Bigger is often better when it comes to monitors, but not when sacrificing quality for size. The INNOCN 49Q1R 49-Inch OLED Curved Gaming Monitor proves that size with quality is possible, creating one of the best arguments yet to forgo multiple displays.

INNOCN 49-Inch 5K2K OLED Curved Gaming Monitor (49Q1R)

The INNOCN 49Q1R 49-Inch OLED Curved Gaming Monitor combines an impressive display with big value.

Pros & Cons

• High resolution
• Excellent color
• Resists glare
• Built-in USB hub
• Robust PIP/PBP modes

• Loses settings after using PIP/PBP modes
• Can wobble on stand
• Poor speakers

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Price and Availability

The INNOCN 49Q1R 49-Inch OLED Curved Gaming Monitor is available direct from INNOCN for $1000, although it’s often discounted. In the box is the monitor, monitor arm with headphone holder, base, AC cable, DisplayPort cable, HDMI cable, USB-C to USB-C cable, USB-B to USB-A cable, VESA mounting screws, and paperwork, including an INNOCN Monitor Color Calibration Factory Report specific to the monitor.

Setup: It’s Big

It’s important to state right off the bat that, because of its size, the 49Q1R is not your typical monitor. Even with an 1800R, or 1800mm/1.8 meter, curvature to the screen, it measures over 47 inches wide, which is why the box it comes in is 51 inches wide. Combined with a weight of over 34 lbs, this monitor is more like a big-screen TV than a computer display.

Assembly requires a few simple steps, best performed by two people. The 49Q1R can use the included monitor stand or a VESA mount, the latter more for attaching to a wall like a TV than something like a monitor arm due to weight.

The included monitor stand is V-shaped, a little over 26.5 inches wide, and roughly 15 inches deep. Within the V is mostly empty space, but it’s still a solid stand. Once the arm is attached to the base, the arm snaps into the back of the display.

When attached to the stand, the 49Q1R can be raised from 0-4.7 inches and tilted between -5 and +20 degrees. While I found the tilt an acceptable range, I would have preferred another inch or two height for additional ergonomic flexibility with my Vari standing desk, particularly when sitting.

Given the size of the monitor, my desktop setup required a complete rethink. I went from one INNOCN Ultrawide 40-inch 40C1R monitor and one LG 34UM69G-B 34-inch Ultrawide monitor next to each other to just the 49Q1R. Ultimately, I gained back some desktop room on the side the LG monitor was on, but needed additional space where the 40C1R used to be the primary display.

Although you would think a display of this size would show glare, and, when the power is off there is both that and a weird optical effect, in actual use, it’s just not there. The 49Q1R’s matte finish really delivers in even the brightest of rooms.

I sit about 1.5 feet back from the 49Q1R, which is about as close as I can comfortably be. Again, make sure your workspace, and particularly your desktop, have enough room for a monitor of this size. The 49Q1R also radiates some heat from the front of the display, but nothing that’s really noticeable unless you place your hand near it.

Using the included stand, I did note some monitor shakes, particularly when my desk was raised to the standing position. This is not surprising considering the width and weight of the display, but it’s still something to note. I personally eliminated this stability issue by having the right corner of the 49Q1R touch the side of my Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra, which I keep on a Lululook Magnetic Stand.

Display and Audio: OLED and HDR Goodness

The 49Q1R’s 5,120 x 1,140 resolution and 32:9 ultrawide aspect ratio are not a common configuration, but you do get what are effectively two side-by-side 27-inch 2,560 x 1,440 QHD monitors in one. While a curved monitor may not be everyone’s first choice, in use, it’s a logical and effective way to comfortably see everything on such a wide display.

I primarily use the 49Q1R over DisplayPort on my Windows 11 desktop with HDR always on, which takes nice advantage of the OLED’s pixel-level dimming, fast response time, and excellent color reproduction. Fortunately, HDR support from both INNOCN, which I was previously underwhelmed by, and Windows itself, has come a long way, and, combined with NVIDIA’s software for my GeForce RTX 4080 video card, provides a great image without me having to manually turn the HDR feature on or off. And even with an HDR 400 rating instead of 600 or greater, I found the display to be plenty bright.

My preference for this monitor in Windows 11 is for 100% scaling, which I found made best use of the screen real estate, while still providing easy-to-read text. Of course, with so much space, the built-in snap windows feature in Windows 11 doesn’t provide enough options, as it’s arguably really only optimized for four display quadrants.

Fortunately, Microsoft’s own free PowerToys offers the FancyZones utility module, which really helps take advantage of monitors like the 49Q1R. Instead of four quadrants to snap a window to, I have my main FancyZones option set to five different window sizes that I customized to my needs, including two main side-by-side working windows, and three reference windows. I have other configurations with seven total windows, which, again, this monitor handles comfortably.

Having worked for countless years with at least two monitors, I can definitively say that the 49Q1R has made me a single display believer again. I have all the benefits of at least two displays, while keeping my focus on only one screen.

The one interesting quirk I found is that when I spend several hours looking at the 49Q1R and its forward-curved edges, and then go to one of my work computers with small side-by-side flatscreen monitors, there’s a weird optical illusion. Until my eyes adjust, I perceive these flatscreen monitors as being curved back at the far edges.

