Standing screen display size | 27 Inches |
---|---|
Screen Resolution | 2560x1440 |
Max Screen Resolution | 2560 x 1440 Pixels |
Number of USB 3.0 Ports | 2 |
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90% positive over last 12 months
GIGABYTE M27Q 27" 165Hz 1440P -KVM Gaming Monitor, 2560 x 1440 SS IPS Display, 0.5ms (MPRT) Response Time, 92% DCI-P3, HDR Ready, FreeSync Premium, 1x Display Port 1.2, 2x HDMI 2.0, 2x USB 3.0
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Free returns are available for the shipping address you chose. You can return the item for any reason in new and unused condition: no shipping charges
Learn more about free returns.- Go to your orders and start the return
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- Ship it!
Return this item for free
Free returns are available for the shipping address you chose. You can return the item for any reason in new and unused condition: no shipping charges
Learn more about free returns.- Go to your orders and start the return
- Select the return method
- Ship it!
Purchase options and add-ons
Screen Size | 27 Inches |
Display Resolution Maximum | 2560 x 1440 Pixels |
Brand | GIGABYTE |
Special Feature | Height Adjustment, Blue Light Filter, Tilt Adjustment, Flicker-Free |
Refresh Rate | 165 Hz |
About this item
- 27” 2560x1440 SS IPS Display.Specific uses for product - Business
- Viewing Angle is 178º (H) / 178º (V)
- 165Hz Refresh Rate, 0.5ms (MPRT) Response Time
- Smooth Gameplay with AMD FreeSync Premium
- Studio Grade VESA Display HDR400 and 92% DCI-P3 (140% sRGB) Color Gamut. Tilt(angle) : minus-5° - plus-20°
- Control multiple devices with KVM.GIGABYTE Classic Tactical Features with OSD Sidekick. GIGABYTE Auto-Update. Ergonomic Design with Tilt and Height Adjustments. Low Blue Light & Flicker-Free. VESA Wall Mount Compatible 100x100mm
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This Item GIGABYTE M27Q 27" 165Hz 1440P -KVM Gaming Monitor, 2560 x 1440 SS IPS Display, 0.5ms (MPRT) Response Time, 92% DCI-P3, HDR Ready, FreeSync Premium, 1x Display Port 1.2, 2x HDMI 2.0, 2x USB 3.0 | Recommendations | dummy | dummy | dummy | dummy | |
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Price | -10% $269.99$269.99 List: $299.99 | -17% $249.99$249.99 List: $299.99 | $229.99$229.99 | -26% $169.99$169.99 List: $229.99 | -22% $139.99$139.99 List: $179.99 | -33% $399.99$399.99 List: $599.99 |
Delivery | Get it as soon as Sunday, Apr 7 | Get it as soon as Sunday, Apr 7 | Get it as soon as Sunday, Apr 7 | — | Get it as soon as Sunday, Apr 7 | Get it as soon as Tuesday, Apr 9 |
Customer Ratings | ||||||
For gaming | 4.2 | 4.3 | 4.3 | 4.5 | 4.7 | 4.3 |
Picture quality | 3.9 | 4.4 | 4.4 | 4.5 | 4.3 | 4.2 |
Screen quality | 3.6 | 4.6 | 4.6 | 3.0 | 4.7 | 4.0 |
Brightness | 4.0 | 4.3 | 4.3 | — | 4.9 | 4.1 |
Sold By | Amazon.com | Amazon.com | Amazon.com | Amazon.com | Amazon.com | Amazon.com |
display size | 27 inches | 27 inches | 27 inches | 27 inches | — | 28 inches |
resolution | QHD Wide 1440p | QHD Wide 1440p | QHD Wide 1440p | QHD Wide 1440p | FHD 1080p | 4K UHD 2160p |
display technology | IPS | — | LCD | LCD | LCD | — |
hardware interface | displayport, usb, usb3.0 a, usb3.0, hdmi | displayport, hdmi, usb3.0 a, usb3.0, usb | hdmi, hdmi, displayport | hdmi, displayport, 3 5 mm audio | usb, hdmi, displayport | 3 5 mm audio |
mounting type | Wall Mount | Wall Mount | Wall Mount | Wall Mount | Wall Mount | Wall Mount |
HDMI ports | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
number of usb ports | 3 | 2 | 0 | — | 3 | 3 |
Product information
Technical Details
Brand | GIGABYTE |
---|---|
Series | M27Q-SA |
Item model number | M27Q-SA |
Item Weight | 8.8 pounds |
Product Dimensions | 7.9 x 28.3 x 18.5 inches |
Item Dimensions LxWxH | 7.9 x 28.3 x 18.5 inches |
Color | M Series |
Voltage | 19 Volts |
Manufacturer | GIGABYTE |
ASIN | B08JWCHR5N |
Country of Origin | China |
Date First Available | October 3, 2020 |
Additional Information
Customer Reviews |
4.4 out of 5 stars |
---|---|
