EIZO Announces the IPS 26.5” FlexScan EV2730Q Monitor with 1920x1920 Resolution
by Ian Cutress on November 19, 2014 1:18 PM EST
I will be honest, the nearest I think I have come to a square monitor is the 1024x768 panel I use as a tiny second screen on my main computer. When I first saw EIZO’s press release regarding this new 1920x1920 monitor it took me aback, imagining what it might feel like to actually use. The consumer monitor market is expanding to various screen sizes, usually following 16:9, 16:10 or 21:9 for the most part. But after a few minutes, I realized that non-standard monitor sizes are most likely abundant in various industries, such as medical, when they are designed for a specific purpose and quality. So while a 1:1 monitor is something interesting to see in the consumer space, perhaps it might not be so new when considering industrial use scenarios. That all being said, it would be interesting to see this one in the flesh.
1920x1920 means 3.7 megapixels, the same as 2560x1440. This compares to the regular desktop sizes of 1080p (2MP), 1200p (2.3MP), 3200x1800 (5.8MP) and 2160p (8.3MP), which indicates that if this monitor were to be used for gaming, performance would put it directly in the 1440p category. That being said, EIZO is not exactly targeting this monitor for gaming. The more vertical space provided is better suited to writers, coders or CAD who require many items on the screen at once, often side by side. As an editor, I often have an image on one side of my screen while writing my reviews on the other, so I can certainly see this marketing angle.
The basic specification list gives the IPS-based EV2730Q as a 16.8 million color display with 178 degree viewing angles, a 300 nit brightness, a 1000:1 contrast ratio and 5ms gray-to-gray response time. Video inputs are via DisplayPort and a dual-link DVI-D, with a maximum refresh rate of 60 Hz. Two 1W speakers are built in, along with a 2-port USB 2.0 hub. 100mm VESA is supported with 344º of swivel and 35º/5º of tilt. Height is also adjustable.
The button controls are on the front of the panel, and EIZO gives three profiles called sRGB, Movie and Paper along with two user customizable profiles. The Paper profile is designed to reduce the amount of blue in an image to prevent eyestrain while reading or coding against a white background. A feature called Auto Ecoview can detect the ambient light level and adjust the screen’s brightness to reduce eyestrain and power. This can also detect when a user leaves the desk to power down the monitor, with power on when the user returns.
We are contacting EIZO to find what markets the EV2730Q will be sold in as well as the prices. EIZO has announced that the monitor will be available from Q1 in 2015, but this will vary by country. With any luck, it will be on display at CES.
Source: EIZO via TFTCentral
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MrSpadge - Thursday, November 20, 2014 - link
I don't think you're really looking for 4:3. If you simply take your 1280x1024 screen and attach some more horizontal pixels (make it more wide-screen), it doesn't become any worse. But if you go wide-screen and lower the amount of vertical pixels, that's a clear drawback and pretty much the reason people don't like wide screen.Think of this: plenty of people like 2 monitors side-by-side, but they don't like wide-screen? That doesn't make much sense.
phoenix_rizzen - Thursday, November 27, 2014 - link
Exactly. A lot of people have 1280x1024 monitors (as that was "the standard" for 15-19" monitors back in the day). A 16:9 screen tends to have fewer vertical pixels (768 or 900), but not always. So long as you are picky about the minimum vertical pixels, a widescreen monitor can be an upgrade.1680x1050, 1920x1080, 1920x1200, etc are all upgrades to a 1280x1024 monitor.
Kutark - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
Seriously, who would buy this? I can't think of a single situation where a square monitor would be ideal.p1esk - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
I'd buy it today if it had better resolution. 1920 belongs on a phone.MrSpadge - Thursday, November 20, 2014 - link
Ever thought of moving farther than 10 cm away from your desktop monitor?creed3020 - Thursday, November 20, 2014 - link
Don't think like a consumer, think like a professional or prosumer.The use cases are there otherwise they wouldn't be bringing this to market.
Pigumon - Tuesday, November 25, 2014 - link
Arcade emulator. You no longer have to have a shrunken screen when switching from a portrait game to a landscape game.efficacyman - Wednesday, December 17, 2014 - link
Multi-Screen Setups. 3x3 for 9 displays would work amazing on this or just 3x1mapesdhs - Wednesday, November 19, 2014 - link
Kutark, square-aspect displays are common in medical imaging, defense imaging,
photogrammatry, GIS and other industrial imaging applications. In many cases,
images can be more than 50GB in file size, more than 100K pixels across, with
hardware used to accelerate pan, roam, zoom and image processing ops (edge
detect, sharpness, contrast, noise reduction, brightness, etc.) Defense imaging
has been doing this sort of thing for almost 20 years (Google the, "Group Station",
circa late 1990s), in the past with high- end UNIX systems and propretory gfx, nowadays
more likely with custom-built versions of pro GPUs, though the details are not publicised
anymore (eg. multi-GPU board, 10X more RAM than mormal, etc. Lockheed used to
make SGI-based stuff like this in the 1990s; I bet they make NVIDIA-based designs now).
Ian.
iva2k - Thursday, November 20, 2014 - link
I would certainly buy one (actually two - one for work, one for home, for reasonable price per pixel and if my laptop docking station could support its full resolution).There is very strong division between creators (who would love 1:1 option) vs. consumers (who would mostly stick to 16:9). Explaining opposite position is a futile exercise.
My main use case is to have no need to turn 1920x1200 display between portrait and landscape, and have enough space for toolbars and secondary windows.