
LG 43MU79-B Matte Black 43" (42.51" Diagonal) UHD 3840 x 2160 4K Monitor, 350 cd/m2, HDMI, DisplayPort, USB Type-C, Tilt, VESA Compatible
Reviewed on: 2019-12-15
Pros: - Big, beautiful screen. Big enough that you don't have to scale things
- Identical to the LG 43UD79-B except with a better warranty (3-year vs 1-year). (Some of the specs are different, but the specs seem to be wrong - see below.)
Cons: - Despite being advertised both here and on LG's website as having "1 x USB Type-C (60W PD, DP Alt. Mode, Data), UHD@60Hz", it does NOT in fact have 60 Watt Power Delivery ("60W PD"). The max the USB Type-C port can put out is 5V @ 1.5A, which is only 7.5W - not enough to power a laptop.
- There's a "shadow" around the edges if you're a normal distance from the monitor. This has been widely covered in reviews of the monitor's twin, the 43UD79-B
- FreeSync and faster refresh rate would both be nice to have
- It nags you to only use the included cables, but it has 6 inputs and only includes 2 cables. (You can disable the nagging.)
Overall Review: After finding that the monitor did not support 60W PD, I contacted LG and talked to about a dozen people. No one would directly admit that their specs were wrong, but they did agree to trade my 43MU79-B for the 43UN700-B (this year's refresh) which does actually support 60W PD. It's an improvement, although it doesn't seem completely reliable, because I just found my laptop plugged into the screen but completely dead. I think maybe it stops providing power when the screen goes to sleep? I ended up going back to a stand-alone dock.
All-in-all, if you don't need a laptop dock and just want a big monitor, this one is fantastic for working on and decent for gaming. But if you want it to be a laptop dock, you might want to keep looking or else get a standalone dock.
Oh, and one other note: the USB ports operate at USB 2.0 speed (480mbps) when sending a 4k60 signal over the Type-C input. However, this is due to a limitation of USB Type-C, and LG made the right call here - the alternative option is to provide 5gbps USB data but limit the video signal to 4k30, and I certainly don't want that. I assume that if the video comes in a different port that the USB ports will operate at full speed, but I didn't actually test that.
This review originally appeared on newegg.com, however nathananderin.com should be considered the canonical source as I keep it up-to-date over time.