Best Sellers Rank | #6,588 in Electronics (See Top 100 in Electronics) #250 in Computer Monitors |
Warranty & Support
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What's in the box
From the manufacturer
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Aim StabilizerThis feature will reduce motion blur so you will have a better visual clarity that helps tracing the track of bullet and aim the target easily. |
Black EqualizerThis feature allows you to have more details of the dark side without overexposing the bright side at the same time. |
DashboardThe dashboard reveals your real-time hardware information including CPU voltages, clock speed, temperatures, etc. The best part is that it won’t be blocked by any games. |
OSD SidekickGIGABYTE OSD Sidekick allows you to set the display options with keyboard and mouse, giving you the easiest way to adjust monitor settings. |
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Product Description
27” 2560x1440 IPS Display with 165Hz Refresh Rate, 0.5ms (MPRT) Response Time Smooth Gameplay with AMD FreeSync Premium Studio Grade VESA Display HDR400 and 92% DCI-P3 (140% sRGB) Color Gamut GIGABYTE Classic Tactical Features with OSD Sidekick GIGABYTE Auto-Update.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers like the value, color and refresh rate of the monitor. They say it's an amazing product for the price. They also appreciate the high color accuracy and contrast. However, some customers have reported issues with dead pixels and backlight. Opinions are mixed on quality, image quality, and performance.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers appreciate the value of the monitor. They say it's an amazing product for the price and has great specs.
"this monitor is insanely good for the price, it comes with so many included cables, works great off the box but I suggest getting an ICC and..." Read more
"...Quite frustrating. The monitor is such a great value, or it WOULD be if I could just get one to heckin work...." Read more
"...Great picture, great price. Recommended seller." Read more
"...It really is worth every penny, the price for the picture quality and hertz feels like its punching way above its weight...." Read more
Customers like the refresh rate of the monitor. They mention that the fps is amazing, the high refresh rate is perfect for gaming, and the response time is very fast. The colors are vivid and the resolution is awesome, especially for gaming.
"...It's a IPS Super Speed panel which I wasn't familiar with and has a .5 refresh rate which is amazing because I don't notice any ghosting whatsoever...." Read more
"...I could not notice any delay or inverse ghosting playing esports titles on the M27Q in its default overdrive mode...." Read more
"...It runs great, games are very smooth, and it is a generally really great looking screen...." Read more
"...vibrant, contrast is shockingly good for IPS, and the high refresh rate is perfect for gaming...." Read more
Customers are satisfied with the color of the monitor. They mention that it has high color accuracy, good contrast, and a vibrant display. Some say that the blacks are okay.
"...Extremely vibrant and high quality colors, the blacks are okay. Not a lot of ghosting...." Read more
"...The colors are vibrant and the blacks are okay just like with any IPS panels & the backlight bleed is minimal on my unit but it's there..." Read more
"...can get very bright (I use it at 75 brightness out of 100), the colors are vibrant, there are no dead pixels, and the backlight bleed is minimal...." Read more
"...are slightly biased to greens (at least my models), but colors are very vibrant, contrast is shockingly good for IPS, and the high refresh rate is..." Read more
Customers are mixed about the quality of the monitor. Some mention it's an excellent monitor purchased to use as a gaming monitor, with an evenly lit screen. They say it'd be great for gaming and painting, with no issues with the screen. However, others say that the quality control issues with this monitor, and that one of the faulty units looked broken altogether.
