Samsung ViewFinity S65VC 34" Black 2023

The Samsung ViewFinity S65VC has a gorgeous 34-inch ultrawide screen that's perfect for work, with top-tier color and a smooth 100Hz refresh rate. But the built-in webcam is a letdown, with fuzzy quality and reliability complaints from owners. Buy it for the display and the USB-C hub, not the camera.

The 3440x1440 resolution at 100Hz is a sweet spot for work. It's sharp enough for detailed spreadsheets and timelines, and the 100Hz refresh rate makes everything from scrolling to window animations feel smooth. Color performance is a real highlight here, landing in the 86th percentile of our database. The 10-bit panel pushes over a billion colors, so photos and videos look vibrant without being cartoonish. Brightness is fine at 350 nits for a typical office, but HDR content won't exactly pop. The 5ms response time is solid for a VA panel, and FreeSync keeps things tear-free if you sneak in a game after hours. The real performance letdown isn't the panel, it's the built-in camera, which users consistently report as fuzzy and unreliable.

Stacked against the competition, the S65VC is in a weird spot. A pure productivity beast like the Dell UltraSharp U4025QW will outclass it for professional color work and sheer size, but it costs way more. On the gaming side, an OLED like the MSI MAG 271QPX will absolutely destroy it in contrast and speed, but you lose the ultrawide real estate and the built-in hub. The LG UltraGear 45GX950A-B is another ultrawide that's more focused on gaming performance. The Samsung's pitch is being a jack-of-all-trades for a home office, but it stumbles on the webcam, which is a key part of that pitch. You're trading peak performance in any one area for a bunch of integrated features that don't all work perfectly.

Pricing on this monitor is all over the place, with a spread of over $500 across vendors. At the low end around $660, you're getting a strong ultrawide panel with a ton of connectivity for a reasonable price. But as you climb toward that $1177 mark, the value proposition crumbles. You're paying a premium for the integrated webcam and speakers, which are the weakest parts of the whole package. If you can snag it at the lower end of that range and treat the camera as a backup option, it's a decent deal. Just don't pay extra for the camera you'll probably end up replacing with an external one.

Samsung packed a lot into the ViewFinity S65VC. You get a big 34-inch ultrawide VA panel, a built-in 5MP webcam, a KVM switch, and even a 4TB portable SSD in some bundles. On paper, it's a productivity powerhouse that wants to replace your docking station and your webcam. In reality, the display itself is pretty great, but the extras are a mixed bag that drag the whole package down.

Skip this if you're a streamer or anyone who lives on video calls and expects a high-quality, reliable built-in camera. The webcam is the weakest link here, and you'd be paying a premium for a feature you'll want to disable. If you need a monitor with best-in-class HDR for movies or games, look for something with higher peak brightness instead.

The Samsung ViewFinity S65VC is a great ultrawide monitor with a frustrating identity crisis. The core display is excellent for productivity and casual entertainment, and the USB-C hub is a genuine desk-space saver. But the marquee feature, the built-in webcam, is its Achilles' heel. If you need a sharp, immersive panel for multitasking and don't care about the camera, this is a solid buy at the right price. If the webcam is a primary reason you're looking at this, you'll be disappointed.