LG Ultrafine 32UN880B best small budget 4K monitor
I had been flirting with the LG Ultrafine for a while and finally ordered it a few days ago.
Introduction
The LG Ultrafine 32 UN880B is, as the name suggests, a 32 or better 31.5 inch monitor with UHD resolution. 4k resolution and also the fact that the monitor scored very well in terms of color space coverage in a test at Prad. At the time of the test in 2020, the price was probably just under €700.
A short time ago, the price of the monitor was at 469, – € and there have struck, because it was also my goal to have a 2nd monitor in addition to the Dell U2722DE, to be able to work especially in Lightroom Classic as well as Da Vinci Resolve with 2 monitors.
I have recorded a short video about this:
Stand
The monitor comes with a stand that has more the characteristics of a monitor arm and for which you otherwise have to pay extra. This allows the monitor to be moved quite freely, even in portrait mode. The mounting was quite trivial and easily solved.
The stand only requires a certain amount of space, which has to be taken into account so that the stand and thus also the monitor can be mounted stably on the table.
Thus, the distance between the placement surface and the monitor’s lower edge can be reduced to just under 9cm.
The monitor itself
It is impressive how much additional space such a monitor offers. No matter if Lightroom or other applications, you simply have more surface.
Under Windows I use the monitor with 150% scaling, otherwise the menus of many applications would simply be too small for me. Only with Da Vinci Resolve do I have the impression that the menus are actually already too large, and one should therefore perhaps go to 125% scaling.
With Macbook Air, I had to add the display, but that was no problem. Here, too, I had to increase the scaling so that the menus and labels weren’t simply too small.
The monitor manages the sRGB color space almost completely, and the DCI-P3 color space, which is important for filmmakers, only 90%. The latter is probably due to the low price. I calibrated the monitor via software. I have to deal with the hardware calibration again.
Connections and USB hub
The monitor has one Displayport and 2 HDMI ports. This is sufficient from my point of view.
In addition, the monitor has 1 USB-C upstream and 2 USB-A downstream ports. A Macbook, for example, can be connected via the USB-C port and is then also supplied with power. However, it only supplies a maximum of 60W, which can be tight even for a Macbook Air with computationally intensive applications.
The fact that there are only 2 downstream ports and that they only provide USB 3.0 is annoying. Even more annoying and hardly comprehensible, however, is the fact that even these ports are not even usable for a stick or webcam if the USB upstream port is not connected.
For me, this means that I still need a USB hub when using the Macbook Air if I want to run an external hard drive or use LAN. This is solved much better on the Dell U2722DE. There I have USB-C with 90W, power and USB 3.2 Gen1 ports for other devices.
Conclusion
The LG UN880B is certainly a good monitor and especially if you can get it for under €550, you certainly can’t go wrong for 32-inch 4K monitor. Nevertheless, the monitor lacks the desirable connectivity.
ciao tuxoche
