LG 25UM58-P: UltraWide Gaming Monitor Under $200

The LG 25UM58-P 25-inch monitor is an excellent choice for anyone in the market for a new monitor. However, it is best-suited for gamers, graphic design professionals, and photographers who are seeking an inexpensive (but high-quality) model.

As with any other budget-oriented monitor, it does have a few flaws, but when it is all said and done, it currently stands as one of the best gaming monitors under $200.

To be honest, there aren’t many companies out there who can to put together such a mix of winning features into a monitor and sell it for under a couple of hundred bucks.

It’s safe, though, to describe it as a bare-bones display that was solely designed to provide as high of an image quality as possible at the lowest price manageable. And, that makes it an interesting choice for gamers and anyone in the graphics industry who want the best picture possible for the lowest price possible.

Need a different monitor? Check out our Buyer’s Guide, where we rated and reviewed over 30 different gaming monitors.

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LG 25UM58-P Tech Specs

Size	25″
Backlit?	Yes
Resolution	2560 x 1080
Refresh Rate	75Hz
Viewing Angle	178° (H) / 178° (V)
Display Colors	16.7 Million
Brightness	250 cd/m2
Contrast Ratio	DCR Mega
Response Time	5ms (GTG)
Panel	IPS
Ports	HDMI
Aspect Ratio	21:9
Weight	8.8 lbs.

About LG Electronics

The company in question behind the monitor is the renowned LG Electronics, a South Korean enterprise founded all the way back in October 1958 under the name of GoldStar, changing their name to the current one in January 1995.

They have grown immensely in the decades since their inception, claiming a total revenue of 56.50 trillion South Korean won in 2015. They specialize in a large range of electronics, including computer hardware, televisions, mobile phones, tablets, smart watches and even home appliances.

As far as the company’s reputation goes, things can hardly be going better for them for the LG logo has long been recognized as a symbol of quality and stability, with their products always garnering a majority of positive reviews no matter what sources you refer to.

In addition to that, Fortune Magazine also ranks them as the 12th most admired electronics company in the world and 6th in terms of global competitiveness. They are also industry leaders in various other categories, including being ranked 11th in quality of management and 14th in social responsibility.

To briefly sum things up, LG electronics is basically one of the most reputable and trustworthy companies anyone can have the pleasure of doing business with. Above all, they have proven themselves as reliable major players in the industry for decades, something very few other companies can claim. They are in great standing with consumers, peers and other professionals alike.

The Winning Features of the LG 25UM58-P Monitor

The LG 25UM58-P has an incredible display…

The first thing that jumps to the eyes when looking at the monitor is its 99% sRGB coverage which, in simple terms, means the monitor is capable of displaying 99% of the colors that can be generated over the red-green-blue spectrum.

In turn, this gives it the ability to display images with breathtaking sharpness, which is an especially important aspect to consider for photographers and graphic designers who need their monitor to have the ability to display photos as accurately as possible.

When you factor in its IPS panel, 1080p full HD resolution of 2560 x 1080, and ultra-wide display, it becomes apparent that the monitor’s primary features are geared towards providing the kind of image quality professionals in the graphics industry need in order to work, the kind of quality most other monitors aren’t equipped to offer.

Designed with competitive gamers in mind…

With all of that being said, the monitor was also conceived with gamers in mind, and that can be clearly seen with its implementation of what they refer to as FPS modes.

These are configurations which were specifically designed with first-person-shooters that offer fast-paced action in mind, making use of the Black Stabilizer as well as the Dynamic Action Sync features.

And, what these modes essentially do is they sharpen the images and brighten up darker backgrounds in games, making it easier to detect moving targets as well as any details and enemies lurking under the cover of shadows.

While many other monitors out there have their own versions of gaming modes, very few of them are actually worth their salt for they are more an afterthought than an actual main feature.

That price isn’t correct? Is it?

Another rather important but often-overlooked feature of this monitor is its rather humble price; with a bit of searching around it’s quite easy to find it at a cost of well under $200 or less, which is an incredible bargain considering it’s size of 25-inches and all the capabilities it comes outfitted with.

