PC Pro - UK 2021-12)

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HPZ 27 uG 3

HuaweiMateView

Ifyou’rehappywithsRGB

andwillconnectoverUSB-C,

thisstylishmonitordelivers

Astunningscreenthat

darestothinkdifferently

–it’sexpensivebutworthit

PRICE£329(£395incVAT)fromhp.co.uk

PRICE£500(£600incVAT)fromhuawei.com

,

.

Certainlythistechnicaldisadvantage

isn’tobvioustotheeye,withcrisp,

cleanwhitesandvividcolour

reproduction,particularlyinDCI-P3

mode.Itcovers80%ofthatspace,

whichisenoughtogiveimagessome

punch.Norarewecomplainingabout

a peak brightnessof372cd/m^2 , 1,059:1

measuredcontrastratioandan

averageDeltaE of 0.52 (insRGB,with

a maximumof 1.11).Note thateach

paneliscalibratedbeforeitleavesthe

factory,andyou willreceiveyour

individualreportinthebox.

to

slidethevolumeup.It’sa cracking

pairof speakers, too.

Tappingtheundersidebringsup

themainmenu,whichusestapsand

swipestojumptothe settingyou

want.It’ssointuitiveyoucould get

a five-year-oldtoswitchbetween

sRGBandDCI-P3settings.

What’smore,switchingbetween

thosetwoprofilesmakesa visible

difference.Huaweihasclearlyput

plentyofeffortinto tuningthe

electronics,withsRGBcovering 98%

ofthat gamutoutofa 102%volume.

Thereareyetmorepluspoints.The

intuitiveOSDisoneofourfavourites,

asyou’renevermorethana button

pressortwoawayfromyourlikely

objective.Welikethephysicaldesign,

too,whichis more strikingand

angularthanmost.Weonlywishthat

HPhadincludeda coverforthecables

tostopthemoverhangingthebottom

ofthepanel,as this spoilsotherwise

cleanlines.Ideallyyou’llbeusingthe

USB-Cconnection,whichdelivers

100Wofpowerand bringstheRJ-45

portand fourUSB-A3.1portsinto

play.There’salsothechancetodaisy

chaina secondmonitorviathe

DisplayPortout,whichaccompanies

theDisplayPort andHDMIinputs.

Thestandalmostfeelstoo lightto

holdtheweightofthepanel, butin

practicethismonitor satrocksolid

onourdesk.What’smore,the

mechanism to moveit through

150mmofheightadjustmentis

wonderfullysmooth. Moneyhas

clearlybeen spenthere.

Therearesomeomissions:no

speakers, no USB-Bport andnoHDR

certification.Combinedwithits

limitedcolourgamut,thismeans that

it’sbestsuitedtopeople whowillbe

workinginnon-creativecolour

spacesandconnectingoverUSB-C.

DCI-P3coverageis thebesthere,

with94%outofa 98%volume. Iteven

comesnearthetopforcolour

accuracy,withanaverageDeltaE of

0.38andmaximumof1.01.Onlyone

ofourtestscouldfinda weakness,

withconsiderablevariationof

brightnessacross thescreen–

perhapsHuaweihas triedtoohardto

hita peakof 500cd/m^2.

YoucanusetheMateView

wirelessly– it supportsprojection

froma WindowsPCorphone,with

Bluetooth 5.1andWi-Fi6 builtin–

butmostpeoplewillrelyonwires,

andhereHuaweimakes a mis-step.

Thethreerear-mountedportsare

HDMI,mini-DisplayPort(anoffbeat

choice)andUSB-C,butthelatteris

exclusivelyfortheexternalpower

supply.Ifyou wanttoconnecta

laptopviaUSB-C,youmustplugit in

usinga portplacedonthesideof the

base,spoilingitsotherwiseclean

lines.That’salsowhereHuaweiputs

thetwoUSB-Aports.

Perhaps, though,thebiggest

challenge is theprice.TheMateView

isnewtothe UK,andnodoubt

Huaweiwillofferbundles to sweeten

thedeal,butthisis a lotofmoney to

payfora monitor–evenforsucha

gorgeousandinnovativeone.

T

hejoyofHP’s productnaming

systemisthat it’s bothshort

andlitteredwithclues.Here,

theG3 tellsusit’s thethirdgeneration

ofproduct; the“Z”thatit’spartofthe

company’shigh-endworkstation

family;the 27 obvious;andthe“u”

thatitincludes a USB-C port.Thatlast

isa littleconfusing,becauseother

manufacturersuse“u”toindicatean

UltraHD(4K) resolution,buttheZ27u

includesa 1 440 p panelinstead.

Wehadhopeda screen to partner

workstationswould havea high-end

paneltomatch,butit’sonlya 6-bit

unitwithframeratecontrol(FRC),so

whileitcandisplay16.7million

colours it isn’tassmoothas a true

8-bitpanel.Andit’stunedforsRGB

ratherthan,say,AdobeRGB.

T

herearemanythingswelove

abouttheHuawei MateView.

Topof thelistisitsaspect ratio,

whichiswonderfullydifferentat3:2.

Thisworkedwellwhetherwewere

focusingona singlewindowor

workingontwosidebyside;ithelps

thata secondthingto loveaboutthis

screenis its3,840x 2,560resolution,

whichtranslates into a super-sharp

164ppiacrossthe28.2indiagonal.

Wealsolovetheminimalist,

floatingdesign. We haven’tyetseena

bezel-less monitor,butwith7mmon

thetop,leftand rightedges,this

comesclose.Thebottombezelspoils

thesymmetrybybeing10mmthick,

butin recompenseit holds a secret:

slideyourfinger underneathfromleft

ABOVE

strikingthanmost

ABOVE t

HuaweiMateViewis

almostbezel-less

SCORE

SCORE

AdobeRGBisthecolourgamutfavouredbytheprintdesignindustryanddirectlymapstoprintedoutput.DCI-P3isacolourgamutfavouredbythemovie

industryduetoitsrichandvibrantcolours.sRGBisthemostcommoncolourgamutusedontheweb.Formore,see“Whatarecolourspaces?”onp 77.

2 , 560 x

1 , 440

27 in^98 %

sRGB

80 %

DCI-P 3

3 , 840 x

2 , 560 28.^2 in

98 %

sRGB

94 %

DCI-P 3

JARGONBUSTER

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