"...Moving from a 24" 1080p to a 27" 1440 was a big improvement & the 170hz is amazing!..." Read more
"...Cons:-The biggest con IMO is the quality control issues with this monitor...." Read more
"This is an excellent monitor purchased to use as a gaming monitor. Great picture, great price. Recommended seller." Read more
"Monitors are great except the light bleed is so terrible even after trouble shooting things and watching videos on how to hopefully fix it it wasn't..." Read more
Customers are mixed about the image quality of the monitor. Some mention they're happy with the quality, saying it's sharp, crisp, and smooth. However, others say that the colors look terrible, the contrast is mediocre, and the monitor has a very noticeable pixel grid.
"...Extremely vibrant and high quality colors, the blacks are okay. Not a lot of ghosting...." Read more
"...Firstly, everything is working as expected. The picture quality is fantastic, the monitor can get very bright (I use it at 75 brightness out of 100)..." Read more
"...It's not uncommon in monitors, but looks less consistent, and to me, less pleasing than a display that reaches the edges of the screen...." Read more
"This is an excellent monitor purchased to use as a gaming monitor. Great picture, great price. Recommended seller." Read more
Customers are mixed about the performance of the monitor. Some mention that it works well, runs smooth, and the KVM works flawlessly. However, others say that it stopped working after less than 2 weeks. Some say that the monitor is great for gaming, but not for work and is pretty much useless for office work.
"...good for the price, it comes with so many included cables, works great off the box but I suggest getting an ICC and tinkering with the settings to..." Read more
"...utilizing the M27Q as a main display is UNPLAYABLE, and bugs out my desktop...." Read more
"...(Though not validated through NVIDIA, it works flawlessly!)..." Read more
"...Honestly, I cannot see or find anything wrong with the screen. It runs great, games are very smooth, and it is a generally really great looking..." Read more
Customers are dissatisfied with the pixels in the monitor. They mention that the monitor has common dead pixels and orange tint bleed in all 4 corners. Some customers also report that the product comes with 2 or more stuck pixels.
"...I will mention that the first unit had a dead pixel but Amazon happily took the return and sent another unit out before I even returned my first one..." Read more
"...I'm disappointed that I have a stuck pixel because I've managed to never own a computer monitor with dead or stuck pixels until now...." Read more
"...No physical damage, just turned it on one day, and boom, dead pixels. Went to Gigabyte support, they said they'd fix it. Great right? Wrong...." Read more
"...2 of them and they are amazing however one of them had a dead pixel in the top corner. its not really noticeable so I'm just gonna keep it." Read more
Customers are dissatisfied with the backlight of the monitor. They mention that there is significant backlight bleed and a dead pixel near the corners. They also say that the screen would go black for a couple seconds every 10-20 seconds.
"...-IPS backlight bleed, but again, this is something to be expected of IPS monitors in this budget range...." Read more
"...I've noticed with this monitor online is IPS glow, which is light bleed from the corners of the panel...." Read more
"...on a quality $400 1440p monitor instead, this one comes with noticeable backlight bleed and subpar adjustment as well as noticeable ghosting...." Read more
"...doing more research I am disappointed to find that it's both backlight bleed and ISP glow. I guess I understand now that it's part of the technology?..." Read more
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Maybe this might help someone else XD, IN GENERAL, not to dissuade purchase of this product though. I'll list them as POTENTIAL CONs, not actual CONs because these cons are more of my own personal preference rather than product deficits. By all means, this monitor is awesome!
The M27Q was purchased @ $330 at the time. I have ***-ed the biggest potential deal breakers in the cons.
Pros:
+KVM switch
+IPS
+High refresh
+GSync (not confirmed but for some people it has been compatible, me included)
+FreeSync compatible.
+Reportedly great colors after calibration using Hardware Unboxed's recommendations, but I'll be honest, after utilizing the calibrations, I wasn't ecstatic. I found out that I personally prefer brighter, more vibrant colors than what is considered better color representation.
+Personally, my monitor's IPS glow/backlight bleed was great. A bit on the lower left, but not nearly as bad as some of the images I saw on NewEgg.
+Amazon service :) I personally accepted a $20.00(compared to NewEgg) difference in deals because of how magnificent Amazon's customer service has been to me in the past despite the failures of a few of their sellers. This particular monitor seems to have a high probability of QA issues, and last thing I want to deal with is NewEgg's service...go read the reviews and stories.
+The increased resolution and screen estate is nice for me when viewing multiple stocks/crypto on one screen.
