The LG lineup of rather excellent and physically stunning 4K monitors is starting things off with a bang for 2018 due to the impending arrival of the new 27UK650-W model, which is now available for pre-order and comes with at least some high-end performance specs along with other characteristics which don’t sound quite so impressive
The new LG 4K ultra HD monitor comes with all the trimmings of one of LG’s high quality PC displays, and these include the essential native 4K resolution, IPS display for wide viewing angles, full support for HDR10 content display and for gamers, AMD FreeSync as well. We don’t yet have concrete tech specs for this specific model but from what we’re hearing, the 27UK650 will include a fairly strong 1000:1 native contrast ratio (decent by PC monitor standards), support for wide color gamut and 10-bit color (the key HDR10 specs in this machine) and a very decent 5ms response time. 178 degree viewing angles will also be the case thanks to this model’s IPS screen. The IPS panel should also cause the monitor’s rendering of HDR color to be exceptionally good since the display technology is known for being better at this than the TN display panel type found in most “cheaper” 4K gaming monitors (which the 27UK650-W is due to its FreeSync support).
The monitor will also be beautifully built, as is usual for most LG premium monitors we’ve reviewed and seen.
On the other hand, not so great rumors about the 27UK650-W’s capabilities include a lack of support for the new VESA DisplayHDR standard and a consequently low level of peak brightness. The 27UK650-W is expected to deliver a brightness of just 350 nits, and while this is about average for most 4K PC monitors from 2016 or 2017, it’s below even the lowest level that VESA DisplayHDR covers with its DisplayHDR 400 certification. These can go up to a maximum of DisplayHDR 1000, which is reserved for the absolute best HDR monitors on the market today that offer a whopping 1000 nits of display brightness. In other words, don’t expect a stunningly deep contrast ratio or breathtaking high dynamic range highlights in the new LG monitor model.
Nonetheless, the HDR color support will be there according to LG and the 27UK650-W is expected to support over 99% of the sRGB color space, making it a solid display for graphic designers as well.
Connectivity-wise, LG’s new 4K HDR monitor is also somewhat weakly decked out. Yes, it will offer dual HDMI ports and one DisplayPort socket of the most modern type but we’re not hearing anything about the presence of USB ports of any kind. This might turn out to be incorrect but if not, it would be a major disappointment since USB is such a basic and useful thing in most 4K PC monitors.
Whatever the case may be, LG is going to start shipping the 27UK650-W in early February and the monitor is listed at a fairly reasonable retail price of $550 so far. Again, for all you gamers out there, if you’re using AMD GPUs in your PC rig, this model’s FreeSync support is a definite highlight.