Why you can trust Tom's Hardware Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.

Go to page:

Conclusion

If asked to recommend a gaming monitor, I’ll gravitate to OLEDs based on my experience. But if there are budgetary concerns, a VA Mini LED is easily the next best option. And it’s a less expensive option too. In the 27-inch QHD category, an OLED will cost you 2-3 times as much as the AOC Q27G4ZMN.

Full disclosure, this is a pared-down display. There are no USB ports, speakers, or LEDs. And the stand is solid but not quite monolithic. But the minuses end there. The Q27G4ZMN delivers an honest 1,500 nits peak in HDR mode and over 600 nits for SDR. It has 106% coverage of DCI-P3. It has near-perfect color accuracy out of the box. It has an excellent overdrive that reduces motion blur to almost nothing. And it’s very responsive with just 18ms of total input lag in my tests and a smooth 5ms panel response.

It also has one of the best local dimming features I’ve seen. 1,152 zones deliver deep black levels and broad contrast. You can enjoy the dimming in SDR and HDR, which is something most monitors don’t allow. And the strongest setting retains full shadow and highlight detail. Though it isn’t an OLED, it does a convincing impersonation of one.

If you want premium image quality and speedy gaming but can’t afford an OLED, the AOC Q27G4ZMN is a great alternative. It delivers 90% of an OLED’s positives for a third the price. Budget-conscious users should definitely check it out.

MORE: Best Gaming Monitors

MORE: How We Test PC Monitors

MORE: How to Buy a PC Monitor

Current page: Conclusion

Prev Page HDR Performance

TOPICS

Christian Eberle is a Contributing Editor for Tom's Hardware US. He's a veteran reviewer of A/V equipment, specializing in monitors. Christian began his obsession with tech when he built his first PC in 1991, a 286 running DOS 3.0 at a blazing 12MHz. In 2006, he undertook training from the Imaging Science Foundation in video calibration and testing and thus started a passion for precise imaging that persists to this day. He is also a professional musician with a degree from the New England Conservatory as a classical bassoonist which he used to good effect as a performer with the West Point Army Band from 1987 to 2013. He enjoys watching movies and listening to high-end audio in his custom-built home theater and can be seen riding trails near his home on a race-ready ICE VTX recumbent trike. Christian enjoys the endless summer in Florida where he lives with his wife and Chihuahua and plays with orchestras around the state.