When you take a moment to step aside and look at the competition, you’ll see that most other monitors of this size and feature set come at a cost of $250 and upwards, and in some cases that is the price after a rebate.

In other words, the LG 25UM58-P is perhaps the monitor with the best value on the market right now, mostly outperforming its competition while low-balling it in the pricing department. And, it makes for the perfect option to pair with a mid-range (or even high-end) gaming computer.

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Other Considerations for the LG 25UM58-P Gaming Monitor

Needless to say, we are far from done in examining the monitor’s features, and so let us begin with the on-screen control function which allows you to quickly and easily control various settings with minimal effort.

Things like volume, picture mode presets, brightness and few additional features can all be manipulated with a few simple clicks of the mouse, which is infinitely more convenient than feeling around for the hard buttons on your monitor and spending the next half-hour figuring out how to undo all the inadvertent changes you’ve made.

Following that, the split-screen 2.0 also deserves mention, giving you the ability to multi-task better than ever before. You can display multiple windows at once, configure and resize them all to suit your needs, a feature that will no doubt be quite useful to professionals who have so many programs running at once that keeping track of them becomes an exhausting endeavor.

There are as many as fourteen different options for configuring the split-screen settings, with four picture-in-picture choices to select from, something usually reserved for televisions (which just shows how much thought LG put into making this monitor as useful as possible).

Now, as with any product, there are always a few negative aspects that need to be considered before making any commitment. In this case, there are a few legitimate complaints about it, with the first and most common one being that it doesn’t run at a refresh rate of 75Hz, even after overclocking it through the NVIDIA or AMD control panel. While some people claim the contrary, it is rather frustrating when one has to take extra measures to get the monitor to do what it was said to do in the first place.

Additionally, there are a few people who have complained that the monitor was smaller than they had imagined it, with the product dimensions for the height also including the stand, rather than solely referring to the screen.

Ultimately, this can be chalked up to people not doing their proper research, which is a fairly recurring pattern when sifting through the few complaints this monitor does have.

Finally, there are some small elements that seemed to tick a few buyers off, such as the stand not being adjustable. Or, there is the fact that it heats up a bit more than regular monitors (which leads to pop noises when the monitor is turned off and the temperature drops, making the plastic expand and shrink).

While in and of themselves these problems aren’t exactly deal-breakers, they are annoyances that will have to be dealt with or endured.

Design and Warranty

Monitors are known to be rather fragile things, and if anything as they have evolved over the years they have lost much of their sturdiness, with soft LCD screens coming in to replace the clumsy old glass displays.

As far as the sturdiness of the LG 25UM58-P, in particular, is concerned, it is no more or less tough than your average monitor, being made mostly of plastic components. While it can withstand some shock and trauma, it’s best not to test it out and keep it out of the harm’s way.

It was mentioned before that the height of the stand is not adjustable, but thankfully there is something else you can do with the screen: mount it. It does indeed have a VESA mounting interface standard, meaning you have a fair amount of freedom as to where you want to put or hang it, which mostly makes up for the lack of adjustable height.

Ergonomically-speaking, this model isn’t the most flexible out there as it can only be tilted at an angle of 25 degrees, and as was mentioned a couple of times before, the stand lacks any adjustment features. While it can’t exactly rotate without moving the base itself, the wall-mount that was discussed above can help with those limitations.

Certain users have remarked that this monitor has a distinct lack of built-in hardware features, most notably lacking speakers and only having a 3.55mm audio jack.

Additionally, the 21:9 aspect ratio for which it was designed is actually one that isn’t supported by a number of games, a problem that can only be rectified through fan-made patches and whatnot.

According to the official manual that comes along with the monitor, you are eligible for one year of coverage for both labor and parts after the date of purchase.

If repair services are needed a request can be submitted at any time, though it should be mentioned that as with virtually any other purchase, they do not cover any damages that may have been inflicted through your own mishandling of the product. Rather, if down the line it comes to light that the monitor came with certain manufacturing defects or damages from shipping, then you will be covered for it.

Our Final Thoughts: For the Display You Get and the Price You Pay, It’s Tough to Beat the LG 25UM58-P

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