Iiyama’s ProLite XB2779QQS: a 27-inch 5K IPS Monitor for $900
by Anton Shilov on March 26, 2018 3:20 PM EST
Iiyama has started selling its new 5K IPS monitor. The ProLite XB2779QQS boasts with a 5120x2880 resolution and is available at a price point of around $900. The catch? It has a rather thin feature set and it can only display 5K resolution over a DisplayPort 1.4 interface.
The Iiyama ProLite XB2779QQS monitor relies on a 27-inch 6-bit + A-FRC IPS panel featuring a 5120×2880 resolution, a 440 nits typical brightness, a 1200:1 contrast ratio, a 4 ms response time, a 60 Hz refresh rate, and 178°/178° viewing angles. The LCD is equipped with a LED backlighting featuring a flicker-free technology, which is common on many displays these days. In addition, the screen is covered with glass from edge to edge, that can produce a glare.
The ProLite XB2779QQS is among the first 5K monitors to use a 6-bit + A-FRC IPS panel - its predecessors aimed at professionals were based either on 8-bit + A-FRC, or even 10-bit panels. A 6-bit + A-FRC panel is considerably cheaper than the aforementioned types of display modules, but at a cost of color accuracy. Iiyama says that its 6-bit + A-FRC IPS panel can display 16.7 million colors (vs. 1.07 billion on professional LCDs), but it never mentions color spaces that the monitor supports internally and how well it covers them. It is completely reasonable to expect the XB2779QQS-S1 to support some form of sRGB, but it is unlikely that the display can handle a high percentage of DCI-P3.
The new ProLite XB2779QQS display requires a DisplayPort 1.4 connection to support a 5K resolution at 60 Hz. By contrast, existing 5K monitors use two DisplayPort 1.2 streams (either via two DP cables, or one TB3 wire in case of the LG UltraFine 5K). In addition to DisplayPort 1.4 inputs, the ProLite XB2779QQS also has HDMI 2.0 connectors, but the monitor can only support a 3840×2160 resolution at 60 Hz over HDMI.
Like many prosumer displays, the ProLite XB2779QQS supports height, swivel, and tilt adjustments. In addition, the monitor features two 2.5 W speakers and a headphone connector for added comfort.
| Specifications of the Iiyama ProLite XB2779QQS | |
| XB2779QQS-S1 | |
| Panel | 27" IPS (6-bit + FRC-A) |
| Native Resolution | 5120 × 2880 (DP) |
| Maximum Refresh Rate | 60 Hz |
| Response Time | 4 ms GtG |
| Brightness | 440 cd/m² (typical) |
| Contrast | 1200:1 |
| Viewing Angles | 178°/178° horizontal/vertical |
| Pixel Pitch | 0.1167 mm² |
| Pixel Density | 217 ppi |
| Display Colors | 16.7 million |
| Color Gamut Support | ? |
| Inputs | 2 × DisplayPort 1.4 (5120 × 2880 @ 60 Hz) 3 × HDMI (3840 × 2160 @ 60 Hz) HDCP 1.4/2.2 supported |
| Stand | Height adjustment: 130 mm Swivel stand: 90°; 45° left; 45° right Tilt angle: 17° up; 2° down |
| Audio | 2 × 2.5 W speakers 1 × 3.5-mm audio jack |
| VESA | 100 × 100 |
| Additional Information | Link |
Iiyama formally introduced its 27-inch 5K monitor early this month and by now the monitor is available from Amazon in France, Germany, Japan, Spain, and the UK. It is possible to order the ProLite XB2779QQS in the US, but since it is imported from Japan, its price looks a bit high. The monitor costs around $900 in most of the countries, which is a very reasonable price for a display that has a 5120×2880 resolution, a 440 nits typical brightness, and a 1200:1 contrast ratio. The 6-bit + FRC-A panel naturally has its limitations and the DisplayPort 1.4 might be a limitation, but considering all the other advantages the display has, the monitor still looks very competitive for people who need a 5K resolution.