Cons:
-The biggest con IMO is the quality control issues with this monitor. I lucked out with a gem, but who knows how well this monitor will be performing in a few weeks, months, years? That can be stated of any product, but for this specific monitor, a LARGE percentage of its reviews across NewEgg, Amazon, and BestBuy have issues. This could be due to low sample size, but MUST be considered when purchasing. It is for this reason I prioritized customer service when factoring costs for buying this monitor.***
-IPS backlight bleed, but again, this is something to be expected of IPS monitors in this budget range. In my specific case, I'd consider my backlight bleed level to be a Pro rather than a Con.***
-Monitor is actually BGR, not RGB. Do some research on this if you don't know what this means. Might matter to you, didn't for me.***
-The stand is meh, it's good and stable but doesn't allow rotation to portrait. Doesn't bother me personally because I bought an after market arm, but worth considering. The base of the stand does have a large footprint though.
-Lesser compatibility when it comes to gaming and productivity (this one varies). Please read lower for more details related to my specific case scenario. Even tho more games/tech are making 1440p possible, you just can't deny that it's still newer and will require more optimization/availability/accessibility. Esp. with the current scalping issues on the GPUs >=(.
Other: My main game is League of Legends. For whatever reason, Riot Games has not implemented a 1440 resolution yet :(. Switching it to fullscreen utilizing the M27Q as a main display is UNPLAYABLE, and bugs out my desktop. Playing it on 1920x1080 on borderless gives me a smaller window than you'd see on a 1920x1080 monitor. For me, 1920x1080 was the PERFECT size/resolution/detail for me to enjoy and play the game while fully appreciating all the details. I can't really do that on the M27Q because I'd either have to switch the M27Q to it's non-native resolution (which can cause compatibility issues) or play with a smaller than desired screen of the game. Granted I COULD get used to it if I played on the M27Q enough, but it's a bit disappointing. Again, if LOL is not your main game, this shouldn't be that much of an issue.
Also, while the screen is bigger, the icons are smaller. Nice for larger work space, but worst for smaller icons. You can work around this by changing the sizes of your icons on that display, but it can cause compatibility issues with other devices. It takes away from some of the uniformity if you are going to have some 1920x1080 monitors and the M27Q in a multi-monitor setup. While I haven't run into these issues yet, I have numerous devices that have reported issues with differing resolutions in multi-monitor setups, for example, Huion drawing tablets. While not actual problems, it leaves room for potential frustration/further troubleshooting considerations later on down the road.
Reviewed in the United States on January 15, 2024
On paper, the Gigabyte M27Q rivals the top 1440p 27" gaming monitors while being about $100 less in MSRP. I previously owned one of these high end monitors, the Dell S2721DGF, which I had to return because it was defective. For $120 less, I replaced it with the M27Q, which I've been using daily for about a week now. Though I wasn't able to compare the two monitors side by side, or even within the same week, the M27Q rivals, or even surpasses, the S2721DGF in picture quality in my eyes. I'm not the most discerning viewer, but I can tell the difference between IPS and VA with normal usage, and can barely stand VA panels for gaming. I could not notice any delay or inverse ghosting playing esports titles on the M27Q in its default overdrive mode. According to measurements performed by the top tech review publications, the M27Q has a longer response time than that of the class leading S2721DGF, but I could not tell the difference. As for color, I kept both monitors at the default color settings out of the box - the Dell had great saturation, possibly oversaturated. The M27Q appears less saturated, and its overall color out of the box appears more neutral, while the Dell appeared warm. Regardless of which you prefer, both monitors' color can be adjusted. However, no amount of calibration can fix the Dell's low contrast ability; the M27Q wipes the floor with the S2721DGF in this respect. Perhaps the Dell's biggest flaw is that it can't properly display black, while the M27Q has among the best contrast in its category.
That the M27Q has a display that rivals more expensive monitors is not its only selling point. Its KVM switch is something that would cost over $100 separately - and it's almost nonexistent in other gaming monitors. The feature is life-changing and I feel like I can't go back to a monitor without it. Before this, I needed to use a bluetooth membrane keyboard with multi-device support, and two separate mice. Now, I can use my preferred gaming keyboard and just a single mouse connected to the monitor with no hassle. My MacBook Pro outputs its video and pairs with the mouse and keyboard with a single USB-C connection to my monitor (USB type C input is another distinctive feature for a gaming monitor). Switching between my MacBook Pro and my desktop PC connected via DisplayPort works seamlessly almost all of the time. Occasionally, switching to a sleeping device doesn't wake it soon enough for the monitor to detect input - but I place part of the blame on the computer in that case.
