(Image credit: AOC) (Image credit: AOC) (Image credit: AOC) (Image credit: AOC) AOC keeps the Q27G4ZMN’s styling understated, but there are a few bits of red trim to signal its gaming intent. You can see the offset cable hole is lined in red, and there’s a red ring around the attachment point in the back. The only other graphic is “AOC” on the front and “AOC Gaming” printed in the back. The shape is created by flat triangles that intersect at the top to form a small ventilation grill.
There’s no LED lighting, aside from a tiny power indicator that glows white when the Q27G4ZMN is on and orange in standby mode. Five control keys protrude slightly from the bottom right with their functions labeled in front. Buttons aren’t my favorite, as I’m spoiled by joysticks and nifty remotes, but here, they get the job done. You won’t need to do much tweaking as the picture is already very close to perfect out of the box.
AOC doesn’t skimp on the stand. It has a broad and deep base with a solid upright. There’s a little wobble at the fulcrum, but ergonomics are sound. You get 5/23 degrees tilt and 20 20-degree swivel plus 4.9 inches of height adjustment. There is no portrait mode.
Underneath is a tiny input panel with two HDMI 2.0 ports and a single DisplayPort 1.4. You also get a 3.5mm headphone jack. There are no USB ports, nor are there internal speakers.
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware) (Image credit: Tom's Hardware) (Image credit: Tom's Hardware) (Image credit: Tom's Hardware) (Image credit: Tom's Hardware) (Image credit: Tom's Hardware) (Image credit: Tom's Hardware) (Image credit: Tom's Hardware) The Q27G4ZMN has four fixed gaming picture modes and three settings memories. I stuck with Standard as it made all the image controls available. Additional game tweaks include shadow control to make dark areas easier to see, color saturation, Adaptive-Sync toggle, aiming point, three-level overdrive and a refresh rate indicator. The aiming point includes a dynamic setting to keep the reticle in contrast with the background. The overdrive is very precise and works best on its Fastest setting. There are no ghosting artifacts, and blur is almost absent. The only thing missing here is backlight strobing.
You don’t have to calibrate the Q27G4ZMN in its Standard gaming mode. It’s also best to leave Eco Mode on Standard. I tweaked the RGB sliders, for a tiny bit better grayscale tracking, but this had no visual impact. Color accuracy here is very high. My settings are shown below.
HDR signals default to HDR Game, but I found better luminance tracking using Display HDR. You can see those results on page five. Local Dimming is available for both SDR and HDR. I suggest leaving it off for SDR as the Q27G4ZMN has around 5,000:1 native contrast, plenty for productivity and video. For HDR material, choose Strong for the most dynamic picture.
The Q27G4ZMN is truly the next best thing to an OLED in every way. It delivers about 95% of the image quality, impact and gaming performance of the best OLEDs for less than half the price, similarly spec’d. The VA panel’s native contrast is around 5,000:1, so it looks great whether you engage the local dimming or not. It’s nice to see that it’s available for both SDR and HDR. I found it was better left off for work tasks and most video content. However, gaming benefited, and I could use its Strong setting for deep blacks and very bright highlights.
Color was also the star with rich hues and vivid textures. The default settings use the full gamut for SDR, which is quite a bit more colorful than the sRGB standard, but Q27G4ZMN looks great doing it. It’s vibrant without veering into the cartoon look. And if you prefer sRGB, that mode is spot-on in every metric. This monitor is fully qualified for color-critical work like Photoshop or video post-production.
LCDs vary greatly in their video processing ability, but the Q27G4ZMN is one of the best I’ve seen. The overdrive is very precise and works perfectly on its highest setting. Blur is nearly nonexistent, and there are no ghosting artifacts. There’s no backlight strobe option here, so you’ll want to make sure you can get as close to 240fps as possible. Adaptive-Sync worked without issue. Response to control inputs was instantaneous, as quick in feel as any OLED I’ve experienced. The only slight I can make here is that there is just a hint of motion blur. It’s small enough that I wouldn’t notice if I hadn’t already played on many OLEDs.
The Q27G4ZMN is a bare bones gaming monitor so there aren’t USB ports, speakers or LED lights. But none of that detracts from its capabilities. It is a seriously good monitor in every respect, gaming, image quality, ease of setup, and out-of-the-box performance.
Takeaway: For the relatively low price of $330, the Q27G4ZMN delivers most of an OLED’s attributes. In fact, it’s brighter than any OLED I’ve reviewed, so it has that one advantage. It’s super colorful, super quick and addictive to play on. And it serves very well for work and video content. There is nothing to complain about here; it just works.
Current page: Features and Specifications
Key considerations
- Investor positioning can change fast
- Volatility remains possible near catalysts
- Macro rates and liquidity can dominate flows
Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/monitors/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/monitors/aoc-q27g4zmn-27-inch-qhd-mini-led-240-hz-gaming-monitor-review-incredible-performance-and-value#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com
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Informational only. No financial advice. Do your own research.