HP z27x Review
by Chris Heinonen on December 2, 2014 4:00 PM ESTWith the backlight set to maximum, you only get 269 cd/m2 of brightness from the HP z27x. Many displays can go much brighter, but the z27x is meant to be used in more of a professional, production environment. Bright overhead lighting or direct sunlight are not going to be as much of a problem here, so you don’t need 350-400 cd/m2 to try to overcome those issues. It won’t work as well for such environments but you shouldn’t be using a $1,500 monitor in those situations either. At minimum brightness we get 47 cd/m2 of brightness. This is low enough for any real world use without going down to the unusable levels that some displays do.
Black levels are consistent with other professional level IPS panels. They are not as dark as an IPS panel can be, as the recent Retina iMac would demonstrate, but other performance aspects are more important than absolute black. The z27x would be improved by a better black level, but most of its target users should be fine with what it achieves.
The resulting contrast ratios here are around 815:1, or average for an IPS panel. There is no backlight control or anything else to enhance these beyond what they are. Under 1,000:1 is beginning to be not so great for an IPS panel, though almost all professional panels from NEC or others also fall into this range. It might seem strange that a professional display would value black levels less than a consumer one, but having an even gamma curve with visible shadow details is more important and contrast ratio can be sacrificed to achieve that,
The HP z27x data so far goes along with what I expect from a professional level display. Consumers that plan to watch movies and play games on their display might be happier with a display with improved contrast ratios. Professionals after different performance measures should be happy with the z27x numbers.
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Wwhat - Sunday, December 7, 2014 - link
It's probably enforced by the damn HDMI consortium. But that's why it's nice to have displayport on monitors eh. Graphics cards use those and computer monitors like this one do.teddyboyd - Tuesday, December 9, 2014 - link
There are a number of higher rated monitors, I recommend seeing http://www.topreport.org/monitors/ among others.dgingeri - Tuesday, December 2, 2014 - link
I have the predecessor for this monitor, the ZR2740w, and I hate it. I had to have it replaced twice under warranty in three years. The support for it was difficult to reach and difficult to convince I deserved to get a new one because the old ones wouldn't power up at all. (Apparently, they thought I couldn't attach the cable properly, even though I'd worked in IT for over 15 years.) I am simply not getting another HP monitor again because of my experiences. I recommend the same to others.Dell makes much better monitors at has better support. Right now, they have the 27" UHD P2715Q for only $700, including a 3 year advanced replacement warranty. That sounds like a much better deal than this to me.
cheinonen - Tuesday, December 2, 2014 - link
The ZR2740w, and the Dell, are consumer targeted while the z27x (which isn't a predecessor to the ZR2740w, it's more related to the LP2480zx) is aimed at professionals. Neither the Dell not the ZR2740w have the expanded gamuts or calibration options, they're a different market.fumanstan1 - Tuesday, December 2, 2014 - link
I actually had a different experience with their support for the ZR2740w. Mine started failing where it wouldn't power up either, but they sent a technician out to my apartment to replace the monitor completely and basically came with a brand new warranty without any questions or problems at all. I came away impressed with their support.YazX_ - Tuesday, December 2, 2014 - link
Dell or HP is same rebraded crap originally manufactured in china, you could get same one as these for 300-400$, but the HP logo costs around 1k$.Things extra in this monitor:
LAN: Not important, well external USB 3.0 NIC is for 25$.
USB Hub: not important, costs around 10$.
save your money and get Qnix/X-Star, same quality for fraction of the price, also Qnix comes with Samsung PLS which is better than LG IPS.
Samus - Tuesday, December 2, 2014 - link
You're forgetting the HP logo comes with an excellent on-site warranty, and Qnix tech support doesn't even speak English (they're Korean)wolrah - Wednesday, December 3, 2014 - link
I think you missed the point on the ethernet port. It's not exposed to the PC, it's a configuration interface for the display itself. Still probably unimportant to you as it is to most, but certainly not equivalent to a random USB NIC.ijozic - Wednesday, December 3, 2014 - link
What are you on about? The z27x is a wide gamut monitor, while the ones you mention are not. Furthermore, IPS screens generally seem to have better color accuracy than PLS ones.Samus - Tuesday, December 2, 2014 - link
I had a ZR2740w, it isn't a "successor" to this monitor. The ZR2740 was never a "Dreamcolor" display. As cheinonen said, it's a cheap consumer monitor. I hated it too. I could never get it close to calibrated. But it was a cheap, name-brand 2560x1440 display, and decent for gaming (other than FPS's)