LG 55EW5P-M 55" Full HD Transparent

The LG 55EW5P-M is a 55-inch transparent OLED sign that looks futuristic and moves smoothly at 120Hz, but its brightness is low and color accuracy is terrible. It costs as much as a car. Only worth it if you absolutely need to show graphics on top of real objects.

The LG 55EW5P-M is a 55-inch transparent OLED display built for commercial signage, not your living room. With 43% transparency, it layers digital content over real objects behind the screen, making it a head-turner in retail windows or museum exhibits. But this isn't a monitor you'd ever want on a desk. It's dim at 200 nits, color performance is bottom-of-the-barrel, and connectivity is sparse.

Despite some misleading 4K specs, this panel runs at a native 1920x1080. That's fine for signage but underwhelming up close. The 120Hz refresh and near-instant 0.1ms response are genuinely impressive—it sits in the top 5% of our database for raw speed. But the 200-nit brightness is weak, and color accuracy lands dead last in our rankings. For transparent overlays, that's often acceptable; for anything requiring good image quality, it's a hard pass.

Pricing varies from $17,333 to $23,755 across vendors, with the best deal at the lower end. That's a serious commercial investment. If you're a high-end retailer creating a futuristic window display, the transparency effect might justify the cost. For any conventional use, it's terrible value. You could buy a fleet of superior standard monitors for the same money. Unless the see-through gimmick is mission-critical, skip it.

Stacked against gaming OLEDs like the ASUS ROG Strix XG27AQDMG or MSI MPG 491CQP, the LG loses in brightness, color, and connectivity. Those monitors hit 400-plus nits and cover wide color gamuts; the LG's 200-nit, bottom-tier color makes them look like HDR kings. The Alienware AW3423DWF and Samsung Odyssey also outclass it for general use. But none of them are transparent. That's the only reason you'd pick the LG—and it's a very niche reason.

If you need a monitor for gaming, color grading, office work, or home entertainment, look elsewhere. The low brightness, awful color accuracy, and lack of modern ports make it a nightmare for daily use. And if budget matters at all, the $17,000-plus price tag is laughable for a 1080p screen.

This is a purpose-built commercial display, and for that narrow use—overlaying digital content on physical objects—it excels. If you run a high-end retail space, a museum, or a flashy corporate lobby and have the budget, the effect is undeniably cool. Everyone else should walk away; this transparent OLED is not a monitor for mere mortals.