Yet another TN 4K panel? Yup, but this is the best of the bunch.
Seen one, seen ‘em all. It’s funny how quickly what was initially spectacular becomes borderline routine. We speak, of course, of the brave new army of 28-inch 4K PC monitors with TN panels.
Six months ago, a 4K pixel grid (on the PC that means 3,840 x 2,160 pixels) would set you back several thousand pounds. Now it’s yours for under £500 and no longer seems nearly as exotic. And all of them, as far as we know, are based on the same TN panel.
It’s an excellent panel that significantly raises TN’s game for colours and contrast. Only the limited viewing angles give the game away immediately, but in return you get much lower cost than IPS technology and faster pixel response.
But that’s not to say there’s nowt to choose between the new TN 4K brigade. A fair few have already sailed upon the good ship PC Format, and one or two have been pushed unceremoniously off the gang plank. There was even one so bad it never made it into the mag. The manufacturer pulled the model back for further work before going on sale following our feedback.
But a disaster like that was never likely from Iiyama. It rarely produces a dud, and the new ProLite B2888UHSU is no exception. For the most part, it’s standard Iiyama fare, and in a good way. The styling is low-key, but overall this is a robust, well-engineered product. It has a proper stand too, with height and swivel adjustment – no tilt-only nonsense. Inputs-wise, we’re talking DVI, HDMI and a pair of DisplayPort sockets.
You also get a very nice implementation of this new 4K TN technology. The colours look great and contrast is strong. By any metric, this is a lovely-looking LCD panel. By TN standards, it’s spectacular. You won’t find any horrors in the objective image quality tests, either. Gradients are smooth, and black and white scales have plenty of detail.
What’s more, there’s no perceptible input lag, which you can’t say about some of the new 4K generation. Oh, and for the record, it does the full 60Hz, although enabling it via the DisplayPort 1.2 option can be hit and miss. Unplugging and reconnecting the monitor and/or turning it on and off is sometimes necessary.
Still, factor in the highly competitive price – especially from a brand like Iiyama – and you have a real winner.
To counter all that though, our existing 4K reservations remain. You’ll need one hell of a GPU to drive this thing smoothly in games at native resolution. We’re not convinced 28 inches is big enough for 4K given the super-fine pixel pitch and the inability of Windows to scale DPI flawlessly, either.
You’ll also have to accept that you can’t have super-high 120Hz refresh rates, the smooth frame-rate syncing of Nvidia’s G-Sync tech, or the amazing immersion of the latest 34-inch 21:9 aspect panels. We keep saying it, but no single monitor combines the best of all the latest developments. You pays your money, you takes your choice. But if it’s affordable 4K you’re after, put this Iiyama at the top of your list. Jeremy Laird
Vital Statistics
Price £440
Manufacturer Iiyama
Web www.iiyama.com
Panel type 28-inch TN
Resolution 3,840 x 2,160
Response 1ms
Contrast 1,000:1
Inputs 2x DisplayPort, 2x HDMI, DVI, VGA
VESA mounting 100 x 100mm