Another "which monitor" thread (27-28" £550 budget)

TruffleShuffle

TruffleShuffle

TruffleShuffle

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The company I work for is allowing each employee to expense £330 towards a new monitor for their "home office".

An employee can basically get any monitor they want, essentially with a £330 discount :)

So...
  • I'm looking for 27-28"
  • I've always been an Nvidia user, so G-Sync compatibility would be a bonus.
  • A powered USB-C port in the back would be very helpful (day-to-day use connected to a Macbook)
  • Nothing ugly, this monitor needs to sit in the bedroom, so pass the wife test.
  • Easy to switch between inputs (from work laptop to home PC)
Beyond that i'm really hoping people can tell me what i should be needing!

Budget... I guess i'm willing to put in another couple hundred myself so... £~550
 
SilverRST said:
Preferences for panels like VA or IPS? Resolutions?
Click to expand...

This is where i'm looking for advice. In my head the higher the resolution, the better, but that doesnt seem to be reflected in what monitors are offering these days. And i have no idea on VA or IPS!

I would say that usage will be as a 2nd monitor for work (just browser based stuff so nothing taxing here), and as a gaming monitor for my PC. I play almost exclusively single-player games with the exception of Rocket League. So recent gaming would be :

  • Rocket Legue
  • AC: Valhalla
  • Ghost Recon : Breakpoint
  • Deathloop
  • Age of Empires 4
Looking at this years releases the ones that stand out for me are:

  • S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2
  • Company of Heroes 3
  • Homeworld 3
Hope this info helps!
 
Gaming means forget 60Hz.
Good thing is that 27" 2560x1440 144+ Hz is highly competed monitor category.
But while DisplayPort mode supporting USB-C is starting to be rather common, if you're after USB-C power delivery for also charging laptop that's rarer.

IPS is overall the best LCD type for usual conditions.
Where it falls short is if you prefer darkened room.
Usual LCD level contrast doesn't give good black and with wide spread lack of A-TW polarizer there's phenomenon known as "IPS glow".
VA's the way highest contrast and hence the best black of LCDs would give the best looking image in darkened room.
But at the expense of its own weaknesses in dark shade gamma shift known as "black crush" and typically far slower than other LCDs dark shade transitions known as "black smear".


MSI MAG274 would be one of the best of IPS with higher contrast than in most of them, very good response times and with very wide gamut giving punchy colours for games.
MSI 27" MAG274QRF-QD 2560x1440 IPS Quantum Dot 165Hz 1ms FreeSync/G-Sync Widescreen LED Backlit Gami= £498.95
 
VA indeed has some level of black smear but this depends on the unit. I had two same unit, one has purple and black smear that are noticable without looking for it and other unit has only black smear but not noticable when not looking for it. I retured the faulty unit and kept it the better one. And is VA bad for gaming? Not at all. I use mine for gaming too. IPS is only fine if you use it bright rooms, like on work or when you only use the monitor in daylight. VA is fine for both, day and night and darkened room too. VA gives the best contrast in games with dark scenes like nights or horror games and great for horror movies too.

VA or IPS, it really depends on your preferences and how you will use the monitor. I tried to find the monitor using this website but can't find it.
In case you wanna go for the VA: Huawei MateView GT27 Standard Edition. I'm only not sure if this monitor is available in the UK or not.
 
I recently bought an Iiyama monitor (ProLite XB3288UHSU). The display is pin sharp, and the colour is good, but the backlighting makes it seem "shiny" to me, compared to my laptop screen - like you are aware it is being backlit. I think an IPS panel would offer "richer" and more lifelike colours, but they are more expensive, and have lower response time for gaming.

More definitions:

VA LCD Panel - VA stands for Vertical Alignment, and describes the way the liquid crystals are aligned in this panel type. VA is a cheaper technology than IPS, and cannot match the overall picture quality of IPS, but still offers good quality. It gives excellent contrast, which means black really is black, so if you viewed the monitor in the dark, blacks would be black (as opposed to grey). Viewing angle is also narrower than for IPS, which means when viewed from the side, or looking at the edges of large panels, colours can appear a bit washed out, although this probably won't bother you that much in practice.

IPS LCD Panel - IPS stands for In-Plane Switching, and describes the way the liquid crystals move in this panel type. IPS panels can deliver rich colours, and colour accuracy and consistency, making them popular with digital artists and designers. They also offer wide viewing angles.

In terms of quality, then IMO LG and Dell are the leading brands.

Rgds
 
Thanks for the advice everyone. I really liked the look of the MSI that was recommended so I snapped one up.

I've been wanting a decent monitor for a while now so I'm really excited to finally get one and for basically just £120 of my own money!!
 
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