MSI 40" UWQHD Gaming Monitor

This monitor is seriously great. I was torn between a handful of ultrawides but opted for this one as going to larger panels (49" and above) results in less vertical space and more horizontal space. Transitioning from my previous 32" 1440p panel to this was a breeze as they essentially share the same height. I like this monitor enough that I have a second one on the way to stack them up for work. Only glaring downside to be found is the stand is abysmal. Seriously. Don't buy this unless you also plan to grab a mount or have one that can support this panel, but a serviceable one can be had for $30-$50. Side note: I'd avoid any monitor mount that has a quick disconnect feature where the monitor connects to the arm via the slide and thumbscrew design, as the weight and size of this monitor will most likely cause a small amount of droop at the connection that is hard to alleviate. There are a lot of these out there, so reading assembly instructions or looking at customer photos/product photos first will save a lot of headache. I would opt for a simpler design that directly connects to the back of the panel via screws or go premo and get an Ergotron or similar quality arm. I'm currently using VIVO mounts, specifically the ones that mount the monitor to the plate w/ 4 screws and have had no issues with droop or sagging. (STAND-V001T for reference) OSD menus are fine, if a little slow to navigate, but you're going to most likely set it up once or twice, and then rarely, if ever, dive back in. Picture looks great in SDR and has almost eye searing brightness at 100%. IPS panel is actually an IPS-ADS panel made by a company called BOE. There are some alleged refinements over a traditional IPS and while I'm not at liberty of being able to make a direct comparison, I will say colors, viewing angle, and motion on the panel look great. No perceived ghosting for myself, personally. No backlight bleed whatsoever and that's highly impressive to me as I had a few years run with VA panels instead because I got sick of playing the IPS lottery. I can't make any claims about HDR as it's not important to me for gaming or work. If you're looking for an HDR monitor, based on the HDR400 spec alone this probably will not satisfy, but it's more of an extra feature than the main event and while Win11 brings lots of autoHDR goodness, I'm still not convinced about leaping fully into HDR. USB-PD and KVM switch is super neat to have onboard, and while I haven't needed either just yet, I have plans to utilize these soon. Overall, it's an exceptional panel with a wealth of functional, full-baked features. I think it strikes a great balance of price/performance. While it may not have the most bleeding edge panel tech like QD-OLED, and it's no HDR beast, and the stand is absolute nonsense, I think there's a lot to like here for $400, and even more when it's priced at its current $350.