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LG Ultrafine Evo 32U990A-S review: A strong 6K display competitor

LG Ultrafine Evo 32U990A-S review: A strong 6K display competitor

At a glance Expert's Rating Pros Slim design and sturdy yet compact monitor stand Thunderbolt 5 connectivity with 96 watts of power Super-sharp 6K image with 224 pixels per inch Wide color gamut and great color accuracy Cons Frustrating menu system LG offers calibration software, but monitor doesn’t ship with a colorimeter No USB-A or Ethernet connectivity Our Verdict The LG Ultrafine Evo 32U990A-S is a 6K monitor with great color performance and high-speed Thunderbolt 5, though it’s hampered by lackluster software and image quality configuration. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: LG Ultrafine Evo 32U990A-S Retailer Price Check Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket The ranks of 6K monitors remain slim, but LG’s Ultrafine Evo 32U990A-S adds another option. It separates itself from the alternatives with support for Thunderbolt 5, which includes a downstream port that can daisy-chain the connection to downstream displays or storage devices. It’s a good pick if you want to use Thunderbolt as a way to minimize cable clutter on your desk, but LG’s software support doesn’t stack up to the alternatives. Read on to learn more, then see our roundup of the best monitors for comparison. LG Ultrafine Evo 32U990A-S specs and features The highlight of the LG Ultrafine Evo 32U990A-S is rather obvious. It’s the resolution. The 31.5-inch Nano IPS Black panel delivers a pixel count of 6144×3456. That’s a total of over 21 million pixels. Display size: 31.5-inch 16:9 aspect ratio Native resolution: 6144×3456 Panel type: Nano IPS Black Refresh rate: 60Hz Adaptive sync: None HDR: Yes, VESA DisplayHDR 600 Certified Ports: 1x HDMI 2.1, 1x DisplayPort 2.1, 1x Thunderbolt 5 / USB-C with DisplayPort and 96 watts of Power Delivery, 1x Thunderbolt 5 / USB-C DisplayPort MST-out (daisy chain), 1x USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 upstream, 2x USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 downstream Audio: Yes, speakers included Extra features: LG Calibration Studio Supported OS: Windows, MacOS Price: $1,999.99 MSRP It’s not all about resolution, though. The LG 32U990A-S also includes Thunderbolt 5 connectivity and a few downstream ports, which include DisplayPort-out and two USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 ports. As you might expect, 6K resolution doesn’t come cheap, though your view on pricing may depend on your past experience with 6K displays. The LG 32U990A-S has a retail MSRP of $1,999.99 and so far has not received a significant discount. That’s a lot of money, and you can find some less expensive 6K alternatives, like the Asus ProArt PA32QCV . But other 6K monitors, such as the Dell U3224KB and of course the Apple Pro Display XDR, are much more expensive. LG Ultrafine Evo 32U990A-S design The LG Ultrafine Evo 32U990A-S makes a good first impression. It’s constructed primarily from silver plastics that have a smooth, premium finish, though the stand includes metal elements for weight and durability. While the back of the display panel is simple, smooth plastic, the rear of the stand has an attractive art-deco finish. It’s unusual and helps the monitor stand out from its competition. The stand also has a compact flat base keeps the monitor upright. Though it’s small, the stand felt stable on my desk. It allowed even less wobble or shake than most monitors in this price category. The stand adjusts for height, tilt, and rotates (pivots) 90 degrees for use in portrait mode. It doesn’t swivel, though, which is a downside. The monitor has a 100x100mm VESA mount for using with third-party monitor arms and stands. Matthew Smith / Foundry However, the stand is not a tool-free design. Two screws must be installed with a screwdriver to assemble it. That’s unusual, though not unheard of, and it makes setup ever-so-slightly more complex than normal. LG also ships the monitor with an external power supply. This too is not unusual for a high-end monitor, but the power supply is large and bulky (at roughly 8 x 4 x 1.5 inches), so beware if you have a tight spot below or beneath your desk for the power supply. On the plus side, keeping the power supply external helps LG deliver the monitor’s slim, sleek look. LG Ultrafine Evo 32U990A-S connectivity While the LG Ultrafine Evo 32U990A-S is a 6K monitor, it’s also a Thunderbolt 5 monitor, and for some shoppers that could be just as important. The LG 32U990A-S has three video inputs. One is the Thunderbolt 5 port with DisplayPort and 96 watts of Power Delivery. That 96-watt figure makes the display capable of powering all MacBook Pro models, though only mid-range Windows laptops. The Thunderbolt 5 port is flanked by an HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 2.1 port. The monitor also has a Thunderbolt 5 downstream port with DisplayPort MST. Because of this, the monitor is capable of daisy-chaining connections to multiple downstream devices, including monitors and storage. This is useful because it turns a single Thunderbolt 5 connection into several Thunderbolt 5 connections. You can, for example, make a Thunderbolt 5 connection