Just days before CES 2018, Samsung introduced its first QLED curved display sporting a Thunderbolt 3 connection. Called the CJ791, the panel currently doesn’t have a ship date or a price, and we know very little about all the hardware details save for what Samsung briefly provides in its pre-show teaser. But the big takeaway from the reveal is that the panel supplies 85 watts of power through a Thunderbolt 3 connection to recharge your compatible laptop.
Here are the slim pickings we pulled from the pre-show announcement:
| Screen size: | 34 inches |
| Resolution: | 3,440 x 1,440 |
| Curvature: | 1500R |
| Aspect ratio: | 21:9 |
| Color space: | sRGB 125 percent |
| Response time: | 4ms |
For starters, the QLED aspect means the panel relies on quantum-dot technology. Quantum dots are nano-sized crystals that are smaller than a strand of human hair. According to Samsung, these crystals excel in absorbing and re-emitting light, making them ideal for TVs and desktop displays. The color of the light depends on the size of the crystal/dot: a 2.5nm dot produces a forest-green color whereas a 6nm dot produces pure red. Ultimately, you get rich, accurate colors versus what you experience with “conventional” TVs.
As the specifications show, quantum-dot technology enables this panel to support 125 percent of the sRGB color space, producing bright whites, deep blacks, and “pristine shades.” On top of the color support, you have a 3,440 x 1,440 resolution packing a higher pixel density than the typical Full HD desktop display. Even more, with a 21:9 aspect ratio, a slight 1500R curvature, and a 178-degree viewing angle, Samsung’s upcoming display should be great in keeping your eyes glued to your documents, videos, and other content without any distractions or distortions.
“The CJ791 aligns Thunderbolt 3 connectivity with our best-in-class curvature and QLED picture quality to captivate and engage users, while also promoting improved organization and productivity,” Seog-gi Kim, Samsung’s senior vice president of Visual Display Business, said in a statement. “We are thrilled to demonstrate the full capabilities of our innovative new display to CES 2018 attendees.”
Thunderbolt 3 provides data transfer speeds of up to 40Gbps. It supports a host of different connectivity options including DisplayPort, HDMI, and USB 3.1 Gen1/2. We don’t have a full list of this display’s port complement, but the selling point of its Thunderbolt 3 support is to provide a single cable to clean up your desktop. We’re crossing our fingers that it includes at least two Thunderbolt 3 ports to daisy-chain multiple panels, add an external graphics card, and so on.
Samsung isn’t ignoring the PC gamer either. The CJ791 includes “gamer-friendly” features including a game mode and a four-millisecond response time. That essentially means pixels change from one color to another and then back to their original color in that specific amount of time. Lower response times means you won’t see ghosting and blurring associated with on-screen movement and slow color changes.
Samsung’s QLED curved desktop monitor will be on display at the company’s booth at CES 2018 starting January 9. Perhaps we’ll drop by and have a look to get more details, including price and availability.
