Conclusion
While most of the screens here clustered around £600, you can find cheaper UHD displays if you’re prepared to sacrifice build and image quality. That’s what we found with the AOC U2868PQU, a TN-based design with basic build and mediocre image quality. Its lab measurements were in some way more impressive than subjective quality, with near coverage of the basic sRGB colour gamut and decent-looking contrast ratio figures that bettered the Samsung. But while viewing angles were not as restricted as normal for the type, if you’re used to an IPS screen – through using smartphones and tablets – it’s hard to reconcile with a display that changes its colours or fugs the entire image, just because you view it from elsewhere other than head-on.
From the ridiculously cheap to the sublime – Samsung’s UD970 can be seen as a statement in what can be done with enough budget, and the will to make a screen with record-breaking colour accuracy reports. It measured very well in all respects but one, falling over in contrast ratio results which were shamed by a budget TN panel. But the Samsung excels in applications that demand true accuracy. It’s not going to replace your telly, it’s not cheap but it does represent a milestone in colour fidelity for UHD displays.
The Acer S277HK is a stylish display for the home or trendy office. Yet it nevertheless showed truly impressive image quality, with wide colour gamut and terrific colour accuracy. It’s also the cheapest 27in UHD monitor we’ve tested still using IPS technology. A lack of options about support leaves us reserved though, as the built-in stand is too low for comfort and there’s zero opportunity to replace it with a third-party stand on a VESA mount.
ViewSonic is doing its level best to project professional values on to its VP2780-4K, including a printed calibration report But there’s no escaping this is more a high-end prosumer display than true professional screen. The cheap-looking OSD and erratic touch-sensitive buttons were incredibly annoying. In its favour, the ViewSonic is specified with HDMI 2.0 ports, has excellent sRGB gamut, contrast ratio and colour accuracy, and will be economical to run thanks to the lowest power consumption we’ve measured for its category.