[alinescoo]

Thank you so so much. Your recommendation seems great and I think it’s the winner. What I don’t like is the stand so I’ll need to purchase a gas lifted stand to allow me to position the monitor lower.

I have a desk mini 110 from asroxk which has a h110 chipset and an Intel i7 7700. Sadly on specs or manual it doesn’t say what hdmi version it has. I think it’s 1.4. Also for DP I don’t know. Probably most chances to run properly would be to also buy a DP cable…
I guess I need to upgrade my hardware too. I think from 10th Gen Intel has hdmi 2.0 on the igpu. Ryzen APUs like 5700G should also be fine.

I want to congratulate you for your hard work. Such detailed reviews and answers. Not to mention the effort you put in editing and moderating each forum message. Thank you for everything.

[PCM2]

You’re welcome and I appreciate the kind words. 🙂

[EsaT]

Kaby Lake’s integrated GPU can do 60Hz 4096×2304 over DisplayPort, so it can certainly do lot more Hz at 2560×1440 https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/97128/intel-core-i77700-processor-8m-cache-up-to-4-20-ghz.html

[alinescoo]

I have 2 more questions:
1. I’m trying to find a used one but it’s hard. Seems buyers are happy with the purchase 🙂 . In case I decide to buy from amazon in Europe, the link from your reviews redirects me to amazon.it, if I go to amazon.de would you still get the commission?

2. My PC most likely has hdmi 1.4 which should allow 1440p @75Hz from what I’ve read. I have never used Display Port cable and I can’t find my PC’s DP version. I assume it is 1.2 which I think it should work on 144Hz. Any advice when looking to buy a DP cable? It seems that the monitor comes with a HDMI 2.0 and an USB-C cable.

[PCM2]

1) I appreciate you wanting to support the website. You’d need to go to the Amazon you’re directed to for the commission to be earned. Individual links can be controlled regionally for specific products – I’ve changed it so you should hopefully be sent to Amazon.de for the EX2780Q now.

2) For DP cables you should find any cable of a reasonable length (~1.8m /6ft is common) and not too long or too thin will work well. When I review monitors I usually just use the cable included with the monitor I’m reviewing, if there is one. It usually always works just fine. But I’ve actually had some issues with certain DP cables myself recently, though not the sort of issues you might expect. Until very recently I had a ‘braided’ cable which looked quite stylish and seemed really solid, but it was actually so rigid and the connector head a bit iffy which meant it would disconnect if the monitor was moved just slightly or the angle of the cable wasn’t just right. I’d generally just stick with the plain-looking ones of decent thickness – brands such as Cable Matters (currently using), Rankie, KabelDirekt and even Amazon Basics should be just fine.

[alinescoo]

Thank you!
In the end I’ve pulled the trigger and bought the Benq using the link above. Indeed it did redirect me to amazon.de. I also bought with it a KabelDirekt 1m long as it looked like a good purchase having good reviews. I’ve also looked into gas arm monitor but seeing some reviews with the arm becoming weaker in time made me give up. Maybe I’ll just get a mechanical arm or maybe the default monitor stand will suit me.

I can only hope that the monitor will come without dead pixels or major glow/backlight bleeding.

[PCM2]

I hope the EX2780Q works out for you and you get a good unit – and I appreciate the support. 🙂

[alinescoo]

I am returning to offer my feedback and to thank you again for your help
I’ve received the monitor and frankly I had quite some emotions starting it. Reading so much about dead pixels and light bleed I was afraid to have issues and sending it back to another country would take time. But, I see no real issue with the one I got. Haven’t noticed any pixel with problems, maybe a bit of light bleed in a corner but nothing bothering. So I am happy with it’s quality.

Now on the eye strain. I’ve been using it more intensive yesterday and I’ve got to say, the reading somehow seems a bit more pleasant. It’s interesting because indeed the font does look a bit smaller but doesn’t make it harder to read. In some apps I can simply increase font size where needed.
It took a bit of getting used to it but I think so far that my eyes are ok with it.

I use bluelight setting on Office and auto brightness on. Curiously I like how the auto brightness works 🙂 so it’s on for now. I am more interested in eye comfort rather than color accuracy.

The remote control is really handy to handle OSD or quick settings. The speakers are quite decent and if I wouldn’t had external Edifier ones, I would have used the monitor ones.

I just wish it has height adjustment, for instance instead of speakers 🙂 but I can purchase a monitor arm if I really need to.

The difference from 29″ 2560x1080p to 27″ 2560×1440 is noticeable. On the 29 I had to turn my head a lot more because it was wide, but on the 27 I feel that the height helps a lot on fitting content. Hello taskbar at the bottom again 🙂

[PCM2]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the EX2780Q, alinescoo. I’m glad you’re getting on well with the size, resolution and indeed the screen itself. And are finding it comfortable to use whilst also enjoying its light sensor functionality. Whilst I still wish there was some level of control over the adjustments it makes, if you find the adjustments agreeable then it’s a neat feature!