While the KVM switch is a huge quality of life feature, there are some frustrating quality control issues which lowered my rating. The most common complaint I've noticed with this monitor online is IPS glow, which is light bleed from the corners of the panel. My unit definitely has the worst IPS glow in any monitor I've bought. However, I would say it does not bother me, since it only becomes apparent while watching movies in the dark. Gaming, browsing, and regular usage in dark mode - even in a dark room - hides the IPS glow. The problem is not noticeable at all in a normally lit room.
Though the IPS glow doesn't bother me, there's an overall noticeably lower level of polish with the M27Q that the Dell didn't have. Of course, I returned my S2721DGF because it did not properly work and had firmware issues, but I felt like there was just one thing wrong with my Dell. The M27Q in contrast has a number of problems that indicate lower standards for quality control. For example, I noticed my monitor was not level with my desk, with the right edge of the display being about a half inch higher than the left. It bothered me to the point that I could not use my monitor until I fixed it. The cause of the problem wasn't immediately obvious to me, because I expect a brand new monitor, on a stand which doesn't support rotating, to be perfectly straight. Instead, it turns out that the mounting plate on the back of the monitor has a large tolerance for positioning the screws. I've attached photos of the plate before and after I fixed the problem. The plate appeared to be on straight initially, though the screws were obviously not all centered inside their respective holes in the mounting plate. The noticeably large wiggle room in the mounting plate gave me the idea to try to correct the slant of the monitor by screwing the plate in so that it was crooked relative to the display. This means that the arm might NOT be sticking out of the base at 90 degrees, or that the holes are not aligned properly. Poor, poor quality that could have been much more frustrating if the large tolerance in the backplate was not clearly visible. The screen is now acceptably level with the desk, but having misaligned parts does not give me a lot of confidence in the product.
Additionally, I've noticed some strange firmware problems that lead me to believe that Gigabyte knowingly shipped the firmware with some features not properly working. The first thing I noticed was that when the monitor is in HDR mode, the brightness level resets back to 100% when it wakes, even if it was previously lowered. This strangely doesn't seem to happen when the monitor is not in HDR mode. There's also an "auto off" setting, which as far as I know, is supposed to turn the monitor off after some time asleep. The setting hasn't worked for me yet, which means that the power indicator is always blinking when I'm not using it. It can get annoying when the room is dark, and the only way to stop the LED from blinking is to physically turn the monitor off by holding the OSD joystick button.
Aside from the firmware, I have noticed some physical defects in the panel itself. On my unit, there's either a speck of dust or a scratch on the screen, but luckily it's on the black border. The M27Q has extremely thin bezel edges on the top and sides, but has a black gap between the display's image and the bezel on those edges. It's not uncommon in monitors, but looks less consistent, and to me, less pleasing than a display that reaches the edges of the screen. In this case though, I'm lucky that the defect was on the gap. There was also one stuck pixel on my unit which only rarely appears. It's not noticeable in normal dead pixel tests, but it becomes visible as a bright red dot when the lower part of the image is dark and the upper part is bright. More specifically, it depends on the other pixels in its column. Moving a window just one pixel over can hide it immediately, and I've attached photos of it being visible and hidden based on the position of one of the windows on the screen. I'm disappointed that I have a stuck pixel because I've managed to never own a computer monitor with dead or stuck pixels until now. Because it rarely shows up, I'm avoiding trying to exchange my unit (for now). One thing that bothers me is that occasionally I've also noticed a brief flickering horizontal white line when switching to my MacBook Pro input. Like I said, the small issues with this monitor don't give me a lot of confidence in it, so I can only hope the white line problem doesn't degrade into constant white lines across the screen.
