advantage
- wide canvas to work
- High refresh rate of 144 Hz
- Ample ports for connectivity
- USB-C charges portable devices
- Reasonable price
- Solid hardware design and quality construction.
Cons
- poor speakers
- Menu buttons take practice
specs
| Display | 40 inches, 3440 x 1440 pixels, IPS LCD |
|---|---|
| Update frequency | 144Hz |
| aspect ratio | 21:9 |
| contrast ratio | 1200:1 |
| Brightness | 500 nits |
| ports | DP 1.4, USB Type-C (90W), HDMI 2.0 (2), 3.5mm Audio |
| Weight | 12.65kg (27.9lbs) |
A few months ago the Innocence 27C1U 4K The computer monitor replaced my standard 24-inch Dell monitor and the colors, clarity, and performance continue to be impressive. Last month, the Innocn 40C1R Ultra Wide Monitor came for testing. It’s awesome for gaming, multi-input use, and productivity with multiple apps and tabs.
My main ZDNet writing computer is an older Surface Book, while my daily engineering computer is a Surface Pro 6. To connect these computers to the monitor, I simply switch the connection to my Microsoft Surface hub. With these Surface products, I’ve enjoyed using two full-size apps side by side to get work done.
This is a working example with two browsers open in widescreen Matthew Miller/ZDNet
With support for USB-C and my focus on mobile devices, I connected the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra with Samsung DeX with a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse for a full PC experience. I also tested my iPad Pro 12.9 with the iOS 16.0 public beta which significantly improves external monitor support.
Hardware
The retail package is very long, so you may want to have two people present to unpack and set up. The retail box contains the monitor, a power cable, a USB-C to USB-C cable, a DP cable, a color calibration report for the specific monitor in the box, four mounting hex irons, a support arm , a base and an instruction guide. The two-part stand consists of a vertical piece that screws securely into the base platform and then snaps into the back of the monitor to provide a very sturdy platform for placing the monitor on your desk. You can also mount the monitor on a wall and those specific instructions are provided in the box. Setup was quick and easy, so I was up and running in just a few minutes.
Connection ports are located at the bottom rear of the monitor and include a full-size HDMI 2.0 port, a DP1.4 port, a 90W USB-C PD port, a 3.5mm audio jack, and a DC power port. With this variety of ports, I connected my Surface Dock to the DP1.4 port, Samsung devices and iPad to the USB-C port, and my Nintendo Switch to the HDMI port. It was quick and easy to switch between ports and have the cables I needed readily available near the base.
The 27-inch model on the left looks tiny next to the 40-inch ultrawide monitor on the right Matthew Miller/ZDNet
The monitor is height adjustable with a range of 120mm to match your preferred height. You can rotate the monitor left and right 30 degrees, tilt it forward 5 degrees, or tilt it back 15 degrees.
Also: Samsung DeX 101: Turn a Galaxy phone or tablet into your primary computer
Monitor controls and settings
Press any button in the lower right corner of the screen to access the on-screen display controls. There are five buttons present and, working from left to right, we find the menu button, down button, up button, exit/hotkey, and power button. The menu button is used to make selections. The up and down buttons move through the menu options when in a menu and when no menu is displayed on the screen, they can be used to quickly raise or lower brightness levels. The exit/shortcut key returns to the menu system and also allows you to quickly change port settings without any on-screen menus.
On Screen Display (OSD) options are abundant on the Innocn 40C1R with settings for gaming, professional, picture, PIP/PBP, OSD settings and other settings. Game settings include RTS/RPB mode toggle, FPS arena mode toggle, adaptive sync, refresh rate, and game crosshair options. The monitor is clearly optimized for the gamer and that experience is better than working experience with the provided resolution.
There are a host of options available to optimize the monitor for your gaming or work needs. Matthew Miller/ZDNet
Professional settings include standard mode, sRGB mode, Adobe mode, uniformity mode, gamma, CT settings, sharpness, shadow balance, low blue light, hue, saturation, and dynamic brightness. Image adjustments include brightness, contrast, DCR, contextual model, HDR, and aspect ratio.
While you can use PIP with a secondary input device, I preferred to use PBP for Samsung DeX in the middle of the screen. There are six settings available for PIP/PBP, so explore them if you want to use this feature.
The OSD settings allow you to customize three of the hotkeys to your preference so you can configure them for the most common functions that will allow you to control the monitor without diving into the full OSD menu. Hotkey options include brightness, contrast, volume, mute, shadow balance, game crosshair, refresh rate, PIP/PBP mode, input signal, dynamic brightness, and HDR.
Other settings include input signal, volume, mute, auto power on, eye protection reminder, reset, and info. As you can see, you can fully customize the monitor for your specific needs. The monitor is also smart and everything I connected worked perfectly without me digging into the settings. I tweaked a few settings to check if everything was optimized, but the automatic settings were almost perfect.
Also: Review Innocn PU15-Pre 4K OLED: A portable monitor to improve your productivity
Daily use experiences and conclusion.
the Innocn 40C1R Ultra Wide Monitor it’s optimized for gaming and after connecting my Surface computers for the first time, I wasn’t impressed with the resolution, especially when I had the Innocence 27C1U 4K serving as a secondary monitor. The speakers are also pretty terrible so make sure to use another audio source or connect the speakers to the 3.5mm audio port as good sound is important for the gaming experience. Playing games at a high refresh rate with FreeSync support (requires an AMD GPU or APU) is probably the best experience with this wide monitor.
After a week, my eyes adjusted to the monitor for engineering tasks, document creation, and more, while running just about everything in a split-screen setup with two apps splitting the screen. However, I still prefer the smaller 27C1U for work. The monitor stand is a reasonable size and fitting the wider monitor on my standing desk was perfectly acceptable. In fact, I switched the Innocn 40C1R to another standing desk that doubles as a gaming station where the monitor is better used.
Setup was quick and easy, the monitor is well built, has worked flawlessly, and is reasonably priced at $499.99. I also saw an $80 coupon pop up for the monitor, making it an even more affordable gaming rig.
Alternatives to consider
The Innocn 40C1R is a solid widescreen monitor, but you may be looking for something more, so here are some alternatives to consider.