[atesz843]

Dear PCM2!

Can you recommend me a cheap/budget true 8bit 24″ 1080p montior? My eyes are usually more tired from 6bit+frc monitors.
I dont know it is releated to that, or those are just lower quality, but i want to be sure its 8 bit and easy on my eyes.
How can i know/where can i find what monitor is 8 bit?

Thank you very much!

[PCM2]

Hi atesz843 and welcome,

Monitor manufacturers don’t generally specify whether a monitor is ‘true 8-bit’ or whether the 8-bit is achieved with FRC dithering. They do sometimes, though, and I know certain panels are true 8-bit based on the spec sheets for those panels. The 144Hz+ 24.5″ AUO panels, for example, are true 8-bit and therefore so are monitors which use them. That would include the Acer XB253Q GP which we recommend.

[EyeComfort23]

Hello,

I’ve seen scarce but pretty good reviews for Lenovo L32p-30 ($450 here), but where I live (very poor post Soviet country) , you cannot open, test (when buying) or return a monitor (unless it is obviously broken) once you bought it, so I am trying to collect as much information about it before buying one. First of all, it be great to know what kind of panel it uses (hopefully not BOE, I have had a bad experience with BOE on LG 27UL500; some previous forum member a similar problem), how grainy it is, if brightness gets locked in SRGB mode etc.

I’ve already made a mistake buying very, very expensive PD2700U unseen, and all the review on the internet mentioned that it is not very grainy, “barely visible grain”, but it turned (and only this site mentioned it) it is actually VERY grainy. I am generally not that sensitive to this, but PD2700u has very severe issue with the grain, which interferes with normal work. Besides it also feels very “bloomy”, whites are blinding, even at low brightness. I am slowly getting used to it, but it is not a pleasant for me screen, and it will never be.

One intriguing review I read on some Ukrainian site (https://mezha.media/en/reviews/lenovo-l32p-30-monitor-review/) claims that the panel has 1820:1 ratio at low brightness and stays at 1400:1 most of the time. I wonder if it is a case of improper measurement or in fact some new panel.

Another option for me is LS32A700, $350-$400 here, but I know very little about it, minimal brightness is unknown (I run my screens at 60-70 nits), but this site mentioned it uses AUO panel, and it is good. I never used a VA panel, and as there is no way to see before actually buying I am hesitating, but curious how 3000:1 contrast ratio would look like.

To summarize if anyone has impressions to share or technical info about L32-p30, especially panel type and what gets locked in sRGB mode I’d greatly appreciate the info.

[PCM2]

Hi EyeComfort123 and welcome,

I’m sorry to see that you are sensitive to the graininess of screen surfaces and that it’s not possible for you to conveniently return things if you don’t like them. I can certainly sympathise with this as I’m very sensitive to screen graininess myself and go to great lengths to make sure I cover this in a good level of detail in my reviews. Sadly it’s not something most reviewers will really comment on despite it being something a not insignificant minority of users have an issue with.

I don’t have experience with the L32p-30, specifically, but will leave this open in case somebody else with experience would like to chime in and they come across this thread. Based on the specifications and pricing, it may use a BOE panel. Similar to the LG 32UN650 we currently recommend as an affordable ~32″ ‘4K’ productivity monitor. The good news is that, in general, the ~32″ models have somewhat smoother and less grainy screen surfaces than many of the 27″ models. The less good news is that BOE panels tend to have somewhat grainier screen surfaces than competing panels from the likes of LG Display, Innolux and AUO. I suspect it will still have a significantly smoother screen surface finish compared to the 27″ models you’ve tried (I’ve specifically singled out the PD2700U for this in the past), but I can’t guarantee it would be good enough.

As for the contrast measurement of the Lenovo in that review, it could indeed be improper measurement or an instrument incapable of precisely measuring the black point. Brightness level doesn’t actually change the contrast of the display in almost all cases, but if the black point has to be rounded significantly due to imprecise measurement that can cause the sort of wild variations seen in that review. And if it did happen to have a restrictive sRGB mode, you could use GPU-level sRGB emulation as guided in our article on the topic (assuming you have a Windows PC with Nvidia or AMD GPU).