Obviously, since the monitor is much more affordable than other products with the same features, Gigabyte had to cut corners somewhere. The plastic on the monitor is obviously less solid than that of the Dell, and the base is much lighter. Subjectively, its design looks uninspired while the Dell has a distinct design and a mix of subtle and aggressive curves and angles. The M27Q doesn't feel flimsy by any means, so I can live with it looking and feeling a little cheaper for over $100 less. However, its defects and strange behavior are something that shouldn't need to exist at any price range. For $300, my display should stand straight and the monitor should turn off when it's supposed to. Additionally, stuck or dead pixels should not be common. Still, I've learned to live with the problems on my M27Q and will keep mine, but the various issues kept this from being a five star purchase. I would recommend the M27Q for a 1440p gaming and productivity monitor, but be prepared to live with some minor quality issues. Lastly, in case you are wondering about the BGR subpixel rendering - it has been no problem to me and I couldn't notice it even up close to the monitor.
Edit: I accidentally listed this as three stars, when it should have been four.
Reviewed in the United States on April 29, 2021
On paper, the Gigabyte M27Q rivals the top 1440p 27" gaming monitors while being about $100 less in MSRP. I previously owned one of these high end monitors, the Dell S2721DGF, which I had to return because it was defective. For $120 less, I replaced it with the M27Q, which I've been using daily for about a week now. Though I wasn't able to compare the two monitors side by side, or even within the same week, the M27Q rivals, or even surpasses, the S2721DGF in picture quality in my eyes. I'm not the most discerning viewer, but I can tell the difference between IPS and VA with normal usage, and can barely stand VA panels for gaming. I could not notice any delay or inverse ghosting playing esports titles on the M27Q in its default overdrive mode. According to measurements performed by the top tech review publications, the M27Q has a longer response time than that of the class leading S2721DGF, but I could not tell the difference. As for color, I kept both monitors at the default color settings out of the box - the Dell had great saturation, possibly oversaturated. The M27Q appears less saturated, and its overall color out of the box appears more neutral, while the Dell appeared warm. Regardless of which you prefer, both monitors' color can be adjusted. However, no amount of calibration can fix the Dell's low contrast ability; the M27Q wipes the floor with the S2721DGF in this respect. Perhaps the Dell's biggest flaw is that it can't properly display black, while the M27Q has among the best contrast in its category.
That the M27Q has a display that rivals more expensive monitors is not its only selling point. Its KVM switch is something that would cost over $100 separately - and it's almost nonexistent in other gaming monitors. The feature is life-changing and I feel like I can't go back to a monitor without it. Before this, I needed to use a bluetooth membrane keyboard with multi-device support, and two separate mice. Now, I can use my preferred gaming keyboard and just a single mouse connected to the monitor with no hassle. My MacBook Pro outputs its video and pairs with the mouse and keyboard with a single USB-C connection to my monitor (USB type C input is another distinctive feature for a gaming monitor). Switching between my MacBook Pro and my desktop PC connected via DisplayPort works seamlessly almost all of the time. Occasionally, switching to a sleeping device doesn't wake it soon enough for the monitor to detect input - but I place part of the blame on the computer in that case.
While the KVM switch is a huge quality of life feature, there are some frustrating quality control issues which lowered my rating. The most common complaint I've noticed with this monitor online is IPS glow, which is light bleed from the corners of the panel. My unit definitely has the worst IPS glow in any monitor I've bought. However, I would say it does not bother me, since it only becomes apparent while watching movies in the dark. Gaming, browsing, and regular usage in dark mode - even in a dark room - hides the IPS glow. The problem is not noticeable at all in a normally lit room.
Though the IPS glow doesn't bother me, there's an overall noticeably lower level of polish with the M27Q that the Dell didn't have. Of course, I returned my S2721DGF because it did not properly work and had firmware issues, but I felt like there was just one thing wrong with my Dell. The M27Q in contrast has a number of problems that indicate lower standards for quality control. For example, I noticed my monitor was not level with my desk, with the right edge of the display being about a half inch higher than the left. It bothered me to the point that I could not use my monitor until I fixed it. The cause of the problem wasn't immediately obvious to me, because I expect a brand new monitor, on a stand which doesn't support rotating, to be perfectly straight. Instead, it turns out that the mounting plate on the back of the monitor has a large tolerance for positioning the screws. I've attached photos of the plate before and after I fixed the problem. The plate appeared to be on straight initially, though the screws were obviously not all centered inside their respective holes in the mounting plate. The noticeably large wiggle room in the mounting plate gave me the idea to try to correct the slant of the monitor by screwing the plate in so that it was crooked relative to the display. This means that the arm might NOT be sticking out of the base at 90 degrees, or that the holes are not aligned properly. Poor, poor quality that could have been much more frustrating if the large tolerance in the backplate was not clearly visible. The screen is now acceptably level with the desk, but having misaligned parts does not give me a lot of confidence in the product.
