Lenovo also showed off their Legion Y44w 3840x1200 ultra-wide monitor at CES and quite honestly it is vast measuring in at the 43.4 inches. The display makes use of a WVA borderless 1800R curved panel which offers a crisp image as it covers 99% of the sRGB, BT.709 and DCI-P3 color gamuts. Max brightness was listed as 450 cd/m2 with support for the HDR 400 (Vesa) standard. Naturally, in today's market, no gaming monitor would be caught dead at 60 Hz as such the Legion Y44w supports a maximum refresh rate of 144 Hz with a gray to gray response time of 4 ms with Overdrive enabled. Oh, and it supports AMD FreeSync 2 technology just for good measure.

Creature comforts include a stand that offers lift, tilt and swivel functionality alongside detachable Harmon Kardon powered speakers. There is no shortage of input options either which consist of 2x HDMI 2.0, 1x DisplayPort 1.4, 1x USB 3.1 Type-C (Gen2), 1x USB 3.1 Type-C(Gen1), Audio out, 4x USB 3.0 port Hub (1 with BC1.2). General availability is expected in April 2019. No information on pricing was available during our visit.

ASUS showcased their XG49VQ, a behemoth of a monitor with a 49" diagonal across a 32:9 aspect ratio panel. This aspect ratio and the panels' size are married to a 3840 x 1080 resolution (2x 1080p) with a 144 Hz refresh rate. There's a 1800R curvature (which is likely essential in such wide panels), support for Freesync 2, 125% RGB coverage, and ASUS' Shadow Boost feature which makes it easier to spot anything in darker corners of any given game. There's HDR support via VESA's HDR400 certification.

With those features, ASUS is catering to two markets at once: professional and gamer. The added resolution and screen real-estate will feel right at home with users that do much horizontal work (my 2560 x 1080 panel is already plenty enough for two pages to sit comfortably side to side). The increased frequency response won't do much for professional work, but does tick one of those gaming checklists of late. With the specs and exotic streak on this monitor, though, don't expect pricing to come cheap.

Acer at IFA 2018 today announced new monitors catering to both NVIDIA and AMD users - those who want to take advantage of either G-Sync or FreeSync capabilities in gamer-centric monitors, that is. As it stands, Acer has been using the Predator branding for its G-Sync enabled monitors, while the Nitro lineup stands on AMD's side. For NVIDIA, Acer is sticking its guns on the single XB273K - a $1,299 with G-Sync, 144 Hz refresh rates, and an IPS panel, running at 4K resolution. The Predator XB273K covers 90 percent of the DCI-P3 gamut, and is VESA DisplayHDR 400-certified. It also offers Acer's exclusive VisionCare technology to help your eyes manage long gaming sessions with technologies including flicker-free, low-dimming and blue light emission reduction. Oh - and it includes a shroud to protect your gaming feats from prying eyes.

BenQ, leading global innovator of displays, today announced its latest milestone in visual technology, earning VESA DisplayHDR 400 and AMD FreeSync 2 certifications for the EX3203R entertainment monitor. Featuring dazzling HDR performance with stunning gaming capabilities, the curved 32" display delivers immersive viewing and gaming experiences protected by BenQ Brightness Intelligence Plus (B.I. +) eye-care technology.

"EX3203R ingeniously blends HDR image quality together with B.I. +, guaranteeing dark details remain crystal clear even in dim environments while softening bright images," said Conway Lee, President of BenQ Corporation. "With FreeSync 2 for ultimate gameplay, EX3203R provides endless personal entertainment in absolute health and comfort safeguarded by BenQ Eye Care."

ASUS today introduced the ProArt PA27AC monitor that meets displayHDR 400 standards. This 27-inch monitor features an IPS display panel with WQHD (2560 x 1440 pixels) native resolution, and covers 100% of the sRGB color-space with its 8bpc color depth. The monitor meets VESA's displayHDR 400 standard, with a peak luminescence of 400 nits, 8bpc image quality, and standard dynamic mega contrast dimming. The PA27AC also offers support for AMD FreeSync technology. Other vital specs include 60 Hz refresh-rate, and 5 ms (GTG) response time. The monitor takes input from DisplayPort 1.2a (needed for FreeSync), HDMI 2.0, and HDMI 1.4. The DisplayPort interface is USB type-C, and supports Thunderbolt 3 daisy-chaining (one port in, one out). The company didn't reveal pricing.

The Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) today announced it has defined the display industry's first fully open standard specifying high dynamic range (HDR) quality, including luminance, color gamut, bit depth and rise time, through the release of a test specification. The new VESA High-Performance Monitor and Display Compliance Test Specification (DisplayHDR) initially addresses the needs of laptop displays and PC desktop monitors that use liquid crystal display (LCD) panels.

The first release of the specification, DisplayHDR version 1.0, establishes three distinct levels of HDR system performance to facilitate adoption of HDR throughout the PC market. HDR provides better contrast and color accuracy as well as more vibrant colors compared to Standard Dynamic Range (SDR) displays, and is gaining interest for a wide range of applications, including movie viewing, gaming, and creation of photo and video content.

Philips is now the second company to announce a mass-market 8K monitor with the 328P8K. It boasts of a 31.5" IPS panel with a mind-boggling 7680 x 4320 resolution, and delivers on the professional space with 100% AdobeRGB/SRGB color space support. Since availability of these panels is still scarce, this is likely the same panel that Dell is using on their own 8K UltraSharp UP3218K monitor.

Philips is boasting of something they are calling HDR 400 support in this monitor, due to its brightness being set at 400 nits. This would be enough for AMD's baseline luminance requirements for FreeSync 2 HDR, but stands a far cry behind the HDR10 standard with its 1,000 nit peak brightness target (not to speak about Dolby Vision's 4,000 peak brightness target). Contrast ratio should stand at 1300:1, with a 60 Hz refresh ratio. Connectors-wise, the new Philips 328P8K 8K UHD Monitor boasts of 2x DisplayPort 1.3 (needed for display of the resolution, and in a bid to avoid using DP 1.4 with Display Stream Compression 1.2 and ensure a flawless and accurate image quality) and features a USB hub with USB type-A and type-C ports. Expect this panel to come in at a pretty penny, most likely in the same ballpark as Dell's offering, which now costs less than $4,000. Expect Philips' take on 8K to be available for purchase around Q1 2018.