A lot of people find something nice about a curved display. I personally think that this kind of display gives you an illusion of depth to anything you put on it. Whether it’s playing a game or watching a video in full-screen mode, it gives you that sense of immersion. Of course, part of it also comes with bright and accurate coloring.

This is what I feel the Samsung 27-inch WQHD Curved Gaming Monitor offers, on paper. It’s a widescreen, curved display mostly suited for competitive gamers thanks to its high refresh rate. With multiple features suited for the competitive player, it’s the ideal monitor for people looking to build their first gaming setup.

But if you’re just looking for a great monitor for your home/office space, or if you’re just a casual gamer, should you even consider this? 

For starters, there’s the high refresh rate and it’s curved

The Samsung 27-inch Curved Gaming Monitor comes with a 144Hz refresh rate, a staple for most. Obviously with such a high refresh rate, you get some kind of increase in gaming performance. With this monitor, my experience was just along what you’d expect.

Every time I played a game on it, the whole experience just felt smooth. I’m not the most competitive gamer in the whole world, as long as I get to run the game. However, to me it still hits differently when you see the game run smoothly as you trudge along the battles.

As the name suggests, it’s also a curved display — and I felt this is the ideal way to construct a gaming monitor. Now, for most games I’ve played, having a curved display has its perks. With such a large amount of screen space that just curves along, I roughly get to see the whole game’s environment. In essence, you feel some semblance of immersion every time you play Fortnite or Call of Duty Warzone.

Port selection is pretty great for the most part

Along with the high refresh rate, the Samsung 27-inch Curved Gaming Monitor also has a nice selection of ports. It comes with two HDMI ports and a DisplayPort 1.2, all of which you can switch to on the fly. I feel like this is more of a standard across most gaming monitors, but Samsung does things differently with their ports.

From L to R: HDMI 1, HDMI 2, DisplayPort 1,2m Audio, Power

Apparently, only one HDMI port actually grants you the 144Hz refresh rate. Out of the two HDMI ports that come with the device, only the HDMI 2 port gives you the high refresh rate. I’m not entirely sure why Samsung decided to do this. I’ve heard that some of their other products also place the high refresh rate option on a specific port.

Furthermore, I would have loved for them to include a DisplayPort cable along with the HDMI cable. Given that most GPUs come with a DisplayPort anyway, I think this would have been a nice move. Also, the DisplayPort supports the 144Hz refresh rate so I felt this was a missed opportunity on their part.

Speaking of missed opportunities

Another missed opportunity for this monitor was giving it FreeSync or G-Sync support. I know that other similar models of the Samsung 27-inch Curved Gaming Monitor come with FreeSync support. However, the model I have didn’t — the DisplayPort doesn’t support it, and it honestly would have made the display perform better.

With FreeSync, you’re able to play your games at a stunning rate without losing much detail. In essence, it allows you to react faster — especially for most FPS games like Valorant and CS:GO. Obviously, FreeSync also raises some risks especially when you’re playing for longer hours. However, it would have provided this monitor with better performance if it supported it.

As a casual gamer, I honestly didn’t mind that FreeSync wasn’t supported mostly because I was still happily playing at 144Hz anyway. However, there were instances when I felt the game lag behind a bit. It would have been nice if the amount of lag I experienced was reduced, and FreeSync would’ve been a great thing to have.

Is this your GadgetMatch?

For PhP 27,199 (US$ 562), the Samsung 27-inch Curved Gaming Monitor is a pretty decent curved gaming display. It’s biggest selling point is in its high 144Hz refresh rate, which fits both competitive and casual gamers alike. Also, it being a curved display allows for greater immersion during gameplay.

Of course, this does have some missing technologies that would have made it better. I felt that this monitor had some missed opportunities that would have improved its performance in the long run. But, as a casual gamer, it honestly doesn’t matter to me as much as it would to others.

Overall, this gaming monitor serves its ideal purpose for those who need it. If you’re more casual than competitive, this is honestly all you could ever want.