Whether you’re looking to work or play, having a large monitor can be an essential tool. Measuring in at a whopping 40-inches wide, the Innocn 40C1R Ultrawide Gaming Monitor certainly fits the description of a large monitor, but what else does it have going for it? Fortunately, Innocn was kind enough to send one out for review so we could tell you more about it.
Design
There’s no getting around it, the Innocn 40C1R is a massive monitor. It sports a 40-inch widescreen using the ultra-wide 21:9 aspect ratio. If you’re unfamiliar, that’s a wider aspect ratio than widescreen TVs that use a 16:9 ratio, hence why the Innocn 40C1R is known as an “ultrawide” monitor.
Not only is the Innocn 40C1R large, it’s also quite heavy, weighing in at a little over 32lbs. Keep that in mind while setting it up because you may need a hand to get it attached to the stand and positioned on your desk.
The base also has some heft to it which is useful for keeping the monitor balanced and steady. It snaps in easily enough and features a hole to run your cables through. There are no buttons or levers on the stand and it moves freely from side to side or tilting up or down. To adjust the height, it’s as simple as lifting up or pushing down making the Innocn 40C1R easy to position exactly the way you want.
The Innocn 40C1R has a host of ports on the back, including a 90W USB Type-C port, DP1.4 connector, two HDMI 2.0 ports, and a 3.5mm audio jack. Along with all of these ports, Innocn throws in a DP and USB Type-C cable in the box to get you all connected.
User experience
Let’s start out with the specs, as that’s one of the most important aspects in a monitor. We’ve already mentioned the size, weight, ratio, and port situation but there’s far more to a monitor than that.
Key specs
- Display size: 40-inches
- Resolution: 3440 x 1440
- Aspect ratio: 21:9
- Panel type: IPS LCD
- Max brightness: 500 Nits
- Color gamut: 95% DCI-P3
- Refresh rate: 144Hz
- HDR: HDR400
Resolution
Now that we’ve got the specs out of the way, how does it perform? For starters, the 3440 x 1440 resolution is a little low for a 40-inch monitor. However, it’s a fair trade-off, because it won’t require as beefy of a GPU like a 4K monitor would, and quality is still sufficient. Pictures, videos, and even gaming will look good, but if you’re working with a lot of text, not so much.
The text is still plenty legible, especially at this size, it’ll just look a little rough around the edges. Thankfully, that’s not the case when you’re dealing with images and videos where the resolution looks great, and even better if you can sit back a little further.
HDR
You might be thinking the Innocn 40C1R would be perfect for watching movies with its ultrawide cinematic aspect ratio, large screen, and HDR capability. Unfortunately, the HDR is underwhelming. It helps boost the saturation of the display, but you really need a higher peak brightness to show off the high dynamic range of an image. As long as you’re ok with the lackluster HDR performance, then movies still look great on this display, just don’t expect it to stand up next to a 4K TV with more range.
Refresh rate
Finally, we come to refresh rate where the Innocn 40C1R is rated for a maximum of 144Hz, however, it’s important to point out that you’ll need to use the Display Port to utilize the full 144Hz because the HDMI connection tops out at 100Hz. As far as how it looks, I found most games to look quite smooth on the Innocn 40C1R. There were still some occasions when I saw artifacts or a little motion blur, but overall, I was pleased and gaming looked great considering how budget-friendly this monitor is.
Speakers
Last, but not least, the Innocn 40C1R includes built-in speakers. The sound is decent enough if you just need to hear something and you aren’t too concerned with the quality. However, if you’re a gamer then you’ll most likely have a better setup with your own speakers or headset and won’t need to use the built-in speakers.
Final thoughts
The Innocn 40C1R Ultrawide Gaming Monitor has a huge display with average specs, but it checks most of the boxes for an affordable gaming monitor. Sure, it’s a little lacking in a few areas, but the fact that it delivers all of these features and a 40-inch panel for $600 makes it a decent value. If you can catch it when it’s on sale or dropped to $500 or below, then it becomes a great monitor with plenty of bang for your buck.
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