from your laptop to the LG 32U990A-S, then daisy-chain from the LG 32U990A-S to a second Thunderbolt monitor, and then continue the chain from that second monitor to external Thunderbolt storage (or another peripheral). However, the monitor’s connectivity is otherwise so-so. It has two downstream USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 connections, but no downstream USB-A and no Ethernet. Matthew Smith / Foundry The Dell U3224KB is otherwise a better all-in-one hub for connectivity, as it has many USB downstream ports, Ethernet, and more power delivery (140 watts). But, in fairness to LG, the Dell is $1,000 more expensive, and sticks to Thunderbolt 4. The LG 32U990A-S also has a KVM switch and picture-by-picture features for managing multiple connections. That, however, is standard for this type of monitor. Finally, you should know that all the monitor’s ports face towards the rear. This is in contrast to most monitors, which usually have ports that face down. Rear-facing ports are more accessible for connecting and disconnecting ports, and I generally like them, but they also make wall mounting difficult. LG Ultrafine Evo 32U990A-S menus and features Unfortunately, the LG Ultrafine Evo 32U990A-S is saddled with a bad menu system, and it left me frustrated. The on-screen menu system is controlled with a responsive joystick tucked behind the center bezel. So far, so good. However, the menus themselves are not adequate. While the monitor does provide some decent image quality presets, including DCI-P3 and AdobeRGB modes, it doesn’t provide fine-grain, precise control of color temperature and gamma settings. That’s a disappointment. Annoyingly, the menu system appears vertically on the right side of the display. It feels rather odd when using the controls, as they are centered. It’s a system that would make more sense with a remote control, but the 32U990A-S doesn’t have one. Matthew Smith / Foundry LG also provides software utilities. This includes LG Switch, which is used to control some monitor settings and to switch between displays, including LG webOS displays. It’s okay, but not as feature rich (in terms of image quality features) as similar software from BenQ, Dell, and Asus. Calibration can be handled in LG’s Calibration Studio software. The LG 32U990A-S does not ship with a hardware calibrator, though, so you have to provide your own. That in turn makes the usefulness of the software suspect. After all, colorimeters ship with their own software, and I really can’t think of a reason to use the LG Calibration Studio software instead of the software shipped with your colorimeter of choice. And to add insult to injury, the LG Calibration Studio software was finicky about detecting a connected PC, so I found it unreliable in practice. Competitors like Dell and BenQ justify their own calibration software with additional features including built-in colorimeter hardware and the ability to manage multiple monitors remotely, which is useful if you need to calibrate all monitors on your desk or in a studio. But the LG 32U990A-S doesn’t provide these features. The LG 32U990A-S includes a light sensor for automatic brightness adjustment. This is a good feature to have, however, it doesn’t work well here. I found the automatic brightness adjustment was often too dim, and I couldn’t find a feature to manually adjust how the automatic brightness functioned. LG Ultrafine Evo 32U990A-S audio A pair of speakers are bundled in the LG Ultrafine Evo 32U990A-S, though LG’s specifications don’t say anything specific about their capabilities. To me, they sound like a basic pair of speakers in the 2- to 3-watt range. Audio quality is passable for podcasts or ambient music played at low volume, but the speakers lack the bass and volume to provide real impact. External speakers or headphones are recommended. LG Ultrafine Evo 32U990A-S SDR image quality The LG Ultrafine Evo 32U990A-S is a 31.5-inch 6K monitor which, of course, means it provides superior sharpness. However, there’s more to the monitor than that. LG touts the display as a go-to choice for prosumers and creative professionals, and while the monitor’s menu system and software don’t live up to that, the monitor’s image quality certainly does. Matthew Smith / Foundry First up is brightness, and here the LG Ultrafine Evo 32U990A-S delivers a strong maximum SDR brightness result of 480 nits. Although this is not the brightest, it’s extremely bright, and it is also far more than what would ever normally be required for a computer monitor. Still, this is good news if you were planning to use the monitor in a bright environment. What’s less encouraging, though, is the monitor’s display finish. It’s a sort of semi-gloss coat that diffuses reflections, but the presence of reflections on the screen is still more noticeable than I’d like. It’s not on par with the matte finish of BenQ’s DesignVue monitors, or close to Apple’s Nano-Texture finish. Matthew Smith / Foundry Next we have contrast, where the LG 32U990A-S delivered a contrast ratio of 1500:1. That’s a bit lower than I had expected, given that the monitor has a Nano IPS Black panel. Still, it’s a mid-pack result and not bad for a modern IPS display. As with most LCD monitors, the LG 32U990A-S will show backlight glow