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.
Brightness & Contrast
To read about our monitor tests in depth, please check out Display Testing Explained: How We Test Monitors and TVs. Brightness and Contrast testing is covered on page two.
Uncalibrated – Maximum Backlight Level
Our most recent reviews of professional displays include the 5K screens from Dell (UP2715K) and HP (Z27q). We also have the NEC PA302W 16:10 monitor. Rounding out the group are Asus PA329Q and BenQ SW2700PT. All products use IPS panels and feature both Adobe RGB and sRGB gamut options.
Proofing monitors don’t need a ton of output but all here provide at least 300cd/m2. The UP3017 measures just under its claim of 350cd/m2. You'd have no issues using it at an outdoor location if necessary.
Black level is near the top of the group in the max backlight test. IPS isn’t known for tremendous contrast, but when a screen tops 1000:1 in our benchmark, we are satisfied. Among professional displays, it’s slightly above the norm. Given its accuracy in all our color and gamma measurements, the image quality is quite excellent.
Uncalibrated – Minimum Backlight Level
The minimum white level dips a bit below our 50cd/m2 preference. Set the brightness slider to 5 for that output. Black levels and contrast remain consistent throughout the backlight’s operating range. Our only minor complaint is the wide gap between maximum and minimum means a somewhat coarse resolution for the 100-step brightness control. Each click is around 3cd/m2.
After Calibration to 200cd/m2
In the UP3017’s case, calibration simply means setting the brightness to 200cd/m2 so we can provide a fair comparison to the other displays. No other adjustments were performed in any of the image modes. This is the very consistent performance one should expect from a pro-grade monitor.
We’re also showing the effect of the uniformity compensation that we used in the Standard preset. It operates mostly on the brighter steps and reduces output by 20% and contrast by 34%. You can judge for yourself whether its effectiveness is worthwhile by reading our uniformity results on page five.
ANSI Contrast Ratio
ANSI contrast is fairly solid at 956.7:1; a 9% drop from the sequential value. The uniformity compensation lowers the overall white level but has little effect on black, which explains the lower ANSI number. Our sample has a good-quality panel with solid intra-image contrast.
