The new Gigabyte display is a 4K monitor designed for fans of high frame rates at high definition with colors that befit the graphic standard, does it make it all?
Almost two years ago, we did not expect that we would review a monitor with a resolution like 4K with a refresh rate like 120Hz and above. we do not blame the manufacturers of these screens, but at the time we did not have the meter that could match these numbers enough so that we could judge them in the best possible way. Fortunately, we’re in the presence of hardware that can do just that, so let’s see what Gigabyte has to offer with a new 4K display geared toward the hardware we’re talking about.
But let’s put our legs on the ground a little. Our guest today is the Gigabyte M28U monitor that comes with a 4K resolution with a refresh rate of 144Hz. This monitor, before you start to oppress us, will not bring out its best in many cases, especially with AAA games of the category Cyberpunk 2077 and Assassin’s Creed for example, and this is normal because no graphics card is able to produce the number of frames that this monitor can handle its exposure.
At the very least, a card like NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 3090 will break the 60-fps barrier with most games, and when we enable technologies like DLSS that increase the frame rate displayed using AI, we’ll be able to handle this screen better than it did in the past. 4K screen with a refresh rate like the 144Hz we see with today’s guest.
That was our word before we started our review of this new monitor on the market, and now, let’s get to the point.
A look at the design of the Gigabyte M28U monitor
We always like to start the review with a look at what I’m going to run to see if it makes any first impression. Let’s remind you of something first. This screen comes from Gigabyte and does not come from Aorus, which means that it did not enter the manufacturing line of screens that feature the violent gaming feature offered by the company.
We don’t expect to see any kind of RGB lighting, for example, and we also don’t expect to see any kind of violent graphics on this screen before we open the box, but we expect it to be similar to the G32QC screen in terms of design, but with higher specifications because, as mentioned, it is a 4K display based on a better panel and specifications designed for a higher class.
Here we are opening the box, and we really feel like I’m looking at the screen we were talking about. The design is similar when we look at the screen from the front. Ultra-thin edges with this desk stand design means that it won’t fit on your desktop if you also place your computer case on top of it.
Speaking of the bracket we’ll start with; this one isn’t the best of its kind. You cannot move the screen around its axis and the screen itself cannot be rotated around the kickstand axis. Moving the screen body itself forward is already available and adjusting the height is also available to you in a wonderful orbit, both in terms of movement and in terms of height, which is very satisfying.
When moving up, we will find here the same screen panel that comes to us with a very thin design on the top and sides as usual with its modern Gigabyte screens. The panel is well supported by the sturdy kickstand that we find at the bottom, so we can say that this screen is sturdy so far compared to many of the screens we see in the market.
When we look back, we find a new touch from the Gigabyte, which is the mixture of bright and matte plastic. At first glance, this design is beautiful and reminds you of the days of the original Xbox One, but if you own an Xbox One at the time, you will realize that this screen will love the dust and fingerprints it left on it when installed.
On the back we’ll also find two 3-watt speakers, which is higher than the 2-watt we usually see in monitors that come from similar lines from other companies. When looking at the connections, we will find that the screen comes with two HDMI 2.1 inputs to support 4K resolution with a refresh rate of 120 Hz, a DisplayPort 1.4 input and a USB Type-C port. There are also three USB 3.0 ports, and the stand that comes with a cable management circuit will also help you pack the cables if you plan to use these ports.
Technical specifications of the screen
The Gigabyte M28U makes great use of the IPS panel on paper, and this is evident initially with viewing angles of up to 178 degrees for good color accuracy when viewed from different angles, and this is evident on paper as well with DCI-P3 color coverage of 94 %.
If you want to translate to sRGB colors, this coverage is approximately equal to 120% of sRGB colors so you can enjoy good colors if you want to display content in that color group. Add to this also the resolution of Ultra HD or 4K as it is called “the market”, which will make this 28-inch screen capable of displaying content beautifully on paper as well.
The screen here comes with a brightness of 300 nits, or knots if you want the literal translation. There is also the possibility to do this brightness up under normal lighting conditions, but its contrast sharpness is normal for an IPS panel, 1000:1 as usual.
