REVIEW: The MONOPRICE 40in CRYSTALPRO MONITOR Gets The Job Done
There are a kind of an unreasonable amount of options out there for monitors, TV’s, all sorts of displays. Between different resolutions, back lighting, refresh rates, shapes, and prices, it can be hard to know what to use and if it is worth it for your console, PC, AppleTV, or whatever you use. While I’m not an expert in displays, it is easy to say that Monoprice’s 40-inch CrystalPro Monitor UWQHD is a great piece of hardware which beautifully displays any content in a crisp and colorful way.
My usage of the CrystalPro was on a custom PC running medium-high level specs for dozens of hours over the last two weeks. Like I said before, the image is beautifully sharp and the colors are extremely vibrant. The black levels are pretty good for not being an OLED or QLED display, but the blacks are a bit bright if being used in a pitch black room while playing a fairly dark game or show. The speed and performance of the CrystalPro is probably its best part. No tearing, no frame skips, and no other issues, it stayed buttery smooth from beginning to end of my testing.
The only issues I had with the monitor is the set up. I kept my PC on and literally just unplugged my PC from my old monitor and then plugged it into the CrystalPro. Initially, it stayed black for minutes, nothing I could do was working. I had to plug and unplug it from power and the HDMI, press the control button on the monitor a bunch and try restarting my PC until it magically worked. It was extremely un-intuitive and fairly frustrating. There weren’t any real instructions and maybe it was just me, but it shouldn’t be this difficult to plug in anything into a modern monitor. As for the actual menus and customization to the display, it wasn’t easy, but it also wasn’t that difficult. It is surprising that a higher end monitor would be so difficult to set up. However, after it was set up, it worked perfectly fine and is still going strong.
The real elephant in the room about this monitor is that it is flat, which isn’t that odd except for how long it is. The extra length makes multi-tasking super easy. However, it is honestly a smidge difficult to look at the corners without leaning back or shifting over from side to side. It is fine and a flat monitor might be better for certain people, especially if you sit further back or are using it from a small distance, but it does stand as a sign of why monitors that are much longer and bigger are more commonly curved now.
The Monoprice 40-inch CrystalPro Monitor UWQHD can be a strong upgrade for any gamer. It looks great, runs smoothly, and feels prestigious. But being flat and having a rough initial setup makes this monitor more of a luxury purchase for a specific audience instead of an easy to recommend piece for any gamer. Check it out in this link here.