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.
To read about our monitor tests in-depth, please check out Display Testing Explained: How We Test PC Monitors. We cover brightness and contrast testing on page two.
Uncalibrated – Maximum Backlight Level
The M27Q X is an extremely bright monitor with just over 516 nits peak output in SDR mode. It outshines its predecessor, the M27Q, in this regard. With a minimum measured value of 47 nits and a brightness slider with 100 clicks, that’s three to four nits per click. This makes the light level hard to set with precision. I’d rather see a maximum of around 350 nits for SDR and save the higher level for HDR.
The black level is high as expected and the resulting contrast is a tad below average at 992.4:1. This is close to the mark for IPS in general, but the newest panels have been inching closer to 1,200:1 which is visibly better.
After Calibration to 200 nits
Calibration does not result in any change to the contrast ratio, which is a good thing. But the M27Q X is still on the low side of average in this test. Obviously, the VA panels have a technological advantage, but IPS panels can be better than this.
The ANSI contrast value is slightly lower, which is typical for any monitor. In the M27Q X’s case, overall image depth and dimension are good but not great.
