My experience using the LG 39GX950B + Studio Display XDR together
I’ve been using the LG 39GX950B alongside the Studio Display XDR. I figured that usually you either have a single ultrawide setup, or a dual regular monitor setup, and my setup is rather rare, so I wanted to share my review.
I came from a PG32UCDM, which is a god tier monitor already, but for gaming I definitely prefer the LG ultrawide. The 39-inch ultrawide aspect ratio is just much more immersive, and HDR gaming on Windows looks fantastic. It feels like a real upgrade.
For normal desktop use, though, the XDR is still in a different league for me. The brightness, text clarity, and overall crispness make it much nicer for browsing, coding, and general productivity. What surprised me most is that I actually find colors on the XDR to have more pop than on the LG, even though the LG is OLED.
When I’m working, I keep whatever I’m actively doing on the XDR and use the LG off to the side for YouTube, videos, or other background content. My Mac setup is pretty simple: Mac → Thunderbolt 5 → XDR → daisy chain to the LG. So both displays run from a single Thunderbolt connection to the Mac.
For PC gaming, I connect PC to the LG, and I still use the XDR with macOS for build guides, maps, Discord, or whatever else I want open alongside it on macOS.
One thing I’ve settled on is keeping HDR off on the LG when using macOS. With HDR enabled, the regular macOS UI just looks washed out to me and the desktop experience gets noticeably worse. In SDR, it looks much better.
Interestingly, I don’t have the same complaint on Windows. HDR gaming on the LG looks excellent there, so I basically treat it as an SDR secondary/productivity display on the Mac and an HDR gaming display on the PC.