when dark scenes are viewed in a dark environment. This is most noticeable when watching movies, streaming shows, or playing games. For that reason, people looking for a monitor that’s great for both work and play should consider an OLED alternative (though, unfortunately, no 6K OLED monitor is available to date). Matthew Smith / Foundry Now we come to color gamut, and this is where the LG 32U990A-S really comes through. The monitor delivered a color gamut that spans 96 percent of DCI-P3 and 100 percent of AdobeRGB, as well as 82 percent of Rec.2020. As the graph shows, these are excellent results even when compared to other prosumer and professional monitors, which already tend to deliver excellent color performance. Indeed, only a handful of monitors I’ve ever tested deliver a wide color gamut. This translates to a vivid, saturated image, and it also means you can work in wide color gamuts with confidence that you’re seeing a very wide swath of the colors that gamut is supposed to provide. Matthew Smith / Foundry In addition to a wide color gamut, the LG 32U990A-S has great color accuracy with an average color error of only 0.73. Importantly, no error was over a value of 2, so all of the colors tested were extremely accurate. While some other monitors are even more accurate, all the monitors in this comparison are leaders in color accuracy. It’s a tough crowd. In actual use, I found the LG 32U990A-S delivered color that appeared realistic. My only complaint about the LG’s color performance concerns its default color temperature, which I recorded at 7000K. That’s quite a bit off the preferred default target of 6500K, and it results in a color temperature that skews blue and sterile. The monitor does provide color temperature modes, but as mentioned earlier, these don’t claim to hit specific color temperature values in degrees Kelvin. You may need software calibration to dial it in. The monitor doesn’t have gamma settings that claim specific gamma values, either, but the monitor was able to provide a default gamma curve of 2.2, which was where I like to see it. Of course, sharpness is also a major strength of the LG 32U990A-S. The monitor’s 6144×3456 resolution, spread across a 31.5-inch display with a 16:9 aspect ratio, translates to a pixel density of 224 pixels per inch. For comparison, a 27-inch 4K monitor has about 163 pixels per inch—so the 6K monitor’s leap in sharpness is quite significant. Whether the added sharpness is visible or significant will depend on your needs, however. Personally, I can tell a difference in sharpness from 4K to 6K, and I do like it—but I wouldn’t call it a must-have. However, the added resolution can have benefits besides sharpness. If you work with 4K video, for example, a 6K monitor makes it possible to view a 4K preview in your video editing software without entering a full-screen mode. Similarly, it helps photographers work with very high resolution photos with less use of zoom. LG Ultrafine Evo 32U990A-S HDR image quality The LG Ultrafine Evo 32U990A-S supports HDR and is VESA DisplayHDR 600 certified. Testing the monitor’s HDR performance quickly showed that certification is earned, as the monitor reached a maximum HDR brightness of 748 nits—a great result. Keep in mind, however, that this monitor lacks a way to effectively control dynamic contrast across the display panel. Bright objects in a scene tend to up the brightness of the whole scene, even if they occupy only a small portion of it. The lack of contrast is a major limitation and degrades HDR image quality. HDR can be bright, but won’t necessarily show all the luminance detail expected of an HDR display. As such, I wouldn’t recommend using the HDR for movies and games. I also wouldn’t recommend it if you primarily create content in HDR. If you only need to occasionally view HDR to get a general idea of how it looks, though, the LG 32U990A-S is acceptable. LG Ultrafine Evo 32U990A-S motion performance Given its 6K display resolution, it shouldn’t come as a shock to hear the LG Ultrafine Evo 32U990A-S sticks to a 60Hz refresh rate. While a higher refresh rate might be nice, it would prove impractical in many situations. The IPS panel also provides modest quoted pixel response times of 5 milliseconds (the best IPS panels quote a millisecond or less). In short, the monitor’s motion performance is mediocre. Fast moving objects show a lot of ghosting and fast camera pans across scenes can make details in the scene hard to discern. Scrolling text is also difficult to read. None of this is a mark against the monitor, because it’s true of all 6K monitors at present. Still, it’s something to keep in mind if you’re also considering 4K alternatives, as you can find 4K monitors with far better motion clarity. Is the LG Ultrafine Evo 32U990A-S worth it? The LG Ultrafine Evo 32U990A-S is a competitive choice in the increasingly crowded arena of 6K monitors. It provides great color performance and color accuracy, as well as Thunderbolt 5 connectivity. The monitor makes some mistakes in usability, as it has a poorly implemented menu system, and LG’s software utilities are not on par with the competition. Still, if you want a 6K monitor with great image quality and plan to rely on Thunderbolt for connectivity, the 32U990A-S is a solid choice.

