Huawei MateView GT review: top tier visuals and sound for gamers

The Huawei MateView GT has to be involved in any conversation about the best gaming monitors: it looks good from every angle, it packs a punch in terms of its audio, and it's priced at a level that means you don't have to part with your life's savings to get hold of it.

There are some decent specs on show here, including a 3,440 x 1,440 pixel resolution and a 165Hz refresh rate. While other screens can outdo the Huawei MateView GT in terms of specs, they're also more expensive, and we think this is a great value option for gamers.

If you're wondering whether this could be the display upgrade for you, our Huawei MateView GT review should answer every question you've got about the screen – from its gaming performance to the quality of the audio you get from that integrated soundbar.

Huawei MateView GT review: design and setup

This is a big, big IPS LCD monitor – 34 inches from corner to corner, with a 21:9 aspect ratio, a 1500R curvature and a 3,440 x 1,440 pixel resolution. It's going to dominate pretty much any desk that you want to put it on, but one person can get it set up on their own, just about. You connect the monitor to the soundbar and stand and that's about it, with the connection ports hidden away behind a black plastic covering – they point straight down, so it can be quite fiddly getting your cables plugged in.

Despite all the plastic, it's still a premium-looking monitor – it sticks to the basics in terms of aesthetics, but it does them well. We like the splash of colour LEDs on the soundbar at the bottom, and the bezels around the side of the VA panel are satisfactorily skinny. Build quality is good, and the monitor feels solid when you've got it placed somewhere, with the monitor fitting into the stand with a reassuring click.

The screen tilts and you can adjust the height, but it doesn't rotate, so if you need it to point in another direction then you'll have to move the entire stand. The monitor has a comprehensive on-screen display, operated via a small joystick underneath, and this is all very straightforward – you actually get instructions on the display itself for navigating the menus, which is helpful (and it would be nice to see this on more monitors as well). We've got no complaints when it comes to setup and operation.

In terms of connectivity and ports, there's a USB-C port for video in, gadget charging and data transfer, two HDMI 2.0 ports, and a DisplayPort 1.4 socket as well, so you're well covered there (there's a separate USB-C port for power). There's also a 3.5 mm audio jack that does double-duty as a plug socket for either some headphones or a microphone (or both in the same headset). That's a decent selection and should cover everything that you need to hook up.

• Here are the best 4K monitors

Huawei MateView GT review: features and picture

We tested the Huawei MateView GT on several games, including Red Dead Redemption 2, Cyberpunk 2077 and Grand Theft Auto, as well as using it as a more general purpose screen and watching a few videos on it too. Overall, this is a great panel, with vibrant colours, strong contrast, and very little in the way of blurring or ghosting. As long as you have the games and other content to make use of the wide, wide format of the screen, you can get some stunning results.

When it comes to the actual spec, the monitor offers a maximum 165Hz refresh rate, up to 350 nits of brightness, HDR10 support and a 4,000:1 dynamic range contrast ratio. The monitor is able to show 1.07 billion different colours, with a 90 percent DCI-P3 wide colour gamut and a 100 percent sRGB colour gamut. Those are very decent specs for the price you're paying, and thankfully they're reflected in the quality of the images that you actually see. The 4ms response time won't be enough for the most dedicated gamers, but for the rest of us, it's perfectly fine.

We have to mention the 2 x 5W soundbar that's at the bottom of the screen – this is one of the more unusual features of the Huawei MateView GT, and while some people might not like the extra bulk, it pumps out great audio for its size. If you don't mind the look of it, you won't be disappointed with the sound coming from games, videos and everything else, and we think it's one of the main reasons to buy this monitor.

The soundbar also has an integrated slim LED light strip, which you can customise to match the rest of your gaming setup. AMD FreeSync support is built in as well, for a little extra assurance that your games are going to look fluid and smooth on screen – and it certainly seemed effective with the AMD-powered rig that we connected this monitor up to. Various different display modes are included, for better results if you're watching movies or gaming, but you can also tweak the settings manually.

• Check out the best gaming monitors

Huawei MateView GT review: price and verdict

We came away very impressed with what the Huawei MateView GT has to offer, and we don't think you're going to be in any way disappointed if you choose this as your next PC accessory upgrade: from games to movies to web browsing, the panel looks superb in terms of colours, contrast and brightness, and there are some good specs underlying it as well. It's easy to set up, and easy to operate.

There are downsides, but they're pretty minor – other screens offer a faster refresh rate, for example, and viewing angles aren't great if you're not sat right in front of the screen (not a huge problem unless you've got an audience in the room with you). The aesthetics of the monitor might not be to everyone's tastes, and you can't easily rotate the display, but really we're not talking about any major dealbreakers here.

We like the pricing of the Huawei MateView GT as well, which at the time of writing is around £500 in the UK and $500 in the US. It's a mid-range sort of price for a monitor that's a bit more than mid-range, in our opinion. That said, this is a very competitive part of the market, and if you shop around you'll find plenty of similarly priced displays that more than hold their own against everything this model has to offer.

The Huawei MateView GT has enough about it to be worthy of your consideration though – not least that integrated soundbar which may save you the trouble of buying external speakers (it doesn't sound as good as separate speakers of course, but it's convenient and it saves you another expense – and it does pack a punch). Definitely an above-average gaming monitor and one that we'd be happy to use on our own setup.

• We've collected together all the best gaming laptops