Samsung Odyssey Neo G7 S32BG75 Monitor Review

The Samsung Neo G7 has a gamer-oriented design with a black plastic body that has a ring of zone lighting. The curve helps bring the edges of the screen more within your field of vision, but some people may also find it too aggressive.

This monitor has great build quality. It's mainly plastic that feels good, and the base of the stand is metal. The stand is easy to adjust, and it holds the screen well. There's a bit of wobble on the stand, but this is only an issue if you don't have a stable desk. Overall, it feels well-made, and there aren't any major issues of concern.

The ergonomics are great. You can adjust it in several ways, but its swivel range is a bit narrow, which is disappointing if you often need to turn the screen for someone next to you. The stand has a clip for cable management to route your cables to the inputs.

The stand has wide-set metal feet that support the screen well, but they don't prevent all wobble. Due to the large footprint of the stand, you'll need a big desk to put it on.

There's a directional pad with a power button to navigate the on-screen menu instead of the traditional joystick found on other Samsung monitors. The buttons are mushy and don't feel as convenient as the joystick, and it takes time to get used to.

• DisplayPort cable
• USB-B to USB-A cable
• Power supply and cable
• VESA-mount adapter
• User guides

The Samsung Neo G7 has a high native contrast ratio that displays deep blacks next to bright highlights in dark rooms. Thanks to its Mini LED local dimming, the contrast gets much better with local dimming enabled.

This monitor has a decent Mini LED local dimming feature that has a 46x26 array with 1,196 dimming zones. With Local Dimming on 'High', HDR content looks great because small highlights pop against dark backgrounds, but it struggles to make larger highlights pop in bright scenes. There's some blooming that's more noticeable if you're viewing the screen from the sides than from in front. The blooming isn't always present, but it can be visible in some scenes, like moving the mouse against a dark background or around players in FIFA. There's some blooming around subtitles too, but it's still better than most monitors. That said, there's less blooming than on non-Mini LED monitors.

Sadly, there's black crush in darker scenes, causing you to lose fine details. Also, the local dimming enables the Dynamic Brightness setting, which can be distracting as minimizing and maximizing windows in the desktop causes a change in brightness. The algorithm keeps up with fast-moving content well, but there's some blur trail behind fast-moving objects with it on 'High'.

The SDR peak brightness is great. With the Local Dimming on 'High', it gets bright enough to fight glare, but it has an aggressive Automatic Brightness Limiter that's distracting when you're miniziming and maximizing windows, even with Local Dimming on 'Low', but isn't so much of an issue with static content. You can either set the brightness to a really low level, or you can simply disable the local dimming to avoid an aggressive ABL, and the monitor is still bright enough to fight glare:

• Peak 2% Window: 316 cd/m²
• Peak 10% Window: 316 cd/m²
• Peak 25% Window: 315 cd/m²
• Peak 50% Window: 314 cd/m²
• Peak 100% Window: 314 cd/m²
• Sustained 2% Window: 316 cd/m²
• Sustained 10% Window: 316 cd/m²
• Sustained 25% Window: 315 cd/m²
• Sustained 50% Window: 314 cd/m²
• Sustained 100% Window: 313 cd/m²

These results are from after calibration in the 'Custom' Picture Mode.

The Samsung Odyssey Neo G7 has decent HDR peak brightness. It gets really bright with small highlights as they stand out and pop against a dark background, but it gets dimmer with larger areas of bright colors. Unfortunately, the EOTF doesn't follow the target PQ curve well, as it crushes blacks and over-brightens brighter details. However, because there's a sharp cut-off at the peak brightness, it lets your computer do any tone mapping.

Samsung advertises Quantum HDR 2000, but this isn't a real VESA certification, and it doesn't hit 2000 nits.

These results are in the 'Custom' Picture Mode with the Brightness at its max and Local Dimming set to 'High'. The EOTF is also similar with Local Dimming set to 'Low', as you can see here, but then the screen is dimmer.

If you want a monitor with Mini LED backlighting that gets brighter, then look into the AOC Q27G3XMN.

