthermore, it has MSI's innovative HMI (Human Machine Interface), which is really their marketing team going wild to explain a dial on the side of the monitor haha, bless em, but I'll admit it's actually pretty cool. Features Rapid IPS Panel – Provides 1ms fast response time, optimizes screen colors and brightness.3840 x 1600 UWQHD+ High Resolution – Games will look even better, displaying more details.HMI (Human Machine Interface) – choose settings more conveniently and intuitively with the cooperation of the Gaming Dial and a Assistance monitor.NVIDIA G-SYNC ULTIMATE – Prevent screen tearing or stuttering, producing ultra-smooth lag-free gameplay.175Hz Refresh Rate – Respond faster with smoother frames.1ms Response Time – Eliminate screen tearing and choppy frame rates.VESA DisplayHDR 600 – Stunning visuals through contrast and shadow adjustment.Game Sense + Mystic Light – Conductively enables external game alerts via RGB LED lighting with the hottest competitive online games.Best User Experience - Included a camera cradle and mouse bungee that provide you the best user experience. What MSI Had to Say "Ехреrіеnсе аdvаnсеd аnd рrесіѕе gаmерlау wіth thе МЅІ Орtіх МЕG381СQR Рluѕ Моnіtоr. Dеѕіgnеd tо оffеr ѕmооth gаmіng аnd соlоur ассurасу, thе Орtіх ѕеrіеѕ mоnіtоr ѕhоwсаѕеѕ а wіdе 96.5 сm dіѕрlау wіth а 21:9 ІРЅ раnеl. Тhіѕ іntuіtіvе mоnіtоr fеаturеѕ а VЕЅА DіѕрlауНDR 600 thаt оffеrѕ ѕtunnіng рісturе quаlіtу fоr рlауіng іntеrасtіvе gаmеѕ, оr wаtсhіng mоvіеѕ, ѕhоwѕ, еtс. Іtѕ іntеllіgеntlу dеѕіgnеd сurvеd dіѕрlау еnѕurеѕ а wіdе vіеwіng аnglе thаt іѕ соmfоrtаblе tо thе еуеѕ. Fоr hаrd-соrе соmреtіtіvе gаmеrѕ, thе mоnіtоr іntrоduсеѕ а GаmеЅеnѕе fеаturе thаt nоtіfіеѕ аbоut lоw-hеаlth, іnсоmіng dаmаgе, аnd mоrе, vіа thе RGВ LЕD lіghtѕ. Тhіѕ fеаturе еnаblеѕ mоrе аwаrеnеѕѕ оf thе gаmіng еnvіrоnmеnt аnd рlауеr ѕtаtіѕtісѕ іn rеаl-tіmе. Аlѕо, thе mоnіtоr оffеrѕ а mоuѕе bungее thаt hоldѕ thе mоuѕе wіrе іn іtѕ рlасе, еlіmіnаtіng dіѕtrасtіоnѕ whіlе рlауіng. А vоlumе соntrоl knоb іѕ рlасеd оn thе mоnіtоr fоr mоrе соnvеnіеnсе." - MSI Launch Trailer For in-depth specifications, please check out the official product page here. A Closer Look There's a lot going on with this monitor, but really the most dominating of them all has to be the size. It measures 38" diagonally, making it pretty much a meter wide on your desk. Obviously, you're going to need a pretty decent space to place it, so those with small desks will want to look elsewhere. The ultrawide form factor is stunning though, giving you the benefits of multiple displays in a single display. This is going to give you more real estate for your work and more immersion for gaming and movies. The screen feels even bigger too, thanks to the extra slim bezels on the sides. There's a thicker bezel along the bottom edge, which has a nice finish to it. I mean, at this price, you would hope the materials have a nice finish to them, so I'm glad to see that they do! There are five RGB LED strips in the front here, allowing for some unique customisation, but we'll see those lit up in a moment. There's room to use their built-in mouse bungee, certainly a welcome feature! Two are included. Just clip it onto the mounts on the bottom edge of the monitor. The monitor also comes with a special stand for a webcam, meaning you can mount it at the top without it overhanging your screen. There's a lovely 2300R curvature to the panel too, which is actually fairly subtle, but it's just enough to make the far edges of the screen more naturally fill your view. I don't like the super curved monitors, but this subtle curve suits the monitor's size really well. Finally, at least for the front stuff, you have the "Human Machine Interface" and it still amuses me they actually called it that. It's a knob you can turn and click to change profiles and settings. Around the back, the monitor looks super stylish! Sure, it's just the back, but if you have an open desk design, you can fully appreciate the design here. I put my monitor against a wall, so it makes no difference to me, but I can still appreciate the effort here. There are some built-in RGB lights here. A lovely MSI badge. A thumbstick control for the UI. The HMI on the side is more a quick-settings thing, so you'll use this for the boring stuff. On the side of the monitor, there's a pair of USB ports, a headphone jack, and even a line-in for your mic. 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 1280x1600 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. Calibration Three tests were performed. One on the out-of-the-box settings. Another with User colour set to warm, brightness turned down, and just generally closer to my personal preference as I watch a lot of movies. The last one was a full calibration using Syper5Elite. How Much Does it Cost? A lot, it's £1999.99, but hey, at least you have a penny to toss in the wishing well. You're paying a lot, but really that's hardly surprising given this is one of the most high-end flagship monitors on the market right now. Super high level of features, and a high resolution, high refresh rate and a rather massive panel. Overview I absolutely love this monitor, it's actually one of the best I've ever used. Actually, it may even be my personal all-time favourite monitor I've ever used. I'm using it right now, I'll be using it later, and I'll be trying to use it when MSI come to pluck it out of my mighty grip... I may lay some traps. But I want to stress the most important factor of this review. I would not buy this monitor. It's a little too good, which is a fine and dandy way of saying I can't realistically afford it. I put down £1000 on a TV a few years ago, and still can't afford to upgrade that, so double on a monitor would leave my children going hungry for a while. This is very much the plaything of the professional market or the well-funded enthusiast PC gamers out there. It's a fine example of if you have the money and want the best, then this is it! The panel performance is stunning, and while 175Hz isn't the fastest out there, it's plenty for high-end gaming. Keeping in mind the resolution is 4K2K, so that's a LOT of pixels to drive at high refresh rates. Basically, unless you play older games, you're going to need a very potent graphics card to get the most out of it. The addition of Nvidia G-Sync, HDR600, the 175Hz refresh rate, overdrive, overclocking and more all ensure that when you do get around to some gaming, it's going to be amazing. However, if you're working on this monitor, you get plenty of benefits too. The ultrawide design makes it very comfortable to have three windows side by side. Using video editing suits allows you an extended view of the editing timeline, and stuff life photoshop just benefits from the stunning colour reproduction, brightness and resolution. There's some nice quality of life features too. The dual clip-on mouse/cable bungees are really neat and a welcome addition. The mount for a camera at the top is a universal mount, so you can mount a microphone, camera, light or any number of things on that. There's a built-in webcam and microphone on the front of the monitor too, not ideal for pro streaming, but enough for a zoom call from time to time. Plus, there's that big dial on the side for quickly changing various settings, which does come in handy. Oh and RGB, it has that too, but that's subjective. The overall quality is as good as I've ever seen. It's a very well made product. The stand is really heavy, but it's all heavy-duty metal and even the paint looks like it's been given a few more coats than usual. It's all just better than usual, albeit that's reflected in the price tag. You've tried the rest, now try the best. One of the finest monitors on the market today. 4K2K resolution, high refresh rate, ultrawide design and a massive panel. If you're willing to make the investment, you'll quickly fall in love with this monitor. I know I have.