| Pricing of the Iiyama ProLite XB2779QQS | ||||
| Local Price | Price in USD (w/o tax) |
|||
| Amazon France | €841 | $875 | ||
| Amazon Germany | €755 | $790 | ||
| Amazon Japan | ￥105,990 | $959 | ||
| Amazon Spain | €834 | $880 | ||
| Amazon U.K. | £751 | $890 | ||
| Amazon.com | $1077 | |||
Related Reading
- LG Introduces New UltraFine 4K and 5K Monitors
- HP Z27q Monitor Review: Aiming For More Pixels
- LG Announces the 5K UltraWide 34WK95U: A 'Nano IPS' Monitor with a HDR600 Badge
- LG Develops ‘Nano IPS’ LCD, Unveils 32UK950 4K Display with DCI-P3, HDR600, TB3
- Dell Previews 27-inch ‘5K’ UltraSharp Monitor: 5120x2880
Source: Iiyama
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olafgarten - Monday, March 26, 2018 - link
This is a pretty pointless monitor, who needs a 5k resolution but no colour accuracy?torchedguitar - Monday, March 26, 2018 - link
It's pretty great for people who primarily work with black & white text with a handful of basic colors, like programmers. I switch back and forth between 94 dpi monitors at work and a 276 dpi 13" laptop at home, and after getting used to the crisp text on the laptop, it's hard to go back to pixelated monitors. The only current desktop monitor that hits 276 dpi is the Dell 8K 32" for $3700, so considering dpi/$, getting 217 dpi for $900 is a lot closer to reasonable. I'm also very excited to see DisplayPort 1.4 in a shipping monitor, since GPUs have supported it for like two years now (since NVIDIA Pascal & AMD RX5xx).tim851 - Monday, March 26, 2018 - link
There's definitely more people who want the increased sharpness of 5K than people who need calibrated color accuracy. It's not like this thing will just pick colors randomly...mr_tawan - Monday, March 26, 2018 - link
developers who works with 4K target resolution?nfriedly - Monday, March 26, 2018 - link
The Planar IX2790 is another 5k / DP 1.4 monitor that might have better color accuracy. I'm still hoping to see you guys review it.Lord of the Bored - Monday, March 26, 2018 - link
Seriously, when will 6-bit go back to whatever hole it crawled out of? We had 24-bit color as a standard feature in the nineties, there's no excuse for backtracking to 18-bit. Especially when nothing will feed the monitor 18-bit signals anyways. I am sick of things being WORSE than I had twenty years ago!haukionkannel - Tuesday, March 27, 2018 - link
Ofcourse you can buy 8 or 10 bit monitor that I better and cost 2000-5000$ this is just cheap variant. Not all people Are willing to pay for something that They don`t need.Lord of the Bored - Tuesday, March 27, 2018 - link
Fine, let me clarify. When I say that I'm not sick of things "being worse" than they were twenty years ago, I mean that I'm sick of the basic minimum standard of twenty years ago being an expensive premium option now.24-bit color should not be a goal to aspire to, reserved for premium products. Computers should not be GETTING WORSE as time goes on. I dare say that 30-bit color should be standard by now, but... we can't even get 24-bit color reliably because of monitor manufacturers deciding that a minimum standard should be a premium feature.
I guess we'll have to settle for 18-bit and hope technology doesn't get any worse, because I swear to Wozniak that if we backslide further and 256-color displays become the standard I'm going to end someone.
mkaibear - Tuesday, March 27, 2018 - link
That's an odd attitude. "I don't like it so it shouldn't exist". Do you really believe that all specs should only ever go upwards and there should never be a balancing act between resolution/accuracy/speed/price/design/connections/etc?Having a high res monitor with lower colour accuracy is an acceptable tradeoff for lots of people. Back in my sysadmin days this would have been great for me, loads of real estate and high dpi = many useful windows on my desk. Might even have been able to downgrade from my 4 monitors to just 3! I never cared about billions of accurate colours, it was good enough for my purpose.
If you don't like it then don't buy it, no-one is forcing you to. You can spend $'000s if you want and still get the colour depth etc which you want.
Lord of the Bored - Tuesday, March 27, 2018 - link
I don't WANT to spend thousands of dollars for a feature that should be standard even on rock-bottom displays. I want 24-bit color to return to being a standard feature even at the bottom end.I am sick to death of being told that a standard feature from two decades ago is an expensive premium feature that adds hundreds to the cost of a product. How hard is this to understand?
And if it does add so much to the cost, then... I miss CRTs. Sure they were heavy and took up a lot of space, but I got 24-bit color and zero latency and perfect off-angle viewing no matter what display I bought. Hell, my old 100-dollar CRT is the only display I have right now that is 30-bit capable(but it is reserved for my older hardware).