HP’s new 49-inch curved ultrawide monitor has a pop-up webcam

HP is announcing a new jumbo-sized ultrawide monitor designed for productivity and office use. The HP Series 5 Pro 49-inch Conferencing Monitor uses a 32:9 VA IPS panel with 5120 x 1440 resolution, 165Hz refresh, and an 1800R curvature. Like other monitors of this size and resolution, it’s equivalent to using two 27-inch displays side by side. But unlike offerings from Samsung, Dell, Lenovo, and LG, the Series 5 Pro sports a hidden 5-megapixel webcam that extends from its top when you push to unlock it.

I got to briefly see the 49-incher at a preview event, where HP reps demoed software that lets it act as two or three virtual displays for multi-monitor-like use. The panel looked decently bright and contrasty in a well-lit office environment, and its rear has HDMI 2.1, DisplayPort 1.4, ethernet, and some USB ports (complete with KVM functionality). While the panel goes up to 165Hz and covers 99 percent of the sRGB color space, its 5ms response time and 8-bit color depth make it less than ideal for gaming or color-sensitive content creation.

Pricing will be revealed closer to the monitor’s November launch.