Monoprice Zero-G Slim 27" IPS Monitor Review
by Chris Heinonen on August 26, 2013 12:00 AM ESTThe Monoprice Zero-G seems to be clearly aimed at those after a cheap 27” 2560x1440 monitor who don’t care about extras or frills. This market was opened up by Korean imports like the Catleap and now has a number of companies trying to compete with those eBay sellers. Monoprice is entering the fray with the Zero-G, currently available for $391. That's a good price, but what does it get you?
The Zero-G is a bit curious in its results. The out-of-box numbers are really quite bad, and the Brightness control does not function correctly. Outside of a narrow range it simply doesn’t do what it's supposed to do, and adjusting it too much causes a huge loss of contrast ratio as well as even worse gamma. The color accuracy also is very poor out of the box.
Once you calibrate it, the Monoprice puts out a fantastic image. The contrast ratio suffers due to the brightness limitation, but color and grayscale accuracy, as well as gamma, are spot-on. This behavior put the Zero-G into an area that makes it harder to recommend as a good solution for users.
If you need accuracy, you can spend $150-200 more and grab the Dell U2713HM, which is frequently on sale for around $600. You also gain an adjustable stand and multiple inputs instead of just DVI. You could spend the money on calibration gear, but by the time you have an accurate setup (which means software and a spectrometer, not just a colorimeter) you’re well past the price difference between the Monoprice and the Dell.
If you want to go cheap, for almost the same price you can find the Nixeus VUE 27 display for $485. It also has a stand and OSD that are entry-level like the Monoprice, but it has more inputs and better uncalibrated results. If you have a laptop or desktop without DVI output, you’re better off with the Nixeus as the DispayPort input alone will save you from buying a DVI-DL adapter that the Monoprice requires. I’ve seen the Nixeus selling for as little as $400 recently, and at that point the price different is negligible.
If the Monoprice had better out-of-the-box numbers I can see it being a good choice for some people. With its numbers and its lack of non-DVI inputs, that pool of users grows smaller. Factor in the strange rear-mounted controls and the competition it has, and it gets smaller still. Perhaps Monoprice can improve their firmware and get better results but right now the hardware itself doesn’t function as expected. With all the other choices available on the market, it’s hard to recommend the Monoprice Zero-G over another display that can be had for the same price and offers better performance and features.
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arcanes - Monday, August 26, 2013 - link
It was. Because Skyrim and Borderlands 2 are not the games I would call demanding. So I guess if you want to play last gen game engines at 120hz@2560x1440 you will be fine. I would rather play at 60hz and get a stable frame rate with higher quality settings. Don't get me wrong, I would love to play at 120hz ,but with the graphics engines/video cards of today I would stick with 60hz. Btw the Catleap 2B looks nice. Recommended?vLsL2VnDmWjoTByaVLxb - Monday, August 26, 2013 - link
Because you can play at 61-120fps, which a 60 Hz LCD can never ever do. It's not just about the top frames per second.Also, you buy these monitors for much longer than you buy PC's. The gaming PC's 3 years from now will be able to play Crysis 3 at 120 fps with ease.
DanNeely - Monday, August 26, 2013 - link
I wouldn't hold my breath on PC gaming hitting 120hz within a few years on single GPU setups. With the new consoles lifting low end target GPU performance up several orders of magnitude, I expect a major jump in requirements needed to max setting as well. Needing SLI/xFire to game at high/2560/60hz again wouldn't surprise me at all.arcanes - Monday, August 26, 2013 - link
My thinking as well. That is why I'm skeptical about 120hz@2560x1440 gaming in the future.DanNeely - Monday, August 26, 2013 - link
I'm sure it'll happen; it just won't be cheap anytime soon. It's not any more pixels than 4k @ 60hzblackoctagon - Tuesday, August 27, 2013 - link
The people out there who have spent $650-2000 on GPU hardware are admittedly the minority, but plenty of them exist. For these people, their rigs are effectively wasted when gaming on 60Hz 2560x1440 monitors or 120Hz 1920x1080 monitors.FYI I game on a 2560x1440 monitor OC'd to 120Hz, and I just have a single 7970. How do I get 120fps? Buy....(drumroll)...adjusting the in-game settings! I start by minimising or disabling AA and work from there. I prefer fluidity of motion over 'maxing' out graphics. So there you go, that's my reason.
name user - Monday, August 26, 2013 - link
Again I'd like to request 110/120hz overclocking support information in these reviews.After all, it was here reading Anandtech that I learned the benefits of 120hz several years ago, and have been chasing that feature ever since. I think it's strange that you guys don't even mention it anymore when you're the ones who sold me on the feature. I'm still sitting on 10 year old 19" LCDs because thanks to you I refuse to upgrade to anything but high hz monitors.
Koblek - Monday, August 26, 2013 - link
Check out Overlord monitors. It is an American company that sources 27" LG panels and a driver board that is easily overclocked to 120Hz. I got one a few weeks ago and it I was able to overclock to 120Hz easily using dual 7970s. BF3 looks great. It does not usually hit above 100Hz, but the experience is much smoother than just 60Hz.mikato - Monday, August 26, 2013 - link
I have heard of these a couple times but not much beyond something in a forum and then visiting their site. Any reviews from major sites?Koblek - Tuesday, August 27, 2013 - link
To be honest, I had only read about them on various forums before ordering one. The major drawback to these is that there is only one dual link DVI input and that's it. There is also no OSD. All color calibration needs to be done from your video card control panel. I loaded a color profile for the monitor from the Overlord forums and it's a good starting point. I have a Dell U2410 right next to it. Once I loaded the color profile, I used Catalyst Control Center to get the colors as close to the Dell as I could.Apparently, the lack of OSD and scaling makes the total response time very low. I brought it to my friend's and hooked it up to his 690. The 690 was able to drive most of his games at or near 120Hz and it looked incredible.
I would really like to see Anandtech do a review of these...