Acres of pixels: Hazro HZ27WC 27" monitor

I recently had a bit of a lapse of self control.

I was reading the comments on a midrange graphics card review (doing a spot of research for an eventual upgrade) where a few people were complaining that resolutions higher than 1920 weren't being tested. Someone responded that monitors that would do that probably wouldn't be paired with a midrange card, and someone responded with a link

Hazro are a small monitor manufacturer (i.e. they assemble and sell the subcomponents, as opposed to making the panels) with a mixed reputation. They came out with a few monitors a year or two back, the most notable being a 30 incher based on the same panel as the Dell 3008 and Apple cinema display. The screens were by all reports good, but the customer service was not ideal in places. The company was apparently sold and relaunched, dropping the warrenty committments. They sell monitors directly overseas but in the UK only through OCUK.

Recently they launched a pair of 27 inch models, again based on the same panel as the Apple cinema display. Rather than the "bigger pixels" 27s of old, these screens run at 2560x1440, a little smaller than the 30 inchers but still many many pixels.

There are two models out, the WC and the WA. The WA has umptillion inputs, a scaler and the ability to take 10 bit colour information and use temporal dithering (if I had a blog...) to show it on the 8 bit panel. The WC has a dual link DVI port, a stereo in, and a power lead. No scaler, no other inputs. It is a fair bit cheaper, and has less lag, on the order of 8ms as opposed to 26ms or so.

Full review with much, much detail here

I ordered a b-grade model that was a bit less. To be honest, I have no idea why it was b-grade. Perhaps it was a demonstration model, perhaps someone sent it back because it was too big. There is a lot of discussion on the OCUK forums about dead pixels and dust trapped behind the panel. I haven't gone looking for it, and have not found any problems.

Overall impression: astounding. OK, its a glossy panel with a glass front so there is more reflection than I'm used to, but in a normally lit room with the screen on its not a problem. It is a bit huge, at 60cm by 40cm without the stand. My underpowered machine was enough to drive it at full res in L4D, (cough)WoW(cough) and minecraft without issue. UT3 ran well enough to play but the frame rate was on the low side, as did Mass Effect 2.

If you have the budget and the room, thoroughly recommended