Mac Creative > All Reviews > Hardware > Displays > Monitors > 19-inch and bigger > Hanns-G HZ281HPB review

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 Hanns-G HZ281HPB review

The HZ281 offers a huge screen, nice, solid looks and the best colour gamut coverage for sRGB and AdobeRGB

Duncan Evans

Manufacturer: HannsG
Manufacturer: HannsG
Pros: Big screen; stylish; good tonal range; very bright display; fast refresh rate; good sRGB and Adobe RGB coverage; 1,920 x 1,200 resolution
Cons: Slightly warm display; some unevenness at the top of the screen; quite bulky at the back; stand lacks flexibility
Price: £201.99
We rate this 4 out of 5.Star rating:

Even though the 27.5in Hanns-G HZ281HPB is the oldest monitor here – still available in retail channels though – it also happens to be one of the more stylish with its gloss black and short, thick pedestal that sits out of the way. The support offers little in the way of flexibility though, it tilts a bit and that’s it.

The HZ281 is also the thickest and heaviest monitor here, there’s lots of it round the back where the power and monitor cables plug in under the backplate. Unlike most of the others with this design, because it’s so large and high up, it’s one of the easiest to actually plug into. The controls on the front are standard buttons with no surprises.

Once calibrated colours were a little on the warm side but showed an excellent range of tones from highlights to shadows. In terms of sharpness it’s not quite as sharp as the AOC, which is a benefit for some text screens, but a disadvantage if you’re looking at landscape photos. This is a TN screen but horizontal viewing angles are good and only if you sink into your seat does the screen darken.

The plus side is the 3ms refresh rate, not quite as fast as the AOC, but faster than everything else on test, and it can handle action games and films with aplomb. It also has the brightest display of the lot by far, at a whopping 400cdm2 brightness. With an HDMI interface it could easily double up for cinematic viewing in brightly lit rooms.

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