This monitor has a narrow horizontal viewing angle. The image looks washed out from the sides, but the curved screen helps bring the edges closer to you if you sit directly in front. If you want a 32-inch, 4k monitor with better viewing angles, look into the Acer ‎Predator X32 Fpbmiiiiphuzx.

The vertical viewing angle is disappointing. The image looks washed out if you're standing up and looking down on the monitor.

The Samsung Odyssey Neo G7 S32BG75 has good gray uniformity. Although there's a bit of dirty screen effect in the center, it isn't too bad, and the screen looks good throughout.

This monitor has good black uniformity if you have the Mini LED local dimming feature enabled. It helps it display deep blacks without too much blooming around bright objects. However, the uniformity is worse without local dimming as there's backlight bleed along the top and bottom edges. If you prefer a monitor that has perfect black uniformity thanks to its OLED panel, check out the Dell Alienware AW3423DWF.

The Samsung Odyssey Neo G7 has decent accuracy before calibration. The sRGB mode locks the colors to the sRGB space, but the white balance is off, and gamma doesn't follow the target sRGB curve well, as dark scenes are too dark and bright scenes are over-brightened. The sRGB mode locks the Contrast, Color, Black Level, and Screen Adjust settings, but not the brightness. If you want to change the other settings, you'll need to use other picture modes that are less accurate with oversaturated colors, as you can see here.

The accuracy after calibration is fantastic, and any remaining inaccuracies can't be spotted by the naked eye. Gamma and the color temperature are both nearly spot-on with their targets.

This monitor has an incredible SDR color gamut. It has perfect coverage of the sRGB color space used in most web content, and it has good Adobe RGB coverage, but it undersaturates greens and oversaturates reds.

The Samsung Neo G7 has a great HDR color gamut. It has amazing DCI-P3 coverage, which is the common color space used in most HDR content. However, it has more limited coverage of the Rec. 2020 color space with tone mapping issues.

Unlike past Samsung monitors, there aren't dedicated HDR picture modes like 'HDR Dynamic' or 'HDR Game', and instead the HDR picture modes are the same as in SDR, but they perform differently. You can also change picture settings like Contrast, Sharpness, and Color.

This monitor has a great HDR color volume. It displays most dark and bright colors well.

The text clarity is fantastic. You won't have any issues reading text, and even though Windows ClearType (top photo) helps improve the clarity, you might not need it.

The reflection handling is good. It performs well when there are a few light sources around, but reflections from strong light sources can get distracting. Luckily, it gets bright enough to fight that glare.

The Samsung Neo G7 has incredible gradient handling. You won't notice any banding with different shades of the same color.

On top of supporting FreeSync VRR and G-SYNC compatibility, this monitor also supports HDMI Forum VRR.

The motion handling across the VRR range is great. Using VRR disables any of the overdrive settings, and while there isn't too much noticeable blur, there's more inverse ghosting at lower refresh rates, which is disappointing if your PC can't maintain a consistently high frame rate.

The refresh rate compliance is very good. While its response time isn't fast enough to take full advantage of its max refresh rate, it gets better at lower refresh rates.

The CAD at the max refresh rate is impressive. If you disable VRR you can use the overdrive settings, in which case 'Standard' has a lot less inverse ghosting than 'Faster' and 'Extreme'. However, even using VRR results in similar motion handling.

The CAD at 120Hz is great. Like at the max refresh rate, if you disable VRR, the recommended overdrive setting is 'Standard' because it has less inverse ghosting than 'Faster' and 'Extreme', but there's still a bit of noticeable blur and inverse ghosting. Motion is similar even if you enable VRR.

The CAD at 60Hz is very good. It performs similarly to higher refresh rates as there's a bit of blur, but it isn't overly distracting either. Without VRR, the 'Standard' overdrive setting once again performs the best, and using VRR results in similar motion handling.

