LG unveils 42.5" behemoth monitor: the 43UN700

LG has announced its latest monitor - the rather massive 42.5" 43UN700 with 4K resolution.

The new 4K display is aimed at both productivity and gaming with support for HDR10 and higher brightness levels, while also featuring 60W USB-C power delivery. It effectively builds on the success of LG's 42UD79 monitor of a couple of years ago, providing the same chassis and general visual look as its predecessor but with plenty of superior features.

Its 42.5" IPS panel features a 3840x2160 resolution, 400 nits typical brightness, a 1000:1 contrast ratio, 178-degree horizontal and vertical viewing angles, 60Hz refresh rate, and an 8ms GtG response time. 

The display is about 14 percent brighter than the previous monitor and can display 72 percent of the NTSC colour space. It'll arrive factory-calibrated too. For gamers, the monitor also supports LG's Dynamic Action technology which works to reduce input lag by eliminating certain image processing stages, and is generally reasonably well regarded.

Connectivity wise, it has one DisplayPort 1.2 input, two HDMI 2.0 inputs, two HDMI 1.4 inputs, and one USB Type-C with DP Alt Mode input. That's the same USB port that is able to power modern 13.3" notebooks if need be. There's also a dual-port USB 3.0 hub and a headphone output too. Okay, so the latter isn't exactly thrilling, but the rest is rather good. 

It also supports two- or four way Picture-by-Picture and Picture-in-Picture, which should prove useful for those with multiple computers or other devices. There's a special remote for making this more convenient too. Ever wanted to watch the news, play a game, keep track of a sporting event, AND watch a film all at the same time? Probably not, but four-way Picture-by-Picture will be great if you're juggling numerous work projects at the same time (and you want a sneaky Overwatch session to the side). 

On paper, its specs sounds highly respectable, although there is a catch. While this monitor has a scaler that supports HDR10 transport, the LCD has not been certified for any VESA DisplayHDR tier. 

It's also worth mentioning that LG no longer advertises FreeSync with this monitor (or its predecessor, the 43UD79), presumably because the 43UD79 supported so narrow a FreeSync range that it didn't make any real difference.

There's no release date just yet for the 43UN700 in Europe. For now, it's available in Japan from the end of the week for the equivalent of $640 (just under £500) as a rough guide of what to expect.

LG's product page has more details on the forthcoming monitor.