Gamers naturally go for the highest immersion. Thousands of euros are quickly spent on a new PC to be able to play in 4K or higher resolution without sacrificing the number of images per second. This naturally requires an equally impressive display and Lenovo now offers the Legion R45w, a curved super-ultrawide display.
Lenovo is making good progress with both laptops and peripherals. Now Lenovo has launched two new monitors, the Legion Y34wz-30 and the Legion R45w-30. We tested the Legion R45w-30, an impressive curved monitor with an image diameter of no less than 44.5 inches.
The Lenovo Legion monitor comes with a sturdy base that easily clicks into place on the monitor. The base is solid and that’s a good thing, but the monitor weighs almost 9 kilos and is certainly not light. In addition to the monitor and base, the R45w comes with a brief manual and three cables. The extensive manual must be collected digitally.
The three cables consist of an HDMI, DisplayPort and USB cable. The monitor is quite flexibly adjustable, it can tilt, swivel and be adjusted in height. The display itself is a matte backlight WLED. Unfortunately, this is not an OLED screen, but we should not expect that for the recommended retail price of just under 1000 euros. Before we go into the possibilities of the monitor, let’s first take a look at its technical features.
Characteristics
| Dimensions | Height 528.4 mm (20.80 in) |
| Width 108.99 mm (42.91 in) | |
| Depth 341.1 mm (13.43 in) | |
| Image size | 44.5 inches |
| Aspect ratio | 32:9 (super ultra wide) |
| Maximum resolution | 5120 x1440 pixels (DQHD) |
| HDR | DisplayHDR 400 |
| Maximum frequency | 165Hz |
| Response time | 1ms |
| To adjust | Tilt: -5 – 22 degrees |
| Rotate: -30 – 30 degrees | |
| Height adjustment: 135 mm | |
| Power consumption | <165 watts (max) |
| <34W (typical) | |
| Connections | 1 x Power supply |
| 2xHDMI 2.1 | |
| 1 x DisplayPort 1.4 in | |
| 1 x USB-C 3.2 Gen 1 (upstream) | |
| 1 x USB-B 3.2 Gen 1 (upstream) | |
| 1 x RJ-45 (10M/100M/1G/2.5G) | |
| 3 x USB-A 3.2 Gen1 (downstream) | |
| 1 x Audio Output |
Lots of frames, huge resolution
The more frames a monitor is able to produce, the more stable the image looks. The R45w-30 delivers frequencies up to 165 Hz (and even 170 Hz in ) which produces a beautiful, stable image. Whether you play games or want to use the monitor for work, a stable image provides peace of mind for your eyes. With a resolution of up to 5120 x1440 pixels and HDR 400 support, the image is also razor sharp.
Anyone who wants to use the R45w-30 in a work situation can use the super ultrawide screen to display multiple applications side by side. The disadvantage of such a wide screen is that the standard commands for window sizes are sometimes not useful. Lenovo has come up with a solution for this, called True Split. The screen can be divided into two ‘virtual’ screens, giving the connected PC the impression of having two separate screens. Particularly useful, a maximized window is ‘only’ half of the super ultrawide screen.
In addition, the monitor has a wide range of access ports and options, including picture-in-picture (where one image is shown in the corner), picture-by-picture (side by side) and the aforementioned True Split and KVM, where the monitor can switch between two connected systems. In the various modes you can also set the ratio between the two screens.
For example, if you want to watch a movie on one part, it is useful to be able to watch that part on 2/3 of the total screen, leaving the rest for something else. All options are accessible via four buttons: a four-way button for access to the menu and buttons for direct access to frequently used functions.
Sound and Vision
The R45w is equipped with a backlit WLED display that achieves a contrast ratio of 3000:1 with a maximum brightness of 500 cd/m2. That is just slightly more than the requirements of the DisplayHDR 400 certification that the monitor has. Even though the screen is not OLED, we are certainly not disappointed with the image that is delivered. The colors are lifelike, feel natural and comes with a low response time.
The R45w is somewhat sensitive to the viewing angle. Due to the curve, the viewing angle quickly becomes quite high if you are not sitting directly in front of the screen. If we view the image from a different position, we see that the matte screen remains visible for a long time in incident (sun)light. However, the screen does become a bit dull at higher viewing angles.
Like many monitors, the R45w has a number of special game modes for FPS, racing, RTS and two custom game modes that you can set yourself. The response time can also be increased in steps and the refresh rate can be displayed. We prefer to keep the display at the Standard settings, but those who want to experiment with this have extensive options.
The monitor has built-in 3-watt speakers. That’s not too much, but sufficient for basic gaming, without immediately resulting in squeaks and crackles. Even at higher volumes, the monitor itself does not vibrate. The sound quality is sufficient, but if you are serious about your (game) sound, we recommend an external sound source.
Game on!
The ultra-wide image of the Legion obviously offers opportunities for those who want a lot of immersion gaming. All racing games benefit greatly from the extra wide and curved image. The ultra-wide view gives you a much greater sense of speed and a much better overview of what’s happening around your car, especially if you set the camera from behind the wheel. The curved screen gives you the immediate feeling that you can actually see to the left and right of you, which provides serious added value.
The wider screen is also an asset for non-racing games. Modern games such as Lies or P make optimal use of the wide screen and thus enrich the gaming experience. You simply see more of your surroundings, which only benefits you.
That extra width does come with a number of significant caveats. For example, consoles cannot handle (super) ultra-wide images, so you play with large black bars. PCs do not have this limitation, but the extra number of pixels (two 4K screens next to each other!) must be able to be controlled.
With the currently available hardware, this almost always means a trade-off: either play at the highest resolution but compromise on image quality, or reduce the resolution somewhat. By the way, we managed to conjure up a considerable number of FPS at high resolution on the screen with a laptop PC with RTX 4070. Also, not all games are able to support the extra image resolution, so sometimes even the most modern games (Starfield!) cannot always make use of it.
However, a warning is in order: anyone who really wants to use such a monitor properly will also need a modern(er) PC.
Lenovo Legion R45w-30: Ideal for the dedicated PC gamer
The Legion R45w-30 is an excellent monitor with excellent specifications. With a refresh rate of 165 Hz and a response time of 1 ms, it is not the fastest monitor we have tested, but the price reflects that: this monitor has a recommended retail price of just under 1000 euros.
For this you get a monitor with many connection options and a beautiful image and of course a particularly beautiful gaming monitor. You must have at least an equivalent gaming PC, use with a console is actually a no-go.
8
The plus and minus points
- Beautiful WLED screen with an extremely wide image
- Many connection options
- High image quality, excellent for gaming
- Console experience
- No OLED
