Are you in the market for a laptop monitor that you can use with your desktop? Or maybe you need two monitors for working from home but can’t afford two screens? Don’t worry, seeing double isn’t going to be a thing of the past because there are some great 4K displays available at reasonable prices and you’ll never have to worry about image quality again.
This month I’m looking at a great 27-inch KTC monitor that’s just under $800. KTC claims that their monitors use the same panel technology and Mini LED technology found in other brands like ASUS, AOC, and Acer. All of these monitors can be pricey, so KTC is a great option if you’re looking for a monitor that won’t break the bank. They’ve been making monitors since 1995 and have worked with some of the biggest names in the industry, including NEC, Samsung, Viewsonic, and more. Even though KTC is usually known for their gaming monitors, this monitor is great for office work and graphics, as well as photography and video editing.
This 4K Ultra HD IPS panel has a refresh rate of 160Hz, and it’s super flicker-free. Plus, it uses Mini LED technology to backlight your screen. It’s got 2,304 LEE beads and 576 LZ zones, so you get deeper blacks and whiter whites than you’d get with regular LED backlighting.
Mini LED technology isn’t as good as OLED, but it’s still great and it’s a step up from regular LED. Plus, it doesn’t have LED burn-ins, which can be a problem if you’re using static screens for a long time. You can adjust the local dimming zone to your liking – you can turn it off, on, auto, standard and high. Plus, it can get up to 1000 nits of brightness and it’s certified by the VESA, so it’s a great screen for all kinds of applications.
An external power brick is used, as is the case with most screens, rather than an integrated power supply. You can choose from 2 HDMI inputs, 1 DisplayPort, 2 USB-C inputs and a maximum power output of 90W to run and charge a laptop.
There are 2 USB downstream ports. This allows you to connect USB peripherals directly to your monitor and transfer the data from your USB-C to your host computer.
The screen resolution is maxed out at 3,840×2,160 at 160Hz, and graphics cards are capable of supporting this refresh rate. Both HDMI ports provide the option of 8-bit or 10-bit colors with slightly lower refresh rates at 120Hz. The panel has a nominal response time of 5ms, however, with Overdrive enabled, the response time drops to just 3ms, making it ideal for gaming or video editing. Color gamut coverage is 100% for Adobe RGB and 100% for sRGB, with a decent 98% coverage for DCi-P3 and a total color count of 1,07 billion.
On the back of the screen, the 4-way joystick activates the on-screen display for the settings. The controls provide display and color options, a dedicated gaming setup menu, and a sophisticated setting for fine-tuning this screen’s details. Two 2W speakers are also included, as well as a headphone jack.
Setup is super simple and the stand has all the features you’d expect – you can set it up to be either portrait or landscape, and the display can switch orientation if the graphics card supports it. The screen has a maximum UHD resolution of 4K, but I found that fonts on spreadsheets and email clients tended to look pretty small, so I decided to test it at 2K UHD for the most part. Color and contrast are great – all I had to do was set Brightness to 50% and contrast to the same. I usually calibrate monitors before I test them, but this one was great straight out of the box as soon as I hit Apple RGB for the color space. My only complaint is that the screen looks a bit matte on it, which is a bit of a bummer since most displays have a glossy finish.
The overall finish is good, but it’s not as polished as you’d see from LG or Apple, but that’s nothing to complain about. The screen doesn’t look exactly edge-to-edge, as there’s a thin black band running between the screen’s image area and the bezel. Still, it’s a nice touch.
For the price, you get a 27 inch 4K UHD screen with advanced Mini LED back lighting with 576 local Dimming zones. Up to 160Hz refresh rate will please gamers. The color space will delight anyone editing photos and videos. You get a wide selection of video inputs and enough power to power most laptops through USB-C. For this price, I don’t know of anything else on the market that can match this display. If you’re looking for one or two 27-inch 4K UHD screens for less than one of the more well-known brands, this display is the perfect choice. It may not match the build and finish of a more expensive model but at this price, it’s hard to beat.
