Launching in early 2023 for $1,999, this big, 45-inch gaming panel is a definite showstopper. Should you flex for it?
Occasionally, we find ourselves with a product that’s so out-there that we’re left scratching our heads, wondering who exactly it is made for. Take the $1,999 Corsair Xeneon Flex gaming monitor. This big gamer may not seem like anything more than a large ultrawide monitor, but it’s got a pretty special gimmick—a gorgeous OLED ultrawide panel that can bend from a typical flat surface into a curved monitor under your grasp, with a variable curvature radius as low as 800mm. (We’ll explain that later, but in basic monitor terms: That’s pretty curvy.) It’s meant for gamers who are particularly persnickety about their screens. They’ll be able to bend and snap their screen into place to better serve their gaming or everyday work needs, whatever they may be at the moment.
The Xeneon Flex comes equipped with all the trappings needed to handle both current-gen consoles and souped-up gaming PCs. We’re not giving this big, special panel an Editors’ Rating score right now, though, because the unit we looked at was a pre-retail sample, and a bunch of issues that arose in the course of our testing show that Corsair needs to do some tuning. Indeed, the company has already advised of a handful of changes are coming with retail shipping models, so we’ll hold off on a formal score until we can test and evaluate a final sample. (The final retail release is planned for early Q1 2023.)