How to Set Up an OLED TV as a Desk Monitor

How we chose

This guide ranks for living with the TV at a desk rather than for picture quality: weight, stand footprint, VESA mounting, how the TV behaves as a PC display, and how much light it can handle. Picture-first picks are in our main guide. The setup advice draws on RTINGS' burn-in research and monitor-style TV reviews, TFTCentral and TechSpot's reviews of the 42-inch LG C2 as a monitor, manufacturer specs, and Ergotron's published arm ratings.

Where it sits

Put the screen as far back as your desk allows. TV feet sit it low, so TechSpot suggested raising the 42-inch LG C2 by 10 to 15 cm, which an arm or a sturdy riser does. We'd plan on at least 30 inches from your eyes to a 42-inch screen, and roughly three feet or more for a 48-inch, so the corners stay in view without turning your head.

Check the footprint before you order. The 42-inch LGs are 36.7 inches wide, on feet 28.3 inches apart and 6.7 inches deep. The 48-inch Samsung S90H's pedestal is narrower but 10.4 inches deep, and the 48-inch LG C6's is 18.5 by 9.1 inches.

Arms and wall mounts

These TVs use a 300 x 200mm VESA pattern and weigh 21.6 to 32.8 pounds without their stands, more than most monitor arms are built for. Ergotron's LX arm, for example, is rated for 7 to 25 pounds and 75 or 100mm plates. Its heavy-duty HX is rated to 42 pounds, which covers every TV here on weight, but check that the arm or an adapter plate supports 300 x 200 before you buy.

For a 48-inch, a wall mount behind the desk is often the better answer: it puts the screen farther away, frees the desktop, and takes the weight off a clamp. Leave room behind it for thick HDMI cables.

A burn-in routine that works

RTINGS' long-term testing found that recent OLED TVs still burn in with static content, and it names desktop users among the people for whom burn-in remains a real consideration. Neither LG nor Samsung says its one-year TV warranty covers burn-in. The aim is simple: don't leave the same bright elements in the same place for hours.

• Auto-hide the Windows taskbar or macOS dock, and use dark mode where you can.
• Use a dark or slideshow wallpaper and hide desktop icons.
• Set the PC's display to sleep after a few minutes idle.
• Lower SDR brightness for office work; RTINGS suggests that reduces wear.
• Leave the TV's pixel shift and logo dimming on (LG's OLED Care; Samsung's Panel Care).
• Let the TV run its pixel refresh: LG's runs at power-off after every four hours of use, so turn it off with the remote rather than at the wall.
• Mix in games and video. If your workday is ten hours of static spreadsheets, a regular monitor for work is the safer choice.

Sound

Built-in TV speakers are the weak spot at a desk; What Hi-Fi's main complaint about the 42-inch C5 is its 20W sound. The easiest upgrades are a pair of powered desktop speakers beside the screen, a headset on the console or PC, or a compact soundbar on eARC or optical out. With the 42-inch LGs' low feet, a soundbar in front blocks the bottom of the screen, so put speakers beside it or raise the TV on an arm.

PC and Mac settings

Connect the PC to an HDMI 2.1 port with a cable rated for it, and pick the TV's top refresh rate in Windows display settings: 165Hz on the LG C6s and Samsung S90H, 144Hz on the C5, 120Hz on the S85H. On LG TVs, set the input's label to “PC”; RTINGS measured far lower input lag with it in some picture modes.

Start at 100% scaling on a 42-inch for maximum space, or 125% if text feels small; at 48 inches, 125% suits most people. TFTCentral recommended PC mode and sharpness at zero for the 42-inch LG C2. Run the ClearType tuner, since RTINGS notes ClearType doesn't render properly on WOLED subpixel layouts. On a Mac, RTINGS ran the 48-inch C6 at 165Hz with VRR over HDMI.

Console settings

On an Xbox Series X or PS5 Pro, turn on 120Hz output and VRR in the video settings. The TVs' auto low-latency mode switches to game mode when a game starts. If you play Xbox games in Dolby Vision, the LG TVs support it; the Samsungs use HDR10+ instead and don't offer Dolby Vision.