Thanks to robust Picture-in-Picture and Picture-by-Picture (PIP/PBP) options, you can have two devices drive the 49Q1R at the same time using different inputs. For instance, you can not only provide each device with its own 27-inch 2,560 x 1,440 QHD display, but there are also two different smartphone-centric settings that allow you to perfectly mirror that device’s portrait display with minimal impact on your main device’s workspace. The only real downside I found to using PIP/PBP, is that when I turn the feature off, I have to re-enter my settings, like HDR and variable refresh rate, on the monitor menu.

As long as your device can properly drive the monitors natively, for productivity purposes, you should have no issue getting your money’s worth from the display. For gaming, on the other hand, you’ll want to make sure your graphics card is up to the challenge of the high resolution. Even if it is, you’ll likely have to make quality concessions to get higher frame rates.

For instance, in Fortnite, I needed to set the game to mostly Medium settings and Windowed Fullscreen so it would properly fill the 5,120 x 1,140 resolution and maintain frame rates close to the monitor’s 144Hz refresh rate. In short, even the most powerful gaming PCs will require quite a bit of software tuning, use of various upscaling features, and other options to utilize such a high resolution for many modern action games. Otherwise, you’ll need to get used to centered images with large black borders.

If you don’t like to fuss much with settings when PC gaming, as good as this monitor is, you’re probably better off with a smaller, lower resolution display with a more standard aspect ratio and a higher refresh rate. For me, I love the quality, performance, and spaciousness of the display for both productivity and gaming, so I don’t mind a little extra configuration work.

Despite the excellent picture quality, the bezels are on the larger side at roughly 0.34 inches at the top and sides. While these could be a bit smaller, I did find the extra space at the top, for instance, convenient for placing my monitor light and webcam without encroaching on the image.

Unsurprisingly for a monitor, the built-in 2.1-channel stereo speakers are underwhelming. The audio is flat with little presence and absolutely no bass. For some reason, there’s also an integrated array microphone that may produce better results than what’s built into some webcams, but, as with the speakers, you’re better off with a separate, dedicated solution.

Connectivity and UI: Robust Port Selection

The rear of the monitor has a robust selection of ports. When facing the rear of the 49Q1R, from right to left, there is an AC in, 3.5mm audio out, Type-C 90W, DisplayPort 1.4, two HDMI 2.1, USB-B 3.0, two USB-A 3.0, and 100M RJ45 Ethernet.

The 49Q1R has two ways to function as a hub, selectable from the monitor menu, either using the USB-B to USB-A cable for access to the two USB-A 3.0 ports, or through the Type-C 90W port for even more options. Besides a generous 90W of power, which is enough to power all but the beefiest of gaming laptops, the Type-C port also gives access to the monitor’s full resolution and refresh rate on supported devices, as well as to the two USB-A 3.0 ports and Ethernet.

Flanking the ports are colorful vertical ambient lights that are barely noticeable when not looking directly at the back of the monitor, which fits in with the generally understated overall aesthetics. Underneath the front of the monitor is a control button with an indicator light, which provides access to the monitor menu.

The control button has the usual functionality, pressing in to select and tilting forward, back, left, or right to navigate. The monitor menu provides access to Professional, Picture Settings, Game Settings, PIP/PBP, OSD Settings, and Other Settings options.

Under Professional, you can change color modes and their associated settings. Professional is disabled if you enable HDR under Picture Settings, which also disables other Picture Settings options like brightness and contrast.

For Game Settings, you can choose between optimized RTS/RPG, FPS Arena, or MOBA Arena modes for those particular game types, but these are also disabled if HDR is on. You can also turn on Adaptive-Sync, otherwise known as Variable Refresh Rate (VRR), here, which is required to enable Nvidia G-Sync or AMD FreeSync support, which is always recommended for gaming when available. Finally, there is also the menu section where you adjust the monitor’s ambient lights.

PIP/PBP is where you set the Picture-in-Picture and Picture-by-Picture options. OSD Settings affect the appearance of the monitor menu, while Other Settings let you adjust options like whether the video inputs are automatically selected, which USB Switch type should be used, and whether you want the DisplayPort input to be set to 5K or 4K resolutions.

While INNOCN doesn’t provide the most robust configuration options in its monitor menu, and I’m no fan of this type of single-button navigation, no matter how ubiquitous, it still covers the essentials.

Should You Buy the INNOCN 49Q1R 49-Inch OLED Curved Gaming Monitor?

Considering a starting price that’s often discounted to what you’d pay for far smaller monitors or monitors without OLED technology, the INNOCN 49Q1R 49-Inch OLED Curved Gaming Monitor is tremendous value. If you have a computer that can drive its high native resolution, the monitor’s size, image quality, and performance are notable.

Even if you’re a fan of working on multiple displays instead of one or don’t think you’d like a curved monitor, the 49Q1R just might change your mind. While it has some issues, like some wobble on its stand and losing configuration settings when switching out of PIP/PBP, the 49Q1R’s overall package is hard to beat if you’re in the market for a huge display.

INNOCN 49-Inch 5K2K OLED Curved Gaming Monitor (49Q1R)

The INNOCN 49Q1R 49-Inch OLED Curved Gaming Monitor combines an impressive display with big value.