Samsung 27 inch Curved Monitor Review (LC27F398FWNXZA)

The Samsung 27 inch Curved Monitor is a fine budget monitor with a 27-inch, 1080p VA screen that promises impressive contrast than even some costlier monitors out there. It would be at home in an office, study room, living room, or game room thanks to its ultra-slim design and some convenience features including AMD FreeSync, 4ms response time, and a bright panel with excellent color coverage for a monitor of its price.

The model we’re reviewing here is the Samsung LC27F398FWNXZA, which is part of the Samsung CF39 Series; the monitor is also available in 24-inch model if you don’t have space on your desk to accommodate a 27 inch monitor. It has a very good native contrast ratio, that makes dark scenes appear great. Unfortunately, it has a fixed stand that can’t be adjusted to an ideal viewing position, and as with all budget monitors, it can’t get very bright.

Samsung 27 inch Curved Monitor Specs

• Panel Size (Corner-to-Corner): 27 inches
• Native Resolution: 1920 by 1080
• Response Time: 4ms
• Aspect Ratio: 16:9
• Screen Technology: VA
• Rated Screen Luminance: 250 nits
• Rated Contrast Ratio: 3000:1
• Pixel Refresh Rate: 60 Hz
• Adaptive Sync: AMD FreeSync
• Video Inputs: HDMI, VGA

Design

This Samsung 27 inch curved monitor is a budget offering, only that it gets a few premium features along the way. On a worktop, you’ll be looking at a glossy black front with a brushed matte black rear and a few classy bezels on the front. The bezels do a nice job concealing the panel’s borders, making it look cool and classy. That’s just about where it all ends towards getting the looks of its high-tier siblings.

Build quality is middle-of-the-road, with a few tradeoffs that place it a few steps behind Samsung’s high-end monitors like the 32-inch Samsung Odyssey G7 or the LG 34GP63A-B monitor. For one, the plastic build feels cheap than usual and the entire package feels excessively light and fragile.

A Y-shaped base props it onto a desk, and the orientation takes less desk space. Still, 27 inches isn’t small for any office desk, it provides ample space for multitasking despite the hinge-type attachment being a clear weak link. The LC27F398FWNXZA only has a tilt-only mechanism, an omission that most competitors correct with the inclusion of at least height adjustment and sometimes pivot adjustment.

Features

Connectivity on the Samsung 27 curved monitor is excellent –at least for a budget monitor. On the back panel, there is a DisplayPort and HDMI ports, instead of the legacy DVI or VGA, meaning the monitor is ready for modern systems. While it doesn’t get built-in speakers, it gets an OSD joystick feature that Samsung has been flaunting in its premium-class monitors to replace aging buttons. The joystick also gives the system a cleaner look without sacrificing access to menu options.

Being a budget monitor, we didn’t expect all ergonomic adjustments and still have them at a low price. If all those adjustments are must-haves, you can hook up the monitor to a VESA standard mount with a 75 x 75 bolt pattern for much less than you can spend if you opt for a monitor with all ergonomics.

Performance

The Samsung 27 inch monitor is a curved VA panel with a 1920-by-1080 resolution and offers other features that are easily within the realm of mid-tier monitors, including a 60Hz refresh rate, 4ms response time, 250cd/m2 peak brightness, 72% color gamut, and a 3000:1 contrast ratio. Most high-end monitors come with either 2560 x 1440 resolution, while others max out with 3440 x 1440 resolutions at higher prices.

Having a 1800R curve radius on a budget monitor is slightly aggressive, it seems like Samsung was not taking chances in topping some ultrawides that were already in the market. Images remain clear and not distorted to a larger degree.

If you’ll be using this Samsung curved monitor for movies or casual games, you’ll realize that the tighter curvature increases the monitor’s value over flat monitors. For instance, the display’s corners look much closer especially if you sit close enough making it fairly immersive, but you’re better off with a larger screen if a wider aspect ratio is a preference over everything else. Still, this monitor excels on most fronts that most budget displays fail to impress, although it fails to meet our expectations of a VA panel.

For instance, it is only able to produce 97% of the sRGB color gamut volume with a struggling default accuracy of Delta 3.5. If you tweak the OSD and input a few calibrations, you can get away with a few improvements of that can reduce the errors to Delta E .8, which is in the same ballpark as prosumer display units.

Gamma is slightly off at 2.1 (out of the box), but calibration and reducing the default brightness increases it to 2.2 for excellent tracking. On the other hand, the monitor excels in contrast, with a maximum 2900:1 output when you have the brightness settings correctly tuned. If you get it right, the display looks lush with improved grayscale performance and black luminance

Gaming Performance

The display does look a bit brighter in the center when displaying a full black image but it’s a non-issue for most games and movies. As expected, a few tradeoffs had to be made to reach the low price but the Samsung C27F398 would use some improvements.

Also, for Vertical Aligned (VA) curved gaming monitors, slow pixel response times that translate to blurring are expected in fast-paced games or even in action movies. Luckily, the monitor already packs a three-stage Response Time setting which you can use to clear ghosting and smudging.

The Samsung 27 inch curved monitor is FreeSync certified with a functional range of 48Hz to 72Hz, but it has not been tested for G-Sync compatibility, a feature you get on high-end gaming monitors. As needed, you can increase the monitor’s refresh to 72Hz without overclocking, hence, adding to the monitor’s functionalities. All this can be done by activating FreeSync or setting a custom resolution in the Nvidia Control Panel.

The Samsung C27F398 has a 10ms lag, which is very responsible despite the monitor not having an extended refresh rate. A short input lag is perfect for competitive gaming, but you’re better with a 144Hz or 240Hz variant like the ASUS ROG Swift PG258Q if you’re after smooth playability.

Samsung 27 inch Curved Monitor Review: Verdict

The Samsung C27F398 offers great value for anyone buying a daily-use widescreen for the office or general use at home, and that includes gaming.

Of the monitors we’ve reviewed recently, the Samsung Odyssey G55A remains our top, offering phenomenal gaming performance and a sleek design. Its color accuracy is much better as compared to the Samsung LC27F398FWNXZA, only that it doesn’t have either that all-important curve or is anywhere near as affordable.

However, it gets you a high resolution and short input lag with excellent color quality, which isn’t something to be sniffed at.

Overall, the Samsung 27 inch Curved Monitor easily exceeds its rated brightness and delivers great sRGB color coverage for a low-priced monitor. It doesn’t matter whether you’ll be using it for business, movie watching, or casual gaming, the Samsung LC27F398FWNXZA is an exemplary display that’s priced right for budget buyers and an easy MSN Guide Editors’ pick for general-use panels.