With the spread of work from home, smart or otherwise, sales of everything needed to transform a room or corner into an office branch have also increased. Tables, chairs, printers, headphones, cameras and much more. Even monitors, such as the one we tested, which are located at the highest end of what can be used at home, at a level of professionalism that is not always found even in offices. Not everyone needs the 32 inches of the LG UltraFine Ergo 32UN880, nor its 4K resolution, HDR 10 or ultra-precise colors with even more sophisticated calibration possibilities.
You can move the stand up and down, rotate it 90 degrees to have a vertical display, place it in different places on the desk and tilt it in any direction
The LG monitor stands out from the (few) competitors for the ergonomic clamp stand that attaches to the desk, thus saving space for the base and allowing excellent freedom of movement. You can move it up and down, rotate it 90 degrees to have a vertical display, move the stand to place it in different places on the desk and tilt it in any direction. Adjusting it is simple, and the overall feeling is of great solidity. And if you want, it also enters the cable hole, where it is. But be careful: if the desk has a vertical side member at the edge or rounded edges or some design ambitions, it is good to make sure that the support clamp is correctly fixed. In our case, for example, the support surface is a few centimeters; even so, the monitor is stable and looks safe.
It is good to make sure that the holder clamp is properly fixed
The 32UN880 has a very thin bezel at the top and sides, only slightly thicker at the bottom, where the LG logo is located. Combined with the ergonomic support, the whole looks well thought out: considering the design and attention to detail and performance, the price of 699 euros does not seem excessive.
The bezel is very thin at the top and sides, just thicker at the bottom
Also because, as expected from LG, the display is excellent: IPS with a 178-degree viewing angle, covers 95% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, and has a matte finish. It is therefore also suitable for those who professionally deal with graphics, video or photography; the colors are extremely accurate, the definition is excellent, and even at resolutions other than the native one there is no distortion or blur in the text. The refresh rate is stuck at 60Hz – not really a problem as there are few graphics cards currently capable of handling 4K video streams at higher framerates. However, the LG monitor offers FreeSync support, making it particularly suitable for use with AMD’s latest GPUs.
Suitable for games, thanks to the good response time (5ms), the LG monitor is also perfect for Netflix or Amazon Prime: but here it collides with its limit, the brightness of 350 Nits, adequate for everyone’s use. the days and yet not enough for the HDR10 to function properly, which would also be compatible. Instead the films are too dark, the colors are lost in the dark, the chromatic dynamics drown in the shadows.
But a monitor like this is bought for work, of course: and with the 32UN880 you can keep the windows of different programs open at the same time, facilitating productivity perhaps even more significantly than two separate monitors. The space offered by the display is huge, you just need to spend some time optimizing the operating system interface so that the texts, icons and mouse pointer are not too small. To interact with the settings there is a hidden button on the bottom of the display: just press it to move through a well-designed menu, where you can select the inputs or use the various settings.
Many connection options on the back
There are many connection options on the back: two HDMI, one DisplayPort and one USB-C, along with two USB-A ports, although they only work if the computer is connected to the monitor via USB-C, like a small hub. Through the USB-C the data and also the power supply pass: so there will be no need to connect the transformer, the connection will be quick, and even the order of the desk will gain. It also works great with Macs: a 16-inch MacBook Pro will take a little longer to recharge, while using a MacBook Pro 13 M1 there is no difference to the original power supply. We also used an iPad Pro, connected via USB-C, without any problems, but for software issues related to iOS, the visible area is in 4: 3 format, so two large black bands appear on the right and left.
The power supply that comes with the monitor is huge, and the cable isn’t long enough
Speaking of power supply, the one supplied with the monitor is huge, and the cable is not long enough: in our case, for example, it was not possible to insert it into the ergonomic support to hide it from view, but those who adopt sockets at the desk level should have better luck. A prece for the audio, which seems to be absent-mindedly added to the list of features: calling it mediocre is a compliment, headphones or external speakers are essential to work and have serious fun.
The LG 32UN880 is suitable for creatives who deal with photos, videos, graphics (but also music, why not?) And want to work well without spending crazy money: it is very accurate in colors, has excellent ergonomic support and a great variety of connection options. For those who use a browser, a word processor and little more, perhaps it is a little too big: a model with a 24 or 27 inch display would certainly be easier to keep at home.