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Conclusion
Honestly, when we unpacked the Monoprice MP27 Zero-G, our expectations were low. It’s so lightweight and minimal-looking that we expected little in terms of color accuracy or gaming performance. Happily, we were proved wrong when the monitor did well in our color tests and impressed us further with its gaming chops. It truly is a competitive product that undercuts the nearest competitor by a tidy sum.
Our only real complaint here is physical build quality. The MP27 feels like a toy with its wobbly stand and a chassis that almost feels devoid of internal components. At less than 10lbs, it won’t inspire confidence, but it may be a good choice if you plan to schlep it to LAN parties. And we’d love to see a better support system. Even after the panel stops vibrating, the lack of ergonomic adjustments is a bit of a pain. Even swivel would be a welcome addition. We can’t speculate on its long-term durability, but it would be best to treat it with care unless you leave it at home; which most users undoubtedly will.
All those complaints are forgotten though when you realize it is capable of very accurate color and excellent gaming performance. Out of the box, we weren’t thrilled with the warm default grayscale tracking but a few tweaks of the RGB sliders took care of that. And for those who don’t calibrate, just select the sRGB color temp preset for a good picture. Just don’t mess with the gamma control. Leave it off for optimal quality. And with or without calibration, the MP27 has a good native color gamut with nearly all measured points on or very near their targets. In fact, the only image parameter we would like to see improved is contrast. While not a deal-breaker, it offers a little less than most. Luckily, our sample made up for that with exemplary screen uniformity.
With regards to gaming, the only thing we observed was a non-functional overdrive, but since the MP27 has no trouble maintaining high framerates, it wasn’t missed in actual use. And because FreeSync operates over a wide 40-144Hz range, frame tears won’t be a factor even below 40 FPS thanks to LFC. Did we miss blur-reduction? Not a bit. We’ve never really embraced it on all the G-Sync monitors that have it because it negatively impacts brightness and contrast. It’s far more important to keep framerates as high as possible. That will eliminate blur and maintain motion resolution far more effectively than a backlight strobe.
With a low price and impressive performance, the Monoprice MP27 Zero-G earns a solid recommendation. Physical build quality aside, it’s every bit as good as its more expensive competition. That’s why we’re giving it our Tom’s Hardware Editor Approved Award.
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