The LG 29EA93-P is the company"s first entry into the still nascent category of ultra-wide consumer displays. There remain few options to compete against the 29EA93’s expansive 21:9 aspect ratio (16:9 is typical). However, LG, Dell and a few others ostensibly believe there’s a market for ultra-wides and I’ll admit -- I think they’re right.
When 4:3 displays (e.g. 1600 x 1200) gave way to 16:10 screens (e.g. 1920 x 1200), the event was schismatic in terms of consumer preference. Professionals sometimes favored the aging 4:3 standard for its potentially superior vertical real estate -- a particularly useful thing for vertically organized content like word processing and websites. Meanwhile, gamers, videophiles and most other consumers were seduced by the benefits of wider displays, as they were perfect for watching movies and monitoring your periphery in FPS games.
When 16:9 (e.g. 1920 x 1080) hit the scene though, computer-savvy consumers were left scratching their collective noggins. The initial shift to wide screens had already limited vertical real-estate, so why narrow it even more? The fast-paced adoption of high-def standards (720p and 1080p) are mostly at fault as manufacturers built their displays around HD video standards. To the chagrin of some though, 16:9 is now by far the most ubiquitous widescreen format.
That understanding brings us back to the 29EA93. With its truly ultra-wide aspect ratio of 21:9, LG delivers 2560 x 1080 pixels in a 29-inch package. It’s an impressively wide display -- but obviously not wide enough to fully replace two side-by-side 1080p (16:9) monitors. Why then, should any company settle upon a seemingly arbitrary aspect ratio of 21:9? The short answer is: movies.
Read: LG 29EA93 Review: Are Ultra Wide Monitors Next?
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