Monoprice IPS-Glass Panel Pro 27" LCD Monitor
by Chris Heinonen on October 22, 2013 2:40 AM EST
The first Monoprice display I looked at didn’t fare well. While very affordable, it only offered a DVI input and very little in the way of controls. The worst sin was that the brightness control on the display just didn’t work correctly. A step up from that model is their IPS-Glass. With HDMI, DSub, and DisplayPort inputs to go with a dual-link DVI input, it is far more flexible than the cheaper model. It also returns the display controls to the front of the monitor instead of the rear. As important as these changes are, it won’t really matter if the issues found in the cheaper model exist here.
The Monoprice IPS-Glass Pro Panel is a 27”, 2560x1440 display using an IPS panel. It has a standard white LED backlight and uses the standard sRGB color gamut. To utilize the full resolution you’ll need to use the DVI or DisplayPort inputs as the HDMI port is 1.4a but not capable of the full 2560x1440 resolution. The included stand offers a bit of tilt but no other adjustments are available, though the 100mm VESA mounting holes make it easy to replace that with a better model if you desire. The features of the Monoprice are rounded out by a pair of speakers on the rear of the display.
The menu system inside of the Monoprice is exactly like that of the Nixeus displays. With a lot of these cheaper displays the panels and electronics are all being sourced from the same suppliers. There is still a lot that a company can do to improve upon the default performance, but the guts are the same. Unlike the cheaper Monoprice display we're glad to report that the Brightness control here works properly. Beyond the Brightness and Contrast controls you have a few preset modes that are best avoided, and a single point white balance control. There is a dynamic contrast mode but it blows the gamma curve way out of proportion, crushing shadows and highlights in the process. Overall the controls are bare-bones, but they do operate correctly.
The Monoprice IPS-Glass panel has a substantial feeling to it. There are vents at the top and the bottom and the display stays cool during use. Using an external power brick helps with this but also means another item on/near your desk. The bezel is a thick piece of glossy plastic that really picks up fingerprints, so try to avoid touching it if you can. It helps to slightly enhance the apparent contrast to your eye though I still prefer a matte finish that doesn’t show smudges as easily. The screen surface is very glossy as well. If you are in a room with bright, direct lighting the glare is probably going to be an issue.
The speakers provide adequate sound but are nothing to write home about. If you have no other speakers handy they can suffice, but that's about all I'd say of them. Since they’re rear-mounted they may also get muffled if you wall-mount the display, though wall mounting is usually only something we see with HDTVs so it's probably not a major concern. Overall the Monoprice design shows its value roots but it does not feel cheap. The HDMI resolution limitation would be a bigger deal without DisplayPort but most people should be fine with that.
| Monoprice IPS-Glass Panel Pro | |
| Video Inputs | DVI-DL, DisplayPort, HDMI, Dsub |
| Panel Type | IPS |
| Pixel Pitch | 0.2331mm |
| Colors | 1.07 Billion (A-FRC) |
| Brightness | 440 cd/m^2 |
| Contrast Ratio | 80,000:1 |
| Response Time | 6ms GtG |
| Viewable Size | 27" |
| Resolution | 2560x1440 |
| Viewing Angle (H/V) | 178/178 |
| Backlight | White LED |
| Power Consumption (operation) | < 90W |
| Power Consumption (standby) | < 1 W |
| Screen Treatment | Glossy |
| Height-Adjustable | No |
| Tilt | Yes |
| Pivot | No |
| Swivel | No |
| VESA Wall Mounting | Yes, 100mm x 100mm |
| Dimensions w/ Base (WxHxD) | 25.9" x 19" x 8.5" |
| Weight | 18.3 lbs. |
| Additional Features | 2W Stereo Speakers |
| Limited Warranty | 1 Year |
| Accessories | Power Cord, Power Brick, 3.5mm Audio Cable, DL-DVI Cable |
| Price | $474 |
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
41 Comments
View All Comments
jbm - Tuesday, October 22, 2013 - link
ASUS PB278Q is $553 on amazon.com right now. I'd buy that for sure over the Monoprice (in fact I have bought it and I am very happy with it). The PB278Q has a matte screen, is calibrated well, has all the inputs you will ever need AND comes with all the cables in the box (VGA, HDMI, DVI, Displayport) - which also needs to be figured into the price difference.Nfarce - Tuesday, October 22, 2013 - link
Nice monitor. If you are lucky enough to get one with no dead pixels or massive light bleeding problems. I tried three of them and returned them all. Two had dead pixels that were towards the middle of the screen and noticeable, and the third a massive light bleed problem in the lower right and left, probably an assembly defect with the bezel not fitting correctly. I gave up and am now spending time researching other 1440p options.jabber - Tuesday, October 22, 2013 - link
Buy some carbon fibre vinyl sheeting (or whatever) and cover the bezel in that.l_d_allan - Tuesday, October 22, 2013 - link
> Considering the color accuracy of this display after calibration, it seems like a cheap option for an image professional that wants color accuracy.I infer by "image professional" that you would include a serious Photoshop'er. At that level, I think they would expect closer to 100% coverage of the Adobe-98 gamut, rather than sRGB.
Or not?
foxalopex - Tuesday, October 22, 2013 - link
Last I recall Adobe-RGB is a wider colour space than standard sRGB which is closer to what most consumer monitors are tuned to. To display it usually requires a wide-spectrum backlight system which you are not going to find in a cheap monitor.From what I recall it depends on the application. Image Professionals who publish primarily to the Internet or to a consumer's computer will never need more than sRGB because that's what your customer's only capable of. Using Adobe-RGB would likely throw off the picture quite a bit because it won't look remotely correct in sRGB colorspace. I believe the Adobe-RGB users are probably printing images where there's a very wide colorspace or just archiving the pictures and trying to see as much as possible.
piroroadkill - Tuesday, October 22, 2013 - link
I think he's inferring that someone who wants colour accuracy probably wouldn't be looking at a cheap ass monitor.JDG1980 - Tuesday, October 22, 2013 - link
I'm hoping that Monoprice or one of the Korean vendors will soon release a 4K monitor that uses the inexpensive panel used on Seiki 4K TVs, but supports 60 Hz via DisplayPort. (The panel on the Seiki TVs can do that, it's just that they are limited to HDMI input, which only supports 30 Hz.)2560x1440 is OK, but surely we can do better now.
Nfarce - Tuesday, October 22, 2013 - link
Have you even looked at the performance hit on modern high end graphics cards that 4K monitors do? See Tom's review on Sept. 18 about it. At high graphics quality settings in games, a 4K monitor (2160p) brings a Titan GPU to its knees, barely making 30fps in games like BF3, and with Crysis 3, forget about it unless you go with two Titans. At some point, the law of diminishing returns steps in to what the eye can appreciate as resolutions move up anyway. But if you've got the money, sure, you *can* do better than 1440p - you just need to pony up for the GPU power to run it.iamlilysdad - Tuesday, October 22, 2013 - link
Not everybody is in it just for gaming.DanNeely - Wednesday, October 23, 2013 - link
The few games they benched with no AA gave good results on the single titan. I'd like to see more tests like that with a single 780. While 140DPI isn't enough to not benefit from AA; it's enough of an improvement over 100 that it's not as important.That said; my budgeting is assuming that when I jump on the 4k bandwagon that I'll need to add a second GPU to feed it at native resolution.