Badges, Bytes and Blackmail

Badges, Bytes and Blackmail

Behind the scenes of law enforcement in cyber: what do we know about caught cybercriminals? What brought them in, where do they come from and what was their function in the crimescape? Introduction: One view on the scattered fight against cybercrime The growing sophistication and diversification of cybercrime have compelled law enforcement agencies worldwide to respond through increasingly

Microsoft Copilot is the new Internet Explorer

Microsoft Copilot is the new Internet Explorer

Copilot should be ahead of the competition—it comes pinned to the taskbar on every Windows PC. But I keep bouncing off it, and I’m not alone . AI-positive Windows users are largely going out of their way to download competing AI tools, just as people skipped on Internet Explorer decades ago. As for Windows users who don’t like AI? They just resent seeing Copilot everywhere. If Copilot is like Internet Explorer, then ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude are like Firefox and Chrome. If you want the best experience, you skip what’s bundled with Windows and opt for something else. Personally, I didn’t start appreciating AI tools until I looked beyond Copilot. It’s no surprise that Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is reportedly taking over Copilot development . Here are several ways Copilot is the new Internet Explorer. History truly repeats itself. Nobody is using Copilot I’ve talked to a lot of Windows users over the past few years—casual users, power users, gamers, office workers. I haven’t heard passion for Copilot from any of them. Even among the ones who use AI tools all the time, Microsoft’s Copilot is rarely their tool of choice. Microsoft doesn’t publicly share how many users Copilot has. Meanwhile, competitors like OpenAI are trumpeting their usage numbers. (Indeed, over 800 million users every week for ChatGPT.) If Microsoft was proud of their own usage numbers, you can bet they’d be loud about it. A recent report from SimilarWeb claims that Copilot website usage is at 1.1% of AI market share, behind ChatGPT at 64.5% and Gemini at 21%. Of course, that’s just the website and doesn’t include the Windows app. Chris Hoffman / Foundry The situation is similarly dire in the mobile space. On Apple’s App Store charts , the top three productivity apps are ChatGPT, Gemini, and Grok. Claude is the 12th most popular productivity app, while Microsoft Copilot is down at 14th most popular. That means Microsoft’s AI chatbot is in 5th place—behind OpenAI, Google, xAI, and Anthropic. We can’t know exactly how popular the Windows Copilot app is. But it’s unlikely that people would be hot on Copilot all day on their PCs while ignoring it altogether on their phones. Just as power users once skipped Internet Explorer in favor of Firefox and Chrome, AI-passionate users are unpinning Copilot from their taskbars and replacing it with their AI chatbots of choice. Microsoft Copilot isn’t as good as non-Microsoft alternatives Copilot just isn’t as flexible or reliable or useful as other AI chatbots. Under the hood, Microsoft is routing requests to OpenAI’s GPT models… but ChatGPT is a much more mature platform with more configurability and control over what AI model you’re using. Copilot’s desktop vision feature is a bright spot, though, and Copilot has other strengths, too. For example, it’s the only AI tool that’s integrated into Word and Excel, which should give it a leg up in professional environments. And there are Microsoft’s efforts to turn Copilot into a “companion,” complete with a face . Microsoft But it’s still not catching on. It’s not enough to sway consumers over from those competing AI tools that don’t have virtual faces. I see a lot of enthusiasm for ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude in AI communities, meanwhile Copilot is rarely mentioned (unless in a bad light). I spoke to an avid Claude user the other day. He told me that he recently used Copilot in Microsoft Word as it was the only option for making obscure charts—and he came away from it thinking that Claude is much smarter. Sure, Copilot was able to make the chart he needed, but the experience didn’t sell him on Copilot. Microsoft And it’s not just users who think this. A recent internal email from Microsoft CEO Sayta Nadella to Microsoft staff said that Copilot’s connections to Gmail and Outlook “for [the] most part don’t really work” and are “not smart,” according to The Information . That mirrors what I’ve seen when using Copilot over the years—other AI tools just seem to be more competent in most situations. Copilot’s biggest strengths rest in GitHub Copilot for coding and Microsoft 365 Copilot for deep integration with organization data. These benefits aren’t felt by standard Copilot users. And not only that, but according to The Verge’s Tom Warren, Anthropic’s Claude Code is increasingly favored internally at Microsoft. If Microsoft doesn’t even prefer Copilot, then why should anyone else? Copilot is being forced upon PC users Like Internet Explorer, the worst thing about Copilot is that it’s the “default option” presented to you on Windows. If you start using Copilot, it’s likely because the Copilot icon appeared on your taskbar or you pressed the Copilot key on your keyboard. Copilot is being shoved into everything… and that just reeks of desperation. It’s not something you use because you want to; it’s something you use because Microsoft wants you to use it. Meanwhile, if you end up using ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, or any other AI tool, it’s because you explicitly made the choice to explore, find, and start using that particular tool. IDG / Mark Hachman Windows is soaked in Copilot messaging. There’s a Copilot key on the keyboard. New Windows PCs are branded as “ Copilot+ PCs ” with extra AI features. Apps like Word, Excel, Edge, and even Notepad now have Copilot icons all over the place. It’s annoying. No wonder why users are clamoring for ways to disable AI in Windows . You don’t hear people complain about Claude because Windows doesn’t bundle Claude everywhere in its interface. If that started happening, you know you’d start hearing about it. In fact, Google is now heading down this road with baking Gemini into Chrome and AI Mode for Search , it’s starting to annoy those users, too. It’s more evidence that people just don’t like having things shoved down their throats. Windows PC users will keep complaining about Copilot as long as Microsoft keeps doing this, just as they once complained about Internet Explorer (and Edge) being thrust upon them at every turn. Is Copilot going the way of Bing? Microsoft was early to AI with its first chatbot, named “Bing Chat.” Microsoft later renamed it to Copilot. But despite the branding change, Copilot and Bing still share a lot in common. Both Bing and Copilot are perfectly fine tools that can get the job done, but very few prefer Bing as their primary search engine and the same can be said about Copilot. Bing has been struggling with user adoption for years, and Copilot clearly isn’t taking off among curious AI users or regular PC users. Copilot needs to be more than “just another AI chatbot” if it’s going to succeed, and simply being bundled with Windows isn’t going to be enough to get it where it needs to go. After all, being bundled with Windows didn’t save Internet Explorer. In fact, this kind of move is only going to alienate people further away from Copilot. Microsoft needs to learn from its past ASAP. Further reading: Did Microsoft do anything right in 2025? A look back at their wins, fails, and WTF moments

