Samsung's 31.5-inch UHD display offers plenty of pixels at a premium price
The Samsung U32D970Q is a 31.5-inch monitor with a 4K resolution, but its robust features and price tag are aimed squarely at the pros.
The Samsung U32D970Q is a massive 31.5-inch ultra-high-definition display, aimed at professionals who demand sharp, accurate images and won't balk at paying $2,000 to get them. With a 3,840-by-2,160-pixel resolution, 99.5 percent Adobe RGB color compliance and nifty split-screen support from four display inputs, it's poised to be an eye-pleaser when it arrives in October.
Features
The 31.5-inch, LED-backlit, PLS display is something of a behemoth, but swivels about effortlessly on its stand and offers a fairly generous range of motion, adjusting 30 degrees in either direction, and pivoting 90 degrees if you'd prefer a portrait orientation. The monitor also supports VESA mounts if you'd rather not sit it on your desk. On the back, you'll find a total of four display inputs: two DisplayPort, one HDMI, and one dual-link DVI port. There are also four USB ports, and an audio output jack if you'd like to hook up headphones or a pair of speakers.
But we obviously aren't here to look over inputs and ergonomics. That 3,840-by-2,160-pixel resolution (4K) has grown increasingly common on massive displays, but is still pretty impressive. The viewing angles are generous, and colors remained true no matter how I swiveled the screen or paced around it; that'll be especially important on a display this big. There are also a total of 11 color-calibration settings: eight factory presets and three customizable ones for users, though all are configurable.
Samsung takes things one step further with support for quad and dual windows. Plug in up to four video sources -- say, four laptops -- and you can map each one to one-fourth of the monitor, splitting up the 31.5-inch screen into four 1080p displays. The dual-split-screen functionality might prove a little more useful: with only two connected display sources, you can assign a distinct color space to each half of the screen. That could prove incredibly useful if you want a glimpse of what a particular image would look like on the Web and in print and don't want to calibrate multiple displays.
Outlook
With a $2,000 price tag, this Samsung display will likely be well out of reach of most folks looking to break into 4K resolutions -- JVC's Diamond series TVs will offer 4K resolutions on 55-inch displays for $999. And with an 8ms response time, well-heeled gamers who demand low-latency displays likely aren't even interested.
The Samsung U32D970Q is an impressive piece of hardware, offering strong color accuracy and image fidelity coupled with neat quad- and dual-split-screen functionality. But its price tag will likely limit its appeal to a very particular niche of professionals.
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