The Samsung S32A700 is a slightly cut down version of the S32A800 without USB ports, as covered in our news piece. Samsung interchangeably uses 2 AUO panels, or more specifically CELLS with a custom backlight fitted – the MA320HGAV1H and MA320HGAV2H. I don’t have experience with this model and I’m not familiar with the CELL or panel it’s based on. Based on AUO VA panels I have used recently (they’re curved – for example the AOC CQ32G3SU) the screen surface could be free from clear graininess. But that’s a 144Hz QHD model rather than 60Hz UHD model so not apples to apples at all. AUO’s ‘4K’ UHD IPS panels I’ve used of this size (e.g. EW3280U) are generally decent in terms of their screen surface smoothness, too. In general, Samsung is usually pretty decent with giving a good low minimum brightness on their VA models. But they sometimes achieve this with hybrid dimming, employing PWM for low brightness levels which isn’t ideal for viewing comfort.

[soldier.93]

Hello everyone,
I am writing to you because I have a problem and I can’t solve it…
I currently have two monitors:

Dell S2218H 21.5 Inch FHD Glossy Screen
Dell P2319H 23.8 inch FHD matte screen

Both monitors are connected to the desktop PC and the work notebook.
I work a lot with lyrics.
when I look at the opaque screen for even less than 1 hour my eyes hurt a lot, it seems that I can’t read the text well which doesn’t happen to me with the glossy monitor.
I tried to set brightness, contrast, night light mode but nothing, the opaque monitor has a white that bothers me and the text seems less sharp. (Maybe it’s because it’s FHD 23.8 inch?)
I can’t figure out if the problem is my eyesight.
I wanted to buy a 24 inch FHD vesa mount monitor that is good for both gaming and work and I was thinking about the Dell G2422HS but looking at some reviews I see that it has almost the same anti-reflection treatment as the P2319H and I’m afraid that the anti-reflection coating is similar and I bother the eyes.
I can’t find anything on the market about glossy monitors… I don’t understand if the problem is that it’s 23.8 inches, the resolution (maybe I have to take a QHD?), the diagonal of the monitor…
They recommended the Dell Ultrasharp to me but I’m always afraid that they have the fasitious anti-reflection coating…
With a 21.5 inch asus instead I have no problems… It seems that since I went from 21.5 to 23.8 inches I can’t get used to it…
Could you help me?
Thank you very much in advance for your support…

[PCM2]

Hi soldier.93,

Screen surface is certainly an important viewing comfort factor for some people, but unfortunately this isn’t reflected in the current monitor market. There are extremely few (in fact no current 16:9 models I could recommend) glossy options available. There are many other factors to consider, though, as covered in the article. How many matte monitors have you used? It could indeed be something else that is causing the issue, but if you look at models like the P2319H and most matte anti-glare 24″ or smaller models it isn’t just that they’re matte, it’s that they’re what I’d classify as ‘medium’ matte. This means there is some fairly distinct layering of the surface in front of the image and it’s possible your eyes dislike having to ‘focus through’ this. It certainly affects text clarity in a way that’s subtle for some, can be a bit annoying or literally uncomfortable to look at for others.

I’d therefore advise trying a model with a less aggressive matte screen surface. There are plenty of models of this variety available and many are recommended on the website. Most of the 27″ QHD models will have a significantly lighter screen surface and these are most common and also those I have most experience with. If your desk space is tight you could consider a 25″ QHD models instead as they tend to offer similar screen surfaces which are lighter than ~24″ Full HD models. For ~24″ QHD models the screen surface is generally more towards the ‘medium’ rather than ‘light’ matte side. The superior pixel density of up to 27″ QHD compared to ~24″ Full HD models can make text viewing more pleasurable and comfortable, too. If you’re open to 27″ options then it unlocks high refresh rate models – the BenQ EX2780Q is certainly one to consider given its current pricing in your region and that it’s a model I’ve received plenty of positive feedback from with respect to viewing comfort.

[EyeComfort23]

An update: I did actually went and checked the S32A700 VA monitor, and it actually was quite a bit better than I expected: the colors are good, and within +-15 degrees angle off the center (at 70 cm distance) there is very little if any color, gamma or contrast shifts (I did not notice anything at all but I had only 2 minutes to check and did not test even a third of what I planned to test). I would even say, within +-10 deg range, the picture is more stable than on many IPS’s I’ve used. Overall first impression was not much different from an IPS. However, it is still a VA and once you cross a certain angle (somewhere between 30 and 45 deg) the picture very rapidly loses contrast and generally the screen becomes not usable at all. I did not have time to check the dynamic performance of the panel (white and black smearing), but for my use case (coding/reading) these are less important parameters. White uniformity was excellent.

I have never seen an Innolux-panel based monitor myself, but judging by various youtube videos and your description, the AUO panel used in this monitor is much better than the Innolux one.

