This year was huge for monitors. In 2023, we saw the first OLED gaming monitors, refresh rates beyond what we could have ever imagined, and unique form factors that enhance productivity and media consumption by a mile.
There’s always the old guard on our list of the best monitors if you want a good, reliable display. But these monitors pushed the envelope this year in a way no other displays did.
Want to see the rest? Check out our full list of the most innovative tech products of 2023!
Most innovative: Samsung Odyssey OLED G9
Just because a monitor is big doesn’t mean its innovative, but the Odyssey OLED G9 is truly innovative. It’s an impressive 32:9 display that measures 49 inches diagonally, which is a form factor Samsung has championed over the past couple of years. This year, though, it’s delivered via a QD-OLED panel, and that makes all the difference.
OLED looks amazing, but it’s the practicality of this tech that stands out on the Odyssey OLED G9. Compared to LCD, where you need to allocate some space in the monitor for a backlight, OLED is very thin. That allowed Samsung to massively cut down on the size of the Odyssey OLED G9, delivering a slim metal frame and more subtle curve compared to the previous version. Both monitors are big, but an aggressive curve and chunky plastic back made the previous Odyssey Neo G9 too impractical for most users to consider.
The panel swap is also a huge boost to image quality. The Odyssey Neo G9 looked great for an LCD monitor, but the perfect black levels of OLED are far more immersive for cinematic games. Combined with the 32:9 aspect ratio, the Odyssey OLED G9 pulls you into the game world, providing the most immersive gaming experience we’ve ever seen.
The Odyssey OLED G9 may not be some new, crazy concept on the level of the Samsung Odyssey Ark, but it takes an already great foundation and improves it through a smart panel swap, and that makes it the most innovative monitor we’ve seen this year.
Runner-up: Alienware 500Hz gaming monitor
This was the year we saw truly fast gaming monitors. Alienware was the first out of the gate with a 500Hz display, which is a massive leap forward for competitive gamers. Last year, we were looking at 360Hz displays, and this monitor blows past them with ease. It’s too expensive to justify for most casual gamers, but if you’re competitive, there’s nothing better as you can read in our Alienware 500Hz gaming monitor review.
At 500Hz, the screen is refreshed once every 2 milliseconds. There are some games where that can make a big difference, too. If you’re playing titles like Counter-Strike 2, Valorant, or Rainbow Six Siege, you can easily cross a frame rate high enough to take advantage of a 500Hz display. In addition, Alienware built an Nvidia Reflex module into the display, allowing you to analyze your latency from the moment you click.
Alienware isn’t alone here, though. Asus also released a 540Hz display this year, and they’re both great options if you’re into competitive gaming. That’s really the best use for these monitors. Although both push the envelope, they’re also both locked at 1080p with middling image quality, so they aren’t the right displays for everyone.
Honorable mention: Asus ROG Swift PG27AQDM
The Asus ROG Swift PG27AQDM wasn’t the first 16:9 OLED gaming monitor, but it’s still the best. Since the introduction of OLED gaming monitors, PC gamers have been begging for a traditional 16:9 display in a reasonable size, and that’s exactly what the PG27AQDM delivers. It’s a 27-inch OLED monitor with a 1440p resolution and a blistering 240Hz refresh rate, and those specs hit a surprising sweet spot for high-end PC gaming.
There are a few of these displays making the rounds now, all using the same LG panel. We’re recommending the Asus because it’s by far the brightest we’ve tested. Brightness has always been an issue for OLED, but Asus gets around it with the PG27AQDM. And, of course, you’re still getting the perfect black levels and infinite contrast of OLED.
The largest innovation we saw this year in the world of monitors was OLED, and the Asus ROG Swift PG27AQDM is the perfect representation of that. There are alternatives like LG’s UltraGear OLED 27 that use the same panel, but for our money, Asus has the winner.