Apple Still Preparing Two New Versions of Siri as Some Employees Leave

Apple Still Preparing Two New Versions of Siri as Some Employees Leave

In a new report about Apple losing at least four more AI researchers in recent weeks, in addition to a high-ranking Siri executive, Bloomberg 's Mark Gurman reiterated that the company is preparing to release two new versions of Siri. First, Apple announced that it plans to release a more personalized version of Siri powered by Google Gemini this year. It is expected to be part of iOS 26.4 , which should enter beta testing in February and be released to the general public in March or April. Back in June 2024, Apple said the revamped Siri will have understanding of personal context, on-screen awareness, deeper in-app controls, and more. Second, Siri will reportedly get even better on iOS 27, as Apple is said to be planning to turn the assistant into a full-out chatbot , allowing users to have sustained, back-and-forth conversations with the assistant. This will essentially turn Siri into ChatGPT or Gemini, except it will be built right into the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, with no app required. Gurman said the Siri chatbot will be "competitive with Gemini 3," and "significantly more capable" than the more personalized Siri coming with iOS 26.4. The high-ranking Siri executive who left Apple was Stuart Bowers, according to the report, which described him as "one of the company's most senior executives working on Siri." He joined Google's artificial intelligence research laboratory DeepMind. The four researchers who left are Yinfei Yang, Haoxuan You, Bailin Wang, and Zirui Wang. Tags: Apple Intelligence , Mark Gurman , Siri This article, " Apple Still Preparing Two New Versions of Siri as Some Employees Leave " first appeared on MacRumors.com Discuss this article in our forums