If you’re one of those individuals that finds appeal in 34-inch ultrawide curved gaming monitors, but you’re not looking to blow your budget, Prism+ has pretty much been a go-to brand, and its X340 Pro Evo is a display that should scratch that itch.

After spending some time living with it, here’s what I can tell you.

What Am I Looking At?

The X340 Pro Evo is a 34-inch ultrawide curved gaming monitor. Specs-wise, it’s using the 21:9 aspect ratio, has a 180Hz refresh rate with a 1ms response time, and the resolution is, per Prism+, UWQHD or 3440 x 1440. The curvature is rated at 1000R, which is the extreme point for curved gaming monitors, and certainly more extreme for what is essentially an “affordable” gaming monitor.

Propping the display up is a large and wide base, which is also supposed to serve as a Qi wirelessly charging pad for devices that support the function, which a peak charging rate of 15W. Aesthetically, the built-in speaker can be seen directly below the panel, and spans the width of it. Oh, and it also comes with built-in microphones too, making it something of a complete ensemble.

Ports-wise, the X340 Pro Evo features one DisplayPort 1.4 port, two HDMI 2.1 ports, a USB-C 3.1 port for PD charging up to 90W, and yes, it is also an Adaptive Sync monitor.

What’s Good About It?

For a start, the X340 Pro Evo is the ideal size and automatically ticks my box when choosing ultrawide gaming monitor of the curved variety. And while some may find the curvature a little extreme, I personally like it. It adds to the immersion when I am gaming, offering more display real estate in FPS titles like Doom The Dark Ages or Cyberpunk 2077, without causing any image stretching issues, like you’d typically get if you went with a multi-monitor setup.

Outside of gaming, having an ultrawide monitor means that I can open more than the standard two browser windows, once again giving me more display real estate to multitask. It’s a function that is underrated and not as appreciated by most folks, but it’s something that most people who’ve lived 34-inch ultrawide screens will appreciate. And again, being curved means that I just have to shift my glance and not have to swivel my head constantly.

What’s The Catch?

Even with a VA panel, the colour and contrast on the X340 Pro Evo look and feel dull. After staring at an endless curtain of IPS, Mini LED, OLED, and QD-OLED panels, I can’t help but see a grey, muted tone, even when I’m looking at an image or watching a video filled with eye-popping colours.

It also doesn’t help that the X340 Pro Evo suffers from a severe case of edge bleeding, emphasis on severe. The only saving grace to this issue is that if the background is white, you won’t notice it. But, if you put a black background behind it, or even a page with relatively darker colour tones – purple, blood red, royal blue – believe me, it will show. Additionally, words do not always look the sharpest, and are often accompanied by a fuzziness that I can’t explain.

For another matter, the charging base of the X340 Pro Evo that I have doesn’t even work, even after I ensured that the base and spine were properly connected, tightly fitted even. At this point, I’m chalking up the issue to being an isolated incident, and one specifically affecting my unit.

Then there’s the price. At the time of this publication, if you visit the brand’s official product page, it’ll say that the X340 Pro Evo is “on sale” for RM1,739, which is 39% of it original SRP of RM4,499. If we were to make a decision based on the monitor’s original price tag, this monitor is grossly overpriced. At this point, I’d recommend the Xiaomi G34WQi that I reviewed last year, and even that’s cheaper at RM1,499.

Should I Buy It?

Provided that Prism+ keeps the pricing of the X340 Pro Evo at that discounted rate of RM1,739, this curved gaming monitor does warrant consideration, although at the sub-RM2,000 price point, it is up against some stiff competition. If, however, it reverts back to its “original” price tag of RM4,499, then my answer would be a solid no. As it stands, there are better options from MSI and ASUS being offered on Lazada, and with better panel options to boot.

 

Photography by John Law and Ian Chee.

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