PC Pro - UK 2021-12)

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KudostoLenovofortrying

somethingdifferent,butagainst

toughoppositionitfallsshort

A nichechoicethat’sbestfor

demandingenvironments,but

the1080ppanellooksdated

Ifyoucan’taffordA-grade

luxury,thisPhilipsB Linedelivers

a lotforanaggressiveprice

PRICE£250(£300incVAT)fromamazon.co.uk PRICE£345(£414incVAT)fromuk.insight.com PRICE£258(£310incVAT)fromshop.bt.com

T

heLenovoQ27h-10a curiousbeast.
Insomeways,it’sexcellent:it’sa
bright27inIPSpanelwitha sensible
2,560 x 1,440resolution,andat£300it
rubsshoulderswiththelikesofAOC,
IiyamaandPhilips. It coversa reasonably
widegamut,too,withupto 80 % of the
DCI-P3spaceand99%ofsRGB.Addfine
colouraccuracyandeverythingappearsto
pointinonedirection.
Buttherearemanybuts. Thefirstisthe
inflexibilityofthestand,whichhasclearly
beendesigned withstylein mind(fromthe
front;therearisa greyrectangleofdespair)
andjettisonsluxuriessuchasheight
adjustment,pivot andswivel.Youcan
adjustthescreen’stiltandthat’sit.
Thenthere’s theonscreendisplay.It’s
asifthedesignersofthebuttonsnever met
thesoftwaredevelopers,whichmakes
navigation a stiltedaffairasyouattempt
toworkoutwhatbutton(allhiddenfrom
viewroundtheback)doeswhat.That’s a
shame,becausethefivemaincolour
profiles– Standard,Game,Web,Movie
andPicture– offersensibleoptions
dependingonyourusage.
Exceptherecomesanotherbut:Web
would suggest an sRGBcolour profile,
whichtargetsa 6500Kcolourtemperature.
Here,though,wemeasureda blue-tinged
7582K,andthereisn’ta waytoreducethis
tomakewhiteslookpurewhite.Thepanel
doesn’tlookawful by anymeans, butit’s
oddtoomitthiscontrol.
AtleastLenovoincludesa handfulof
usefulextras. Thepairof3Wspeakersare
justgoodenough forbackgroundmusic,
there’ssupportforAMDFreeSync,andthe
USB-Cconnection(notethetwo USB-A 3
ports)candeliverup to 80Wofpowerto
connectedlaptops.
Suchpositives aren’tenough,however.
Againstsuchtoughopposition,theQ27h-10
isanalso-ran.

S

harpNECdescribes theMultiSync

EA272Fasanenterprisedisplay,and

it’slikelytobeboughtandmanaged

inbulkviaa valueaddedreseller.Assuch,

itslistpriceof£345excVATshouldbe

sprinkledwithsalt:whenyou’rebuying

hundredsina widercontract, thecostofthe

hardware willprobablybejustpart of

a managedITdeal.

Sowewon’tjudgethismonitorbyits

pricebutbyitsqualityandfeatures,and

alsobyitsresolution,for1,920x 1,08 0

acrossa 27inpanelisn’tthesharpest.

There’sobviousfuzzaroundtextandit

makesittrickierto worksidebysideon,

say,Excel andWorddocuments.You

simplycan’tpackin as muchdetail.

Youreyes willbegreetedwithcrisp

whites,though,andthepanelitselfissolid

ifconservative.InsRGBmode,whichyou

canselectviatheclunkybutfunctional

text-basedOSD,itcovered87%ofthesRGB

gamutwith an averageDeltaE of 1.29.

Don’texpectrich,movie-likecolour

coverage, withothercolourcontrols

restrictedtocolourtemperaturesother

thanDICOMformedicalsituations.

Bearingin mindthispanel’scredentials,

weexpectedanRJ-45porttoturnitintoa

truedocking solution.Still,theUSB-C

connectordeliversupto65Wofpower,

alongwithVGA,HDMIandDisplayPort

inputs.There’salsoa DisplayPortoutfor

daisychaining.

Thestandprovides340°ofswiveland

35°backwardstilt,andtogetherwithits

sheersoliditywe’dexpectit tosurvive

toughertreatmentthan most.Ifthe

three-yearwarrantyisn’tenough,you

caneasilyextendthistofourorfiveyears

viaNEC’s owncover.

Allthisemphasiseswhata high-quality

pieceof equipmenttheMultiSyncEA272F

is,butwehopethenextiterationhas a

higherresolution.

P

hilipsofferspunters a choice:ifyou

wantluxury,choosea monitorfrom

itsBrilliancerange.Ifyou’reafter

value,considertakingthe B Line.

Notthat there’s muchsignof

compromise. Let’sstartwith the1440pIPS

panel,whichcanreproduce1.07billion

coloursatanofficialpeakbrightnessof

350cd/m^2 (ithit389cd/m^2 inourtests).

It’sa widegamutpanel,too,covering

92%oftheDCI-P3gamutwhensetto

“native”intheOSD,andallwithexcellent

colouraccuracy:anaverageDelta E of 0.4is

uptherewiththebest.We measuredthe

colourtemperatureasa warm5957K,but

switchingtothesRGBprofileincreasedthis

to 6518 K.However,don’texpectanyreal

changetothecolourgamut:itcovered

99.5%ofsRGBhere,butthatwasoutofa

129%volume.It’s sRGBinnameonly,sothis

isn’ta panelforpurists.

Instead,Philips’attentionisinsteadon

functionality.Themostimportantfeatureis

a USB-Cportthatcansupplyupto65Wof

power.Connectingoverthis alsogrants

accesstothethree-portUSB-A hub, with

oneontheleftandtwoattherear.Ifyou

wantanRJ-45connector, lookelsewhere.

Youshouldalsolookelsewhereifyou

seekfrills,with relatively thickbezels

(27mmatthebottom)andaneffective

ratherthanstylishbase.Still,weappreciate

theshallow,hollowcut-outinthebasefor

storingofficeknick-knackssuchaspens

andpaper clips.

Therearea coupleofextrashere.Thetop

one,quite literally, is a 1080pIR webcam

thatpops up whenyoupressit– greatfor

privacy.It’slessgreatforquality,not

helpedbyaudiolagginghalfa second

behindtheimage andmediocre

microphones, butitremainsa significant

chunkbetterthanmostlaptops’ webcams.

Consideringtheprice, there’s a lotto

likeaboutthis27inIPSscreen.

SCORE SCORE SCORE

2 , 560 x

1 , 440 27 in

99 %

sRGB

80 %

DCI-P 3

1 , 920 x

1 , 080 27 in

87 %

sRGB

67 %

DCI-P 3

2 , 560 x

1 , 440 27 in

100 %

sRGB

92 %

DCI-P 3

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