The OLED vs LCD debate continues to evolve in 2025. Two standout monitors—LG’s 45GX950A OLED and BenQ’s EX321UX Mini LED—highlight how different display technologies cater to different needs. Here’s a breakdown of each monitor’s key strengths, design choices, and performance quirks.
LG 45GX950A OLED: Ultrawide and Sharp
The LG 45GX950A-B is a 5K2K ultrawide OLED monitor with a 5120 x 2160 resolution. This allows 4K content to fit perfectly while offering extra horizontal space, making it ideal for both productivity and immersive games. It supports a dual-mode feature that lowers the resolution to 2560 x 1080 while boosting the refresh rate to 330 Hz—a setup that benefits older titles like Doom or Sigil 2.
This monitor features an aggressive 800R curvature. At first, the steep curve feels overwhelming, but after a few days, it becomes immersive and natural. Flat ultrawide monitors often push corners far into your peripheral vision. The curve on this display brings the edges inward, making content more accessible and immersive, especially in games and editing software like Premiere.
Motion clarity is excellent. The HDR performance peaks around 1,200 nits, and the updated subpixel layout avoids color fringing issues that affected previous LG OLEDs like the C2. With a pixel density of around 125 PPI, text looks crisp and sharp. The matte screen finish also stands out. It diffuses reflections better than glossy alternatives while maintaining deep contrast and vivid visuals, giving the illusion of infinite depth.
Previous issues with DisplayPort flickering have been resolved with GPU driver updates. The monitor supports Display Stream Compression, which appears visually flawless. Unlike older OLEDs, this panel maintains brightness levels when displaying full-screen white content, avoiding the dimming problems from previous generations.
At $2,000, the 45GX950A is expensive. But its color quality, motion smoothness, and resolution make it worth the price—especially for users who want high-end OLED performance with extra screen real estate.
BenQ EX321UX Mini LED: Bright and Console-Friendly
The BenQ Mobius EX321UX offers a completely different approach. It’s a 32-inch 4K flat panel with 144 Hz refresh rate, designed for relaxed gaming sessions from a bed or couch. The flat design contrasts sharply with the LG’s curved build, making it feel more like a traditional TV for console and PC gaming.
Where this monitor truly shines is in brightness. It reaches 1,600 nits in HDR and can even output 1,500 nits in SDR, making it one of the brightest displays available for consumers. There’s no aggressive automatic brightness limiter. As a result, full-screen white images stay consistently bright, even during extended use. It’s one of the few monitors where you might actually lower the brightness in SDR settings.
This monitor uses 1,152 dimming zones, which improves contrast. However, during darker scenes with mixed lighting—like exploring dim hallways in The Last of Us—you might still notice a slight backlight glow. The monitor avoids blooming effectively, but it sacrifices deeper blacks in semi-dark scenes to achieve that.
A remote is included, adding a level of convenience that many gaming monitors lack. While there are more affordable displays, few match this model’s combination of brightness, HDR quality, and feature set. The price sits around $1,000 USD, offering solid value if brightness and SDR consistency matter to you.
Choosing Between OLED and Mini LED
OLED continues to improve. Newer panels like LG’s G5 are now reaching 400 nits full white, narrowing the brightness gap. Future upgrades—like tandem OLED and micro lens arrays—could make OLED even brighter without sacrificing contrast or motion quality.
On the other hand, Mini LED still holds appeal. If you want stable brightness and don’t mind a bit of backlight glow, it’s a great choice. You also won’t deal with pixel aging or panel wear, which some users associate with OLEDs. The BenQ’s extreme brightness and flat panel cater to users who prioritize luminance over perfect contrast or pixel-level dimming.
Verdict
Both monitors deliver premium experiences but suit different use cases. The LG 45GX950A excels at immersive, high-refresh gaming and content creation. The BenQ EX321UX thrives in bright environments and offers a TV-like experience with PC-level precision.
If you want wide, curved immersion with pixel-level blacks, go OLED. If you want searing brightness and flat-panel simplicity, go Mini LED. Either way, 2025 has you covered.
