Monoprice is known for offering a lot of bang for the buck with its products (check out its latest crop of gaming peripherals), and that's especially the case when it comes to competing with the best 4K gaming monitors available on the market. Now, the company is ready to unleash three new Dark Matter monitors on the market, including one that is a bit out of the ordinary for most of our readers.
First up is the Dark Matter 27-inch 4K (40777) gaming monitor, which uses a 27-inch AUO IPS panel with an Ultra HD resolution (3840 x 2160). Monoprice boasts a maximum refresh rate of 144 Hz, which is par for the course for 4K monitors. However, as we've seen with Samsung's newest Odyssey Neo G8 gaming monitor, 240 Hz is the latest high water market for 4K panels (and one that would bring even the mightiest GPUs like the GeForce RTX 3090 to their knees).
(Image credit: Monoprice)
We're looking at a typical contrast ratio of 1,000:1 afforded by its IPS panel, while typical brightness comes in at 400 nits. However, Monoprice isn't advertising the 40777 as an HDR-compliant monitor. Response times aren't the greatest, coming in at 12ms typical or 4ms with overdrive. With that said, you'll find two HDMI 2.1 ports, one DisplayPort 1.4 port and one USB Type-C port for input. There are also two downstream USB 3.0 ports for hooking up peripherals like a headset, keyboard or mouse.
Next is the Mini-LED version of the 40777, which features an AUO panel with 576 local dimming zones. You still get a 27-inch panel with an Ultra HD resolution and a maximum 144 Hz refresh rate. The Mini-LED panel brings some added benefits like a typical brightness rating of 600 nits, with a peak of 1,000 nits in HDR mode. Typical contrast ratio comes in at 1,000:1, boosting to 1,000,000:1 in HDR mode.
(Image credit: Monoprice)
The average response time is listed at 12ms and falls to 5ms with overdrive. A single HDMI 2.0 port is onboard to handle 4K resolutions at 60 Hz, while HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 1.4 ports support 4K at 144 Hz. You'll also find a USB Type-C input that supports 4K at 60 Hz along with 90-watt power delivery. Like the 40777, this Mini-LED counterpart features two USB 3.0 ports.
Finally, we come to Monoprice's new Dark Matter 15.6-inch portable OLED monitor. The monitor uses a Samsung AMOLED panel with an Ultra HD resolution. The maximum refresh rate checks in at just 60 Hz, which is understandable given that this is a portable OLED display aimed at giving you some extra screen real estate on-the-go as opposed to being your primary screen for gaming.
(Image credit: Monoprice)
Monoprice says that the portable monitor has a typical brightness of 400 nits while flexing a contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1 and a 1ms typical response time. In addition, you'll find a mini HDMI 2.0 port along with two USB Type-C ports, one of which supports 65-watt power delivery. Unfortunately, Monoprice only provided us with the above grainy images of the device.
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According to Monoprice, the Dark Matter 40777 is priced at $799, while its Mini-LED counterpart will retail for $999. Pricing for the 15.6-inch portable monitor hasn't been nailed down just yet, but it's expected to come in at under $500, which is incredibly competitive in this segment. At this time, Monoprice couldn't give us specifics on availability, but we'll update this story when that information is available (along with better images of the portable monitor).
Brandon Hill is a senior editor at Tom's Hardware. He has written about PC and Mac tech since the late 1990s with bylines at AnandTech, DailyTech, and Hot Hardware. When he is not consuming copious amounts of tech news, he can be found enjoying the NC mountains or the beach with his wife and two sons.
