Best curved monitors 2023: The top curvy displays we’ve tested

The Samsung Odyssey Neo G8 is one of the best curved monitors you can buy, especially for gaming given it’s the world’s first 4K panel with a 240Hz refresh rate.

It features a Mini LED backlight offering stunningly high brightness, which we measured to be 1411 nits with our colorimeter. This also helped the Neo G8 along to an excellent HDR performance and a wide colour space coverage – we measured it to offer 99% sRGB and 92% DCI-P3. This means you could use the Neo G8 for more colour-sensitive work such as video editing without worrying that colours don’t look true to form.

Returning the point of gaming, the 240Hz refresh rate offers up smooth motion with only minor bouts of ghosting, and combined with the detail on offer with a 4K panel, you’ll be hard pressed to find a better gaming monitor. In addition, the 1000R curve helped to keep things immersive, offering the same curvature as Samsung’s other Odyssey monitors, as well as one that matches a person’s eyeline.

We also think the G8’s design looks fantastic with its glossy white plastic finish, while also being durable thanks to its sandblasted metal base.

This is an expensive monitor, and so is only really a top choice for those who’ve got the money to burn. But if you want one of the absolute best curved gaming monitors on the market, this is our top recommendation.

Reviewer: Mike Jennings
Full review: Samsung Odyssey Neo G8 review

The Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 is a superb option if you ‘re after an especially large curved monitor, complete with an ultra-wide 21:9 aspect ratio.

It features the same 240Hz refresh rate as the smaller G8 and offers buttery smooth gameplay, as well as support for AMD FreeSync Premium Pro and Nvidia G-Sync to eliminate screen tearing. During testing, we found this panel to be incredibly responsive thanks to a 1ms response time. A 1000R curve also allowed us to experience immersive gaming, too. But it’s worth noting you’ll need a powerful system in order to take advantage of the G9’s impressive specs.

During testing, we found the image quality here to be stellar. This is mostly thanks to the Quantum Dot Mini LED (aka QLED) panel that boasted one of the highest peak brightness we’ve tested on a gaming monitor at 2300 nits with Dynamic HDR enabled. This also meant images looked incredibly vibrant. Those colours also prove to be accurate with some exceedingly good colour space coverage present on the G9 – 91.5% for DCI-P3 and 99.5% for sRGB to be exact.

As well as offering one of the best displays money can buy, the Neo G9 is also a sleek looking monitor with a glossy white plastic rear and super slim bezels around the front. At 16.9kg, it is a hefty beast, and you will need a wide desk to place it on, with a total width of 1151mm.

Reviewer: Mike Jennings
Full review: Samsung Odyssey Neo G9 Review

The HP Z40c G3 is a curved monitor made for an office or working-from-home set-up, with a webcam plonked on top for convenient video calling.

The webcam is the key feature here, and you will see it gloriously emerge from the top of the monitor with a simple tap. Once it’s up and running, you’ll be getting 13MP clarity, providing detailed and accurate results. There’s Windows Hello too for speedy sign-in. The camera can also be tilted down if you need to adjust the viewing angle. Being able to tap it back into the monitor frame is ideal for the privacy-conscious and the webcam is paired with some noise-cancelling microphones, not to mention and some pleasingly loud speakers too which make video calling an absolute breeze with no additional peripherals needed.

The camera is the big sell with the HP Z40c G3 but as you can imagine, it needs to be backed up by a decent screen. Thankfully, that is very much the case and it needs to be as this panel comes in at an admittedly pricey £1,000-plus. You don’t get fancy Mini LED technology but you do get a pixel dense 5120×2160 resolution display that measures in at 39.7-inches. The large curved widescreen will have you fully immersed while the IPS technology brings an acceptable level of brightness, solid contrast ratio and accurate colours.

This isn’t a panel made to take on the very best around when it comes to wondrous colour for creativity or high-end gaming. Instead, it’s made for professionals who feel like they spend their lives in meetings and want a big display that’ll make their lives a little easier.

Reviewer: Mike Jennings
Full review: HP Z40c G3 review

If you fancy one of the best curved monitors available, but are also on a budget, we think the MSI MPG Artymis 273CQRX-QD is a truly fantastic mid-range option.