The (mildly) bad news are that the it is a bit grainy, clearly not as bad as above-mentioned Benq, but not as smooth as I’d prefer, however it seem it won’t interfere with my ability to work. The gamma was “funny” as usually it is on Samsung monitors. The native gamut is DCI-P3 and sRGB emulation appeared imperfect – wider than 100% (I use mostly Linux machines with integrated video, and have to rely on proper gamut clamping in the monitors I use). Here are some measurement of the sister device, S32A600 (https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/samsung-s32a600-display-consumer-deception-alex-tarasov/). There maximum brightness of the unit I was shown was not bad (contrary to many complaints in the reviews on Amazon), and reached or exceeded 200 nits. I could not look at it at 65% brightness in a well lit room. Colors are not well calibrated and DeltaE most probably exceeds 3.

The contrast ratio increase (compared to IPS) was not felt as strong as I expected, and is not comparable to OLED‘s at all. However, lack of IPS glow was felt immediately, and was very pleasant.

Overall it is a decent secondary monitor, and well worth the money, but probably not as good as a primary one. I will buy it if I won’t find anything better on the local market within a month.

Going back to the topic, I have not had a chance to see an L32p-30 yet, and I really want to avoid BOE panels, because I’ve tried them on couple occasions and they turned to be very uncomfortable, for unknown reasons (yes they are grainy, true, but PD2700u is even grainier, but more comfortable to use). If I buy this screen, I’ll try to find out which panel is used there (without disassembling) and will let you know.

[PCM2]

I appreciate the update. It’s good that you were impressed with some of the image characteristics of the S32A700 and good to see your take on the contrast (i.e. less impressive than expected and far from OLED, which I certainly agree with). It’s unfortunate you found the graininess of the screen surface quite noticeable as well, but good that it wasn’t a complete deal-breaker like it would’ve been on the PD2700U for example. I look forward to any updated findings for further screens you test out. 🙂

[soldier.93]

Hello,
First of all, thanks for the advice and support.
I still haven’t figured out why this Dell P2319H bothers my eyes so much… It seems that the text is grainy, much less defined (certainly on the 23.8-inch FHD there is less ppi and therefore less defined) faded, ” pixelated”, I have a much harder time focusing on text and it has a kind of very ugly and annoying white backlight.
Instead on the 21.5 inch S2218H I can see the text much more clearly without trying… today I managed to better adjust the settings of the P2319H but still I notice an effort, maybe it’s also the type of glasses that are not good… I have to investigate…
I would prefer a 24-inch solution as the space on my desk is very limited and my priority in addition to occasional gaming is to work and that the text is seen in a defined and clear way and that the panel is as least opaque as possible or at least a well opaque visible and light.. I need to have 2 monitors on my desk and 1 of these will be the P2319H (at least for the moment) but the other monitor I have to buy, do you recommend QHD or FHD? are there any FHD monitors that you can see clearly? People have recommended the Dell ultraSharp (I love dell monitors and would prefer a dell solution if possible)
I have 2 questions:
1. Is it ok to have 2 monitors of 2 different resolutions 1 QHD 24 inch and 1 FHD 23.8 inch?
2. To avoid text graining since 24 inch FHD has less ppi, do I have to choose QHD?

[PCM2]

Two models with different resolutions certainly can be used side by side, there is no technical reason why not. Some people prefer having matching sizes (at least vertically) and pixel densities because it feels more natural when you move the mouse between monitors. But others don’t care about such a mismatch and depending on what you’re using them for and how often you switch between the monitors this might not really be an issue.

Whilst the S2218H does have a tighter pixel density than the P2319H, you’re comparing 102.46 PPI to 95.78 PPI which isn’t exactly a massive difference. The screen surface is a key difference there, being glossy (or very low haze matte) on the S2218H and medium matte anti-glare on the P2319H. As I said in my initial reply, the Full HD models tend to have grainy and ‘non-light’ screen surfaces and this is really the key issue. Focusing on a significantly higher pixel density alone is probably not the best strategy and for that reason the ~24″ QHD models might not be the best option. The screen surface isn’t particularly smooth on them when compared to some of the 25″ and 27″ QHD options. It’s tough to say though, you may find the tighter pixel density in isolation does help and you aren’t as bothered by the screen surface with a sufficiently tight pixel density.

[soldier.93]

Hello, I understand (correct me if I’m wrong) that the best solution is at least a 25 inch QHD because that would be the best ratio of pixel density and screen size and also they usually have a less matte surface, correct? I wanted to try a FHD 24 but I think it wouldn’t solve the problem as the problem is both the pixel density and the matte surface of the screen, so it’s useless to try a 24 FHD, correct? if you want to try a FHD do you know any models that are not too opaque? (for curiosity) I’d like to buy a 27 inch but due to space issues I can’t at the moment. Forgive me one more question, monitor 25 QHD do you always recommend the benq? Are there other brands/models besides benq? Please excuse me for my bad English.

[Author]

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