The wide Thinkvision P49w-30 is Lenovo’s first 49-inch monitor with a 32:9 format. It has now been announced in the run-up to CES 2023 alongside a number of other monitors. It consistently lacks everything that makes a gaming monitor so special, because it is supposed to serve as a work monitor. It therefore scores with the equipment: Lenovo offers Thunderbolt 4, Ethernet or a KVM switch here – albeit at a steep price.
The ThinkVision P49w-30 follows the trend of ultra-wide 32:9 monitors, which are becoming more and more common in the gaming sector, and offers you a wonderful overview, if not to say: panoramic view, of PC games and applications. In contrast to most 32:9 monitors, this monitor is clearly geared towards the business sector. According to Lenovo, this monitor is aimed at “knowledge workers whose work requires two or more PCs to perform different functions simultaneously.”
With its business orientation, this monitor lacks the support of Nvidia G-Sync and AMD Freesync, but still offers a resolution of 5,120 x 1440 pixels at (only) 60 Hz. The display area corresponds to two 27-inch monitors in the conventional 16:9 format with WQHD resolution, i.e. 2,560 x 1,440 pixels. With “3800R” the screen is slightly curved, significantly less than similar gaming panels. Thanks to “IPS Black”, the contrast ratio of the LCD panel is above average at 2000:1. The black value is therefore only about half as bright as that of conventional IPS panels. The maximum brightness of 350 cd/m² is average, but absolutely sufficient. 10-bit color depth (8-bit + FRC) and 98 percent coverage of the DCI-P3 color space.
Rich features: Thunderbolt 4, Ethernet and 140 watt USB-PD
It also has a total of 13 ports, including two Thunderbolt 4 ports, which can also charge a notebook with up to 140 watts (Power Delivery), which makes an additional power supply unit unnecessary. Thanks to its aspect ratio, you can also use it as two separate 16:9 monitors thanks to eKVM. And if you need more than two monitors, it also supports daisy chaining of up to two additional QHD monitors with Thunderbolt 4-out connectivity.
The monitor has a total of 13 connections, including five video signal inputs, two HDMI 2.1, one Displayport 1.4 and two Displayport 1.4 via Thunderbolt 4. It is therefore a great option for multitaskers with multiple signal sources. However, this also has its price, which should not least be due to the Thunderbolt license. While it is presented at 1,700 US dollars in the USA, a whopping 2,300 euros are due in Germany.