A classy addition to your command center.
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These days high-resolution panels are being offered at prices seen only in 1080p displays just a few years ago, so if you've got a graphics card that can handle it, pushing the pixels beyond 1080p is not only within reach but highly recommended. ViewSonic's VX2778 27-inch 1440p monitor (See it on Amazon) / (See it on Amazon UK) is a midrange model that lets you make the jump to 1440p for just $350, and though it doesn't offer any bells and whistles for gaming beyond its resolution, but what it does offer is pretty good for the price. Let's dive in:
Design and Features
The VX2778's aesthetic is modernist meets minimalist. The monitor itself has a "frameless" design, with an extremely thin bezel around the screen and a narrow band of metallic grey running across the bottom. On the lower right are the menu controls and an LED power indicator. The base itself is black, with the same metallic grey accents on the stand as on the monitor itself. It doesn't draw much attention to itself like most gaming monitors, opting instead for a subtle, minimalist design that would look right at home in a modern office, work place, or rudimentary computer lair.
Monitor adjustments are limited to tilting the display forward and backward. There's no way to change its orientation, raise it up or down, or twist it side-to-side. Despite this limitation I was pleased with how far the monitor tilts: a full 22-degrees back and 5-degrees forward, and the effort required to make adjustments is minimal. It's not silky smooth like on a more expensive monitor, but it also doesn't creak and strain like a cheap one either.
The menu system has a button for presets if you don't want to fine-tune the display on your own. There are three "gamer" presets, followed by FPS1, FPS2, RTS, MOBA, and Off. I turned the presets off, not liking any of them. Every preset set the sharpness way too high, giving everything an ugly, harsh look I absolutely didn't enjoy.
The rest of the menu options allow manual adjustments to sharpness, color adjustments like contrast, brightness, temperature and color space and range. The ViewMode option has more presets, including all the gaming ones I didn't like, as well as movie, web, text, MAC, and Mono. The MAC setting made everything look really bad, from text to color to brightness, and Mono sets the display to monochromatic. It's weird to have the option to see your computer screen in black and white, but it's there.
All in all, menu navigation is spelled out with icons in the OSD, but it's somewhat confusing at times. There are shortcuts to take you instantly to some settings, but you may accidentally stumble upon those same options by navigating the main menu. It's strange there's a quick and easy way to set the monitor to monochrome, but no quick and easy way to adjust the master volume.
The VX2778 has built-in speakers and I was completely surprised to discover they're actually... quite good. In fact, they're pretty excellent as far as built-in speakers go. They could stand to be louder, but otherwise they sound great. For the most part, I used the built-in speakers for watching YouTube and social media videos, only donning my headset when I wanted to play games or listen to music. They're certainly good enough for daily driving.
Port selection is minimal. There are no USB ports, and when connecting the display to your computer you're limited to DisplayPort, mini DisplayPort, and HDMI. There's no DVI option at all. There is a 3.5mm audio out, so you can hook up external speakers, or plug a set of compatible headphones into the monitor if you're into that.
The display is IPS-type, so it has great color reproduction and wide viewing angles. The trade-off is a sluggish 5ms response time, but I never felt like those extra milliseconds cost me a kill or hindered my gaming. The 60Hz refresh rate is squarely in the "meh" category. The Acer XG270HU monitor has the same native resolution, but with a 144Mhz refresh rate, FreeSync or Gsync anti-tearing technology, and a 1ms response rate, for $100 more. That monitor uses a TN panel however, so it's a tradeoff.
Testing
In the Lagom monitor tests, the VX2778 crushed it. In the black level test, where less panels make some squares blend into the background, every square was distinguishable, although the first square just barely. White saturation was also a homerun, with all squares visible. Again, the whitest square was just discernible from the background, but it's still a passing grade. The gradient test was similarly excellent, with no banding at all. Where the VX2778 stumbles is in the response time. I noticed flickering in 4 of the 8 squares, and ideally there wouldn't be any flickering in any squares. This is a product of the IPS-type panel's 5ms response time, but for practical gaming applications, I didn't notice it any significant drawbacks.
Gaming
There are lots of monitors out there designed and marketed as gaming monitors, but let's be real: the second you play a game on your monitor, it technically becomes a gaming monitor. It's only the extra features, like anti-screen tearing and high refresh rates, that matter in gaming. Since the VX2778 has neither, does it still do well with gaming? I'm happy to say it performed admirably.
I played many, many hours of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, which doesn't have a 1440p graphical option at the time of writing this, but primarily I wanted to see if the lack of gamer-specific features would hinder the experience. I'm happy to report the VX2778 was excellent. I even managed to win my first chicken dinner while testing the VX2778, so the 5ms response time didn't seem to hold back my abilities.
To test out its 1440p gaming capabilities, I played Grand Theft Auto 5. In spite of being nearly 4 years old, GTA5 still looks great, especially on PC. In 1440p, it looks even better. In fact, I've tested 4K capable monitors and computers in the past, and at 27-inches, I'd be hard pressed to tell the difference between the two. It's amazing to see the detail in the asphalt as I raced around the streets of Los Santos. I never experienced any ghosting or blurring and the colors just popped. As great as Los Santos looks in 1440p, it looks even better in low light. The black levels on the VX2778 are great, and the city lights looked incredible.
Purchasing Guide
The Viewsonic VX2778 Monitor has an MSRP of $399, but it's usually found for around $350 Amazon:
• See the Viewsonic VX2778 Monitor on Amazon
• See the Viewsonic VX2778 Monitor on Amazon (UK)
The Verdict
The ViewSonic VX2778-smhd is a great monitor overall and produces rich colors at better than HD resolution. It's also attractive, with surprisingly good built-in speakers. Though it performed very well overall, its lack of special features and 60Hz refresh rate make it a bit less exciting than other monitors I've reviewed. Since it's not a dedicated gaming monitor it lacks features like G-Sync or FreeSync, so it's pretty basic. That being said, its $399 price point is hard to beat for a 27-inch 1440p monitor, and you can almost always find it for less.
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