Recently, people on the Internet have been talking about (comparatively) cheap 27“ monitors from South Korea with a glorious 2560x1440 resolution. Jeff Atwood and Scott Wasson wrote about it, and summarized their critiques fairly positively.
For something around €300, you can order a monitor like this from a South Korean ebay vendor. Shipping and an international power adapter are included. The monitors are of brands I’ve never heard of in the West, so I guess they mainly supply Asian countries.
€300 is a fantastic deal, considering that 27“ IPS screens with the same resolution start at twice the price around here. So, after carefully studying online reviews, I decided to take the risk and order one of those babies, since I was contemplating to treat myself to some hardware as a reward for my recent graduation anyways.
I ordered the same model Atwood and Wasson own. If I had been at home, the item would have arrived just five days after placing the order, which is quite a remarkable time. Not damages to the exterior, power light goes on. The moment of truth.
Until now, I’ve been working with a single 24“ 1920x1080 monitor, which was the cheapest model available on Amazon when I bought it about four years ago. So it’s no surprise that the colors of the new monitor just explode in my face. I’m pretty sure that I was grinning like a maniac for at least 10 minutes as a reaction to those magical colors. Looks like money well spent.
It could have been perfect, but then again: No🔗
The smaller issue is the screen surface. I was aware that I was ordering a reflecting screen, but I didn’t expect the reflections to be this annoying. I can see my hands typing in a moderately lit room, which is somewhat distracting. This can be dealt with, however: Either by purchasing some anti-reflection sheet, or by getting used to it.
The big issue is that the screen came with two stuck pixels. No dead pixels, fortunately. I managed to get rid of one using pixel massage, but the other one still remains in the center region of the screen.
Considering the pain sending back the display would cause me (and the shipping costs), I guess I can tolerate one stuck pixel. My usual window setup makes it practically invisible anyway. It’s only really annoying when watching movies.
Conclusion🔗
It looks like I was just out of luck about that pixel business. As far as I recall, the screens ordered by Atwood and Wasson were just fine, pixel-wise.
If you don’t mind a reflecting screen, this monitor can be definitely recommended. Customs in Austria only charge €42.10 - overall, you save more than €250 compared to the cheapest model over here with equivalent specs.