The glossy Dough Spectrum (open in new tab) display is probably my current favorite gaming monitor. But that may not stand once the company announces that it will begin shipping its first OLED gaming screens next July. But unlike many of the OLED screens you've seen or will actually see at CES and into 2023, this is going to be one of the only OLED panels that will shake up the pin-sharp glossy displays. [The Dough Spectrum ES07E2D (opens in new tab) uses an LG panel with a 27-inch diagonal and 1440p resolution. It also has a refresh rate of 240 Hz. [It has essentially the same spec sheet as the LG UltraGear 27GR95QE-B (open in new tab), which uses the same OLED panel. We are a bit underwhelmed by the brightness measurements LG has provided for this panel, but Dough suggests that the standard 150cd/m2 is offset by the ability to achieve 1000cd/m2 at the absolute peak.

Combined with OLED's absolute blacks and virtually infinite contrast levels, this panel could make a great PC HDR panel. the DisplayHDR True Black 400 may seem like the lowest specification offered by the VESA group but due to the fact that OLEDs can provide adequate black reproduction, this certification actually shows greater dynamic range than the standard DisplayHDR 1000 rating.

Being an OLED, response time is also phenomenally short, measuring only 0.3ms from gray to gray. This is much faster than the 1ms response time that the fastest VA panels boast, and combined with the 240Hz refresh, should make it an outstanding gaming monitor.

But why not LG, instead of this small company that is still partly disgruntled by its abortive and unsavory venture with tablets a few years ago.LG's monitors are a flat $999, but Dough is again leaning toward pre-orders - the original 4K IPS as it did with the Spectrum screen. In other words, if you're one of the early adopters, it's a lot cheaper.

Dough's upward-sliding pricing starts at $649, but if you want the stand, it goes to $748. That is still much cheaper than the final sale price, which will be $1,099, higher than LG's when it goes on sale on Amazon in July. Having said that, we should mention that we generally do not recommend pre-orders without first having some experience with the product.

However, there may be a more important point to be made that LG's screen has a standard matte finish, while Dough has decided to use a glossy finish instead, after getting input in a crowdsourced manner. This is one reason why the Alienware 34 OLED (opens in new tab) was not as underwhelming on my desk as I had hoped. By comparison, the difference between the non-glossy OLED and the glossy IPS was not as pronounced.

However, LG was not always convinced, and Dough said, "It was very difficult to convince LG to put a glossy coating on the monitors because matte finishes are the standard for gaming monitors."

There are also a number of additional features, including HDMI 2.1a input, ubiquitous DisplayPort 1.4, and a built-in KVM or Type-C connection that provides 100W of power to the laptop while also acting as a display cable and USB hub.

That said, if you're wondering if spending $1,000 on an OLED gaming monitor with only 1440p resolution is really backward, I'll hear you out. In fact, it has the same pixel density as Alienware's ultrawide OLED and much higher than Corsair's 45-inch flex OLED (opens in new tab), but this top-end gaming resolution is definitely desirable when flashing the cash.

PC-specific 4K OLED panels do not yet exist and will not for the foreseeable future; when we asked Dough specifically about the 4K issue, product manager Rob Windhouwer explained: "We see a lot of 32-inch 4K OLED monitors in We know there is a lot of demand for 32-inch 4K OLED monitors. At this time, such displays are not available due to lack of brightness and pixel size issues. However, we expect this to become a reality by late 2024. If we can find a panel that matches the demands of our community, we will of course be among the first to make it a great monitor." [The 32-inch 4K OLED gaming monitor is likely to be a while away.