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.
Results: Viewing Angles, Uniformity, Response And Lag
To learn how we measure screen uniformity, please click here.
Here’s the part where enthusiasts jump on the inferiority of TN panels. Yes, there is an obvious color shift in the horizontal plane and a serious loss of detail in the vertical. At 28 inches large, you have to position the Monoprice just right for optimal image quality. We are looking forward to the advent of IPS in the value-priced Ultra HD category. Right now though, the next best option is Dell's UP2414Q, which we've seen under $800 online. If you can overlook the image above, you'll save at least $300 by going for the Monoprice.
Screen Uniformity: Luminance
Even before we ran this test, we could see that Monoprice offers a high-quality and uniform screen. There is no visible light bleed in an all-black field pattern and the 9.56-percent result bears that out. While this is a tough test for TN panels, Monoprice, Dell and Samsung manage to deliver good results.
Here’s the white field measurement:
The white-field result is equally impressive. Samsung moves to another level with its 6.65 number, while Monoprice beats out another Tom’s Hardware award-winner, Planar's IX2850. The CrystalPro boasts not only excellent build quality, but excellent quality control too.
Screen Uniformity: Color
Any color uniformity result below three DeltaE means you can’t see aberrant tints in a white-field pattern (we use 80-percent brightness). Monoprice shows nothing but a perfect white field from edge-to-edge.
Pixel Response And Input Lag
Please click here to read up on our pixel response and input lag testing procedures.
TN-based monitors are known to have faster pixel response than their IPS counterparts. But some TN panels are faster than others. For gamers or movie-watchers, the least motion blur is found from the Monoprice and Samsung displays. The only hardware differences are the control boards, and obviously Monoprice picked the right one.
Here are the lag results:
While you wait for super-fast graphics hardware to come down in price, 4K gamers can at least buy a reasonably-affordable monitor with low input lag right now. Speed-wise, the choice between Monoprice and Asus is pretty much a wash at this point. Asus demonstrates slightly less lag, but slower response. We doubt anyone will be able to tell the difference in actual gameplay.
