Gigabyte M27Q features an IPS panel.
The interest in PC gaming has seen a surge since the lockdown and work-from-home culture picked up. With that being said, people have been looking for good PC components that do not cost a fortune but manage to deliver the needs of the user. Gigabyte with its M27Q gaming monitor tries to deliver just that.
Gigabyte M27Q is a 27-inch IPS LCD monitor that offers 1440p resolution and a high refresh rate of 170Hz. All of this comes in at a price of around Rs. 35,000 making this one of the cheapest monitors to offer such features. The cherry on top here is the KVM feature that the monitor comes built-in with. But does that mean you should go out and purchase this one right away? Let’s find out in this review.
Gigabyte M27Q Review: The Panel
Earlier, if you wanted to get a monitor with a higher refresh rate and a lower response time, you had to settle for a VA or a TN panel. However, fast IPS panels have been catching up both in terms of affordability as well as speed. Gigabyte uses a SuperSpeed (SS) IPS panel, which is the company’s own branding for IPS technology that achieves lower response times by using a thinner liquid crystal layer. It also uses higher driving voltage than standard IPS screens.
The panel gets fairly bright.
Since this is a monitor that focuses on gamers, a high refresh rate becomes a priority over the contrast ratio. However, Gigabyte has managed to make the panel fairly colour accurate and even give it some good viewing angles. The panel gets plenty bright for all types of games and lighting scenarios.
The backlight used in the monitor is a flicker-free white LED and it can achieve a brightness of over 400 nits for both SDR and HDR content. The company also advertises that the monitor gets a “Super Wide Color Gamut”.
As for the refresh rate, the monitor supports a 170 Hz refresh rate without overclock support. It also comes with support for AMD FreeSync Premium. According to the company, the monitor has a response time of 0.5 ms, which is believable.
Gigabyte M27Q Review: Gaming experience
As the monitor is focused on gamers, it was given that I had to try playing some games on this. The panel was fairly bright and I had no issues of glare whatsoever. I played various titles using this monitor including Gears 5, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Valorant and Forza Horizon 4.
The 170hz refresh rate really helps in elevating the gaming experience.
Thanks to the 170Hz high refresh rate, the games felt super smooth. I could especially feel the difference in FPS games like CS:GO and Valorant.
Gigabyte M27Q also comes with some gaming-focused features like Black Equalizer, Screen Crosshair and more. While I did not take advantage of these features during my regular gaming sessions, they are definitely good to have features.
Gigabyte M27Q Review: Features
Even the back of the monitor looks quite appealing.
In terms of additional features, the M27Q comes with a unique feature which is the built-in KVM switch. KVM stands for Keyboard-Video-Mouse and the switch gives users the ability to control two PCs or 1 PC and 1 Laptop with just one keyboard, mouse and screen. Usually, people have to buy separate devices to gain this ability and M27Q packs it right inside.
It also makes for less hassle when connecting a laptop to the same monitor as used for your PC. With this, you can quickly switch between your work computer and your gaming computer.
The settings can be changed using the joystick located at the back of the monitor.
While the user can control the brightness and other settings of the monitor using the joystick placed at the back of the monitor, Gigabyte also gives the eligibility to tweak with the monitor’s settings using the OSD Sidekick software. The software can be downloaded via the Gigabyte website for Windows users and it will work only if the included USB cable is attached.
Gigabyte M27Q Review: Verdict
Gigabyte M27Q is a great monitor for both gaming, as well as content consumption. The only caveat I felt with this monitor is the lack of built-in speakers at this price point. Otherwise, it is a great deal. If you are in the market looking for a good 27-inch monitor with a high refresh rate 1440p panel, you cannot go wrong with the Gigabyte M27Q.
