Is an ultrawide monitor worth it? What the 21:9 screen is for

It is for people who work with lots of windows or columns, edit video or play titles that support the wide screen. For everyone else, a regular 27″ monitor does the job and costs less. The Radar shows the median price of the ultrawide next to the regular monitor and two monitors, in today’s catalog.

21:9 is the most common wide screen, usually 3440 by 1440 pixels. 32:9 is two 16:9 screens side by side, usually 5120 by 1440. 32:9 is wider and rarer, and asks more of the graphics card. The Radar treats both as ultrawide.

It’s the 3440 by 1440 pixel resolution, the most common on 21:9 ultrawides. The name combines ultrawide and QHD. At 34″, it gives a pixel density similar to a 27″ QHD monitor. The spec sheet sometimes writes 1440p ultrawide.

Two monitors give you more flexibility: pivot, another corner of the desk, replacing just one. The ultrawide has no bezel in the middle and uses a single cable. The guide’s table compares the median price of an ultrawide with twice the median of a monitor up to 24″.

No. Many games support 21:9, but some show black bars on the sides or stretch the image. Consoles usually use 16:9. The Radar reads the monitor’s spec sheet and doesn’t test game compatibility.

It depends on the size, resolution and Hz. The Radar shows the median price of ultrawides in the 06/11/2026 catalog, which today has 402 monitors, from £55.00. Check the ultrawide aspect ratio on the chart to see the models.

Each dot is a new monitor. The further right, the more expensive; the higher up, the better the spec sheet score. The price uses a logarithmic scale: each step is worth more dollars than the one before, so the cheaper ones don’t get bunched together. The line connects the monitors that no other, among those filtered, beats on both score and price at once. Compare monitors of the same size: pick the inch range in the top bar.

From the monitor’s spec sheet, with public weights (image, smoothness, connections, ergonomics and recency). The score compares within the type: the Hz of an office monitor are measured against the office yardstick, those of a gaming monitor against the gaming one. It shows what the spec sheet states, not the calibration or the measured brightness. Size doesn’t count toward the score. The full calculation is in How we calculate the score.

Because the store’s spec sheet doesn’t give enough information: we need at least three components of the score. We’d rather leave a monitor without a score than make one up. Those monitors stay off the chart and remain in the table, with the price and the button to compare stores.

For a work desk, 24″ at Full HD and 27″ at QHD are the sizes where text looks sharp without scaling up. At 27″ Full HD the density drops to 82 pixels per inch and the text looks less defined; 32″ calls for QHD or 4K. Each monitor’s page shows the pixel density calculated by the Radar.

This is the lowest price from Amazon.com, a direct store, the manufacturer’s official store or a seller rated 4.0 with 100 or more sales, usually paying upfront, on the date we checked. It changes without notice, and the colour can change the price. The buy button goes straight to the store, where the price of the day applies.