We would expect from here that there will be a defect in the contrast of black tones because IPS screens do not provide high contrast sharpness. The feature we see here is that this screen is already DisplayHDR 400 certified, which means that turning on HDR content will give this screen a boost to run at 400 nits’ brightness.
The screen is also suitable for ESports gamers who want to display gaming content in resolutions such as 4K, because its response time is milliseconds in gray-to-grey and 2 milliseconds in MPRT, which enhances its power in terms of sports games e-mail as you mentioned.
Screen experience
Well, there are several calculations we intend to simplify for you today. First of all, the screen gaming experience is great and we can’t disagree on that. Let’s break the experience down into words that quickly reflect the power of this new Gigabyte monitor with gaming.
On paper, this monitor should provide us with great color accuracy since it can get close to 120% of sRGB colors and 94% of DCI-P3 colors, which the Spyder X Pro software we tested didn’t agree with. The screen on it, through which we found that the sRGB color coverage was only 99%, while the DCI-P3 color coverage reached 86%, which is lower than what was detected.
Does this mean it is bad? No. The screen is excellent with the consumption of content that works in sRGB colors, and mostly it is the content of the games and the content of the videos that you watch, but it is not the best with professional use such as making advertisements, etc., but this means that it is bad with the use of the “normal” content maker who makes content Like gaming content for the same.
Let’s get into the refresh rate and response time part. The refresh rate that we see is almost the highest with this resolution at the moment, especially since we will not see a 4K screen with a higher refresh rate before next year, which oversaw the entry on us already. The refresh rate is not fully exploited except with ESports games or with the support of AAA games with technology that enhances the frame rate such as DLSS, and the selection of graphic quality settings may bring us closer to 90 frames per second with some titles, which makes the refresh rate a somewhat profitable deal.
Response time can’t be complained about. The screen here has a great response time without activating the Overdrive feature, which is trying to reduce it, and here the Gigabyte screen does not need this feature in normal conditions because the effect of fog resulting from the time of changing the color of the pixels is almost non-existent and you will not feel it with games that feature fast movement at all, and with a rate of Upgraded, this duo plays their part perfectly.
The obvious drawback to us here is that the black levels are not very good. When viewing the screen in black we will find that there are a few areas where, unfortunately, bleeding from the screen appears, which makes it not good for use in dark environments with dark content. We doubt that this crisis will appear often with you, but it is visible in our screen experience and it should be noted.
We must talk about the KVM feature as well, which is one of the most important advantages offered by this screen. KVMs were originally used to control more than one device through just one keyboard and mouse, and here shows the power of Gigabyte M screens because they offer this feature built into their screens.
All you have to do is install the second device away from the desktop through the Type-C port, and you will also connect your keyboard to the USB ports of the monitor in order for the feature that we tested with the MacBook from last year that proved to us effective this feature.
Our final verdict on the new Gigabyte screen
At $650, we can say that it is one of the cheapest monitors that offer these features in one package. Of course, Gigabyte sacrificed some advantages in terms of design and so on, but the most important in the end is the full experience that Gigabyte has proven to us that it can deliver in ideal operating conditions.
The panel that is placed in this monitor offers good colors, good refresh rate, excellent response time and graphical accuracy which has already become a target for a good percentage of gamers. There are some points that we were not satisfied with in terms of the screen’s kickstand, but all of this was certainly in order to reduce the price, which is feared by many when we talk about a screen with this graphic resolution.
The All Tech Guru rating
picture and colors: 8
Design and ruggedness: 7
Accessories: 9
Price: 8
Positives
- High graphic resolution.
- Excellent response time.
- Distinctive color accuracy for the market put to it.
- The built-in KVM feature makes it easy to work on the screen.
- Various connections.
- Good price for what it offers.
Negatives
- The black weight level is not optimal in many circumstances.
- The kickstand restricts the movement of the screen and takes up a good amount of space.
- The back of the screen will need constant polishing.
- Not the best screen for those who want to create professional content.
