Hi
I found 2 reviews in German, both look pretty good. You should be able to translate them automatically.
Thanks for the links and your help it's appreciated!
Okay, out of the 3 options I finally had and looking more closely at the specifications / reviews etc. I decided in the end to buy the BenQ Mobiuz... again.
Reasons being...
It was generally in my budget of £200, it has speakers and those are pretty much ok, pretty good actually for a monitor in this price range. It has some usb connections which might prove useful, but no headphone socket. The quality of the screen is crisp and sharp and the colours are very good, and it is also HDR compliant. Refresh rate is fairly high (165Hz) using the Display port though using an HDMi connection that will bring it down to 144Hz.I think
It's overall dimensions are slightly on the large size with the base projecting roughly 2" (5cm) beyond the front of the screen. My computer desk has a depth of just under 2ft (60cm) so when the monitor is in place there's enough room for a large keyboard (mine is a Logitech G19) and the joystick (Thrustmaster T16000m) to be positioned directly in front of the monitor. It's a solid base though and you've got the tilt swivel and hight adjustments, but no pivot. Rear connections can be partially hidden with a quickly removable panel and the cables routed back through the base which helps to keep cables tidy. I can't see any dead pixels on the screen so in this respect the quality seems fine.
I'm no expert on monitors but I can only say I'm very happy with how it's performing at the moment, obviously time will tell at how reliable it is ( I've used it for about 8 months) and of course how good the warranty will be if there are any problems in the future.
The main consideration though for me are user reviews. I found several reviews of this monitor and I'll supply one here..
A 27-inch QHD gaming monitor with 165 Hz, Adaptive-Sync, HDR and extended color.
www.tomshardware.com
Bear in mind the review is over 2 years old though, so prices have radically changed and the monitor at time of review was $400 (roughly about £300). I've just bought it at just about £200, (From Overlockers UK) with £7 postage on top of that.
The Thermaltake monitor has some good up to date specifications, especially the port connections at the back, but it has no speakers which might be a problem if you haven't any separate speakers obviously,. The overall design is a bit quirky, that is to say it might not appeal to some, I was 50 / 50 on this, but the base of the monitor didn't look as good in my eyes compared to the BenQ's. On the other hand the Thermaltake base does have a pivot option. this is design, so some may like it.
As it's Thermaltake's first attempt in the monitor market apparently from what I could gather any reviews as I said are spartan, this also reflects back to me in the sense of caution, as I haven't much information as to (1) quality, (2) warranty, (3) long term use and whether Thermaltake would continue to support this monitor in future with either software or other considerations. That's not to say this monitor isn't a good buy, or it's quality and specifications aren't either, but I'm personally wary of new computer hardware / peripherals that haven't been tried and tested.
I also considered an MSI 27" Monitor that was cheaper than the Thermaltake & BenQ but the rear connections didn't include any usb ports and it also hadn't any speakers, though the base of the monitor compared to the other two is much more compact and neater looking, so it would fit a smaller width desktop.
I looked at some reviews of this monitor and they were mostly positive, there were a few negative points mentioned, especially the absence of usb ports, but generally reviews were as I said positive. The price point is also very competitive in the sub £200 monitor range, and at the moment there is an offer at some retailers in the UK that includes free postage, which I gather is in collaboration with MSI.
MSI have a reasonable track record for monitors, which is another consideration.
There are of course better monitors with higher specifications in the "27 2560 x 1440 monitor range, especially in VR mode I should think, but for a more budget priced monitor in the £200 price bracket and lower these are what I personally came up with within this general budget.
As for Elite Dangerous? I don't play
many games but I play Elite a lot!... Playing Elite on the monitor I've chosen I've got no real complaints. I have less eyestrain than I used to and overall I'm pleased with the results visually.
I hope this short review will be in some small way of some help to others who play Elite, and have a new 27"1440p monitor in mind.
If anybody would like to comment about this particular subject, and it's connection with Elite, feel free to submit your thoughts and experiences, all knowledge is useful here as ultimately we all play Elite through two main technological criteria, visual and audio.
Jack