Additionally, I've noticed some strange firmware problems that lead me to believe that Gigabyte knowingly shipped the firmware with some features not properly working. The first thing I noticed was that when the monitor is in HDR mode, the brightness level resets back to 100% when it wakes, even if it was previously lowered. This strangely doesn't seem to happen when the monitor is not in HDR mode. There's also an "auto off" setting, which as far as I know, is supposed to turn the monitor off after some time asleep. The setting hasn't worked for me yet, which means that the power indicator is always blinking when I'm not using it. It can get annoying when the room is dark, and the only way to stop the LED from blinking is to physically turn the monitor off by holding the OSD joystick button.
Aside from the firmware, I have noticed some physical defects in the panel itself. On my unit, there's either a speck of dust or a scratch on the screen, but luckily it's on the black border. The M27Q has extremely thin bezel edges on the top and sides, but has a black gap between the display's image and the bezel on those edges. It's not uncommon in monitors, but looks less consistent, and to me, less pleasing than a display that reaches the edges of the screen. In this case though, I'm lucky that the defect was on the gap. There was also one stuck pixel on my unit which only rarely appears. It's not noticeable in normal dead pixel tests, but it becomes visible as a bright red dot when the lower part of the image is dark and the upper part is bright. More specifically, it depends on the other pixels in its column. Moving a window just one pixel over can hide it immediately, and I've attached photos of it being visible and hidden based on the position of one of the windows on the screen. I'm disappointed that I have a stuck pixel because I've managed to never own a computer monitor with dead or stuck pixels until now. Because it rarely shows up, I'm avoiding trying to exchange my unit (for now). One thing that bothers me is that occasionally I've also noticed a brief flickering horizontal white line when switching to my MacBook Pro input. Like I said, the small issues with this monitor don't give me a lot of confidence in it, so I can only hope the white line problem doesn't degrade into constant white lines across the screen.
Obviously, since the monitor is much more affordable than other products with the same features, Gigabyte had to cut corners somewhere. The plastic on the monitor is obviously less solid than that of the Dell, and the base is much lighter. Subjectively, its design looks uninspired while the Dell has a distinct design and a mix of subtle and aggressive curves and angles. The M27Q doesn't feel flimsy by any means, so I can live with it looking and feeling a little cheaper for over $100 less. However, its defects and strange behavior are something that shouldn't need to exist at any price range. For $300, my display should stand straight and the monitor should turn off when it's supposed to. Additionally, stuck or dead pixels should not be common. Still, I've learned to live with the problems on my M27Q and will keep mine, but the various issues kept this from being a five star purchase. I would recommend the M27Q for a 1440p gaming and productivity monitor, but be prepared to live with some minor quality issues. Lastly, in case you are wondering about the BGR subpixel rendering - it has been no problem to me and I couldn't notice it even up close to the monitor.
Edit: I accidentally listed this as three stars, when it should have been four.
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The KVM was the real feature that drew me to the M27Q to improve my work-from-home setup. It was a breeze to set up and worked immediately out of the box with my desktop over a DisplayPort cable and laptop over USB-C. Both USB-C and DP will work up to the 165/170hz max refresh rate. Switching between input sources takes just a few seconds and saves you the extra $100 of buying a separate KVM.
Only potential downside is the panel uses a BGR sub-pixel layout which can cause slight blurring of text in applications that don't support Windows Clear Type. Really this isn't an issue with gaming and most office applications, but your experience may vary depending on use type.
Impressed with quality. Delivers greater than 144Hz, haven’t faced any blurring or ghosting issues. Works with nvidia gsync if you use display port. Stand and screen built is sturdy. On screen display menu is okay, similar to other gigabyte monitors. Brightness is a real surprise at this price point. HDR is not very great, you can keep it off.
Had to buy a display port to usb C cable, none provided with the package.
Reviewed in Singapore on January 15, 2021