With a Quantum Dot LED backlight on offer, we found it to offer great brightness, with a measured figure of 432 nits, as well as excellent contrast for the price, as demonstrated by the 3100:1 ratio measured with our colorimeter.

The 2560×1440 resolution helped to offer a crisp picture, and better quality images than what you’d find with 1080p screen. Combine this with the silky smoothness of a 240Hz refresh rate and the responsiveness of a 1ms response time, and we think you’ve got an especially capable gaming monitor.

With that being said, the minimal support for DisplayHDR400 did leave the HDR experience underwhelming, especially at this asking price. You may want to look elsewhere if a top-notch HDR performance is a must have, although it will cost you a fair bit more.

In terms of its design, MSI’s curved candidate features slim bezels and oodles of configurable RGB lighting round the back. We also found there to be a good amount of adjustment here with height, tilt and swivel on offer, and at 6.6kg, it’s remarkably lightweight for a monitor this size.

Reviewer: Mike Jennings
Full Review: MSI MPG Artymis 273CQRX-QD review

The Huawei MateView GT is the brand’s first ever gaming monitor, and represents one of the most budget-friendly options of the best curved monitors we’ve tested.

We found it to offer fabulous contrast, as reflected in the panel’s 5125:1 score in our tests. In line with this, the MateView GT impressed us with its wide colour space coverage of 99.2% sRGB and 86.9% DCI-P3. This translated into bold, bright colours in mainstream games, which made them look crisp and sharp in testing.

Switching to HDR mode revealed a peak brightness of 399 nits, as measured with our colorimeter in hand. A 165Hz refresh rate is also great, alongside a 4ms response time which will be fine for most people, although competitive players may wish to look for something lower.

A screen size of 34 inches is about right for immersive gameplay, alongside the solid 3440×1440 resolution. In addition, the 1500R curve helps to improve immersion, although the Cooler Master GM34-CW‘s 1000R will be better if you’re after a tighter curve. The VA panel helped with the good response time, and support for 10-bit colour was welcome.

We also found the construction to be impressive, with the MateView GT’s stand being a pure metal slab. There’s good scope for adjustment, alongside an intriguing party piece at the bottom of the stand: an integrated soundbar. The speaker here features plenty of volume and had no trouble filling a room, and the bass is punchy alongside decent mid-range clarity, and overall. We found them to suffice well for mainstream gaming but for anything else, you’ll want to consider a soundbar or external speakers.

Reviewer: Mike Jennings
Full review: Huawei MateView GT review

The Samsung Odyssey Ark is a fantastic curved monitor and well worth its high price tag. It comes with a 4K resolution, so you can play your favourite supported games with a high level of detail. The high resolution also makes it perfect for watching the latest blockbuster movies, as our reviewer noted how crisp and sharp the images are on screen. 

It features a 165Hz refresh rate for buttery smooth gaming, aided by AMD FreeSync Premium Pro. Compared to some other monitors on this list – like the Samsung Odyssey Neo G8 and Odyssey Geo N9 – this is a middling refresh rate, however, we found that it was more than serviceable for high-quality single-player titles and mainstream esports gaming. We would recommend checking out the aforementioned Samsung Odyssey Neo monitors if you need a device that can run at 240Hz. 

The inclusion of AMD FreeSync Premium Pro ensures that you won’t encounter issues like screen tearing while you play, although you will want to make sure that you’ve invested in a high-end graphics card that can handle 4K and 165Hz gameplay for the smoothest experience possible. Check out our Best Graphics Cards roundup to see all the powerful options on the market right now. 

This monitor comes with its own built-in speakers, meaning that you won’t need to worry about finding external speakers before you get stuck into a new game. It features four speakers and two woofers; we thought that the speakers supplied a thumping bass, detailed mid-range notes and crisp high notes that were expansive and immersive. Our reviewer claimed that they were on par with high-end TVs and better than speakers found on most gaming screens, making this the perfect option for any audiophiles out there. 

This monitor does cost a pretty penny, with a price tag hitting £2599/$3499. However, if you want a monitor that has crisp visuals and a speaker that rivals most other monitors, then the Samsung Odyssey Ark (2022) may be the best pick for you.

Reviewer: Mike Jennings
Full review: Samsung Odyssey Ark (2022)