While wandering the halls at E3 to talk with NVIDIA and AMD about the future of gaming, I ran across a small booth with Monoprice in it. If you don't know Monoprice, it is an online seller of electronics and cables and much of its merchandise can be found throughout the offices at PC Perspective.
In recent months Monoprice made news with PC gamers as one of the first major retailers to begin selling the low-cost 27-in 2560×1440 monitors shipping from Korea. While the monitors are likely very much the same, buying from a local company in the US rather than trusting an eBay buyer in Korea brings a lot of peace of mind to the transaction. Getting a dead pixel and 1 year warranty along with it helps too.
On hand at E3 was the Monoprice IPS-ZERO-G Monitor that runs at a 2560×1440 resolution with a single dual-link DVI input. This is an updated to the first model Monoprice shipped with a newer, thinner design and an even better $390 price point.
Monoprice also is offering a model with an internal scalar that allows the display to include additional inputs like HDMI, VGA and DisplayPort. The 27-in IPS-G Pro will sell for $474 and will also be tuned for AdobeRGB and sRGB options.
In addition to the two 27-in models, Monoprice also has added 30-in 2560×1600 monitors: the IPS CrystalPro and the IPS Pro with the same primary differentiation – input support.
I am looking forward to getting my hands on these Monoprice display options to see if they can live up to the levels of the other Korean-built displays we have in the office. If they do, then I think we have a new reason for PC gamers to celebrate.
Another interesting find at the booth were some new HDMI cables using a RedMere controller on the connector to allow for extremely thin (and long) runs. First shown at CES in 2008, the RedMere RM1689 chip runs solely on the power provided by the HDMI output and allows cables to use much less copper to create thinner designs. They will obviously cost a bit more than standard options but you can see from the photo above the difference is striking.
Holy crap, that’s a helluva
Holy crap, that’s a helluva cheap price for those specs.
Wonder what they cut corners on other than the inputs to get it that cheap.
Review please!
I ordered one of the new
I ordered one of the new models a few days back (arrives 6/14). The “more than 5 dead pixels in a year and you get a complete refund/replacement” warranty and the USA distribution point sold me.
Monitor arrived today. No
Monitor arrived today. No dead pixels and sharp as advertised. The metal backing gives the monitor a better feel than the plastic one I suspect. The side mounted connections are a plus but i don’t like the cheap feeling monitor controls on the back. But…screen is as good as advertised and the defaults are fine for gaming/general use. I’ll play some Crysis 3 and TF2 over the next few days and get back.
Still not sold on these —
Still not sold on these — but having them local is a significant improvement.
Also, does “five dead pixels” also cover “stuck pixels”?
As someone who has lived in the 30″ world for the last decade, I have to say that four stuck or dead pixels o a monitor would bum me the hell out. One of my 30″ ACDs had a single dead pixel in the upper screen (around where the OSX menubar would be) and it drove me nuts. I simply could never get over it just being this thing my eyeball constantly darted to. I felt like I’d made a $3,300 mistake for several years, until I finally gave it away to someone and moved on.
Ryan please cajol Monoprice
Ryan please cajol Monoprice to send you the multi input model soon so you can review it, I’m getting antsy to pull the trigger and buy one if it measures up to the Dell ultrasharps.
Update…about 15-20 hours
Update…about 15-20 hours with TF2 and other games and no problems so far. I don’t know all the “stuff” pro-users might test for but as far as i’m concerned this is a perfectly fine monitor. No eye strain, crisp and clear colors, nice “black” , and it feels sturdy. The VESA mounts on the back are welcome…eventually i’ll get an “arm” bracket…the monitor’s stand is adequate but it’s not like those from Dell or others…but then again…for less than $400 it’s a GREAT deal.