The Samsung Odyssey Neo G7 has an optional backlight strobing feature, commonly known as black frame insertion. It only works properly within a narrow range and there's flicker below 120Hz. Enabling the feature also locks the VRR and local dimming features. The pulse phase isn't matched up to the refresh rate, so the timing is constantly shifting, which means there's noticeable image duplication at times, and it looks better at other times. The BFI features also locks the brightness setting, but if you set the brightness before enabling the BFI, it stays on that brightness.

Unfortunately, there's noticeable VRR flicker with changing frame rates. It's distracting in both dark and bright scenes, but this isn't so much of an issue if you have a consistent frame rate. Samsung added a VRR Control setting to eliminate this flicker. Using it can improve the flicker, but it also increases input lag, so the best way to avoid this flicker is by using a consistent frame rate.

The Samsung Neo G7 has a flicker-free backlight with the brightness at higher levels, which helps reduce eye strain. With the local dimming disabled, the flicker starts with the brightness set to '10' or lower, and the flicker is high enough that you won't notice it. However, the pulse width modulation (PWM) behaves differently with the local dimming enabled. With the brightness at '19', it flickers at 240Hz, and the flicker fluctuates as the brightness goes down until it's at 165Hz with the brightness at '0'. This flicker is more noticeable as you lower the brightness, so if a bright screen doesn't bother you, it's best to leave it at high brightness, especially if you have local dimming enabled. You can see the flicker chart with the Local Dimming on 'High' here.

Another issue is with scanlines. Scanlines are most noticeable with test patterns, like patterns 2a and 2b from Lagom. You can see an example of the scanlines in the green section here and you can also see it more clearly with a zoomed-in image here. Other test patterns cause the scanlines, and you can see an image of what the scanlines look like here. This video is a good example to see the scanlines and flicker issues in the green section with the Local Dimming set to 'High', VRR enabled, VRR Control off, and the Brightness at '100'. Keep in mind that these scanlines are most noticeable with test patterns, and they're hard to see and rarely happen with real content. If you notice them, lowering the Sharpness can help reduce the issue, but it doesn't completely fix it.

The Samsung Odyssey Neo G7 has low input lag for a responsive feel when gaming. Unlike past Samsung monitors, the input lag doesn't increase when the frame rate of your source drops below the set refresh rate of the monitor. Unfortunately, the VRR Control setting increases the input lag, as you can see below:

The Samsung Odyssey Neo G7 is fully compatible with the PS5 thanks to its HDMI 2.1 bandwidth. Both the 'PC' and 'AV' modes in the monitor's OSD perform the same, and neither have an impact on text clarity. The 'AV' modes lock you out of the regular Picture Modes available, including sRGB, while you can still use those modes in the 'PC' mode.

The Samsung Neo G7 is fully compatible with the Xbox Series X|S. Keep in mind that the Xbox doesn't support HDR with 1080p or 1440p signals, so this isn't an issue with the monitor.

It doesn't have a USB-C input but if you want a similar 4k monitor that does, then look into the Cooler Master Tempest GP27U.

The Samsung Odyssey Neo G7 works well with macOS, but there are some issues. The max refresh rate is limited to 120Hz, and there's noticeable flicker with the VRR Control setting disabled. Enabling it eliminates this flicker, but it also increases the input lag. HDR looks okay, as highlights pop but some colors look a bit washed out. Also, windows return to their original position after the monitor goes to sleep when using a MacBook, but they don't if you close the laptop lid.

The Samsung Odyssey Neo G7 has a few extra features to improve your gaming experience, like:

• Black Equalizer: Adjusts the gamma so that you can see opponents better in dark areas of games.
• Dynamic Brightness: Brightens the screen on a scene-by-scene basis. Automatically enabled with Local Dimming on.
• Eco Light Sensor: Changes the brightness of the screen according to the ambient environment.
• Eye Care: Removes blue light to help with eye strain.
• Infinity Core Lighting: Controls the lighting on the stand, and can sync with the on-screen colors.
• Ultrawide Game View: Displays an ultrawide 21:9 image, with black bars at the top and bottom.
• Virtual Aim Point: Displays a crosshair that your system won't detect.