Introduction
At this level nubia’s Purple Magic has strong traditions within the gaming smartphone section and it felt assured sufficient to enterprise into the broader gaming world.
The Redmagic 4K Gaming Monitor 27″ is the corporate’s first monitor and it is a beast. It impresses with a cutting-edge miniLED panel that boasts excessive most brightness, good distinction and 1,152 dimming zones for correct HDR expertise. In actual fact, the panel helps HDR1000 customary, which is fairly spectacular for a PC monitor.
And since this can be a gaming monitor, it has all of the hertzes and pixels. The 4K (3840 x 2560px) show can go as much as 160Hz and presents low latency too.
Clearly, with all that premium tech on board, the Redmagic 4K Gaming Monitor does not come low cost. With a launch worth is $869 it seems to be like Purple Magic is assured sufficient about its product to place it as a premium monitor, so let’s take a deep dive and see if its price your cash.
Unboxing the Redmagic 4K Gaming Monitor
The monitor ships in a giant field with every thing you’d have to set it up. The gadget ships with an HDMI, DisplayPort, USB-C and USB-A to USB-B cables. The ability adapter is exterior, which is fairly massive and hefty but when it goes bust, you possibly can simply change it for a brand new one as a substitute of getting to restore or change the entire monitor.
There are additionally 4 bolts for a VESA 75 x 75mm wall mount.
Design, ergonomics, stand
We might name the monitor’s design fairly constrained and even formal for a gaming-centric gadget. There aren’t any funky design parts or flashy LEDs, besides the RGB LED-illuminated triangle on the again, which is fairly stealthy anyway. And you’ll solely see it from behind, so it will not be distracting in any respect. You’ll be able to’t see it from the entrance even in a darkish room.
The enclosure is strong plastic with matte end and it is good to the contact. Sadly, the stand can be completely manufactured from plastic. Positive, it is sturdy and useful, however it will have been good to have a strong piece of steel conserving the monitor upright.
Nonetheless, the stand lets you match the monitor in just about any working atmosphere. It supplies vertical changes, it will possibly swivel, tilt and rotate the monitor in portrait mode. And because the monitor has a built-in accelerometer, it mechanically switches between the suitable modes in Home windows.
Redmagic 4K Gaming Monitor
Alternatively, you possibly can mount the show on the wall utilizing the offered extenders. It natively helps 75 x 75mm VESA mounts.
Moreover, the monitor incorporates a built-in stand on your headphones and the plastic peace comes off so you are able to do correct cable administration. You’ll be able to run the cables by means of the stand as a substitute of leaving them hanging round.
Stand design
There is a joystick on the again used for OSD menu navigation nevertheless it’s positioned method too far up the again, so that you’d have to succeed in for it each time it’s essential arrange one thing.
Joystick for navigation and fast shortcut buttons
The three shortcut buttons are even additional away and more durable to succeed in. The highest one toggles the HDR mode on or off, the second is used to change between sources (you probably have multiple gadget related to the monitor, you possibly can change between them on the fly) and the third one is a fast shortcut to the show modes, refresh charge adjustment and a toggle for the built-in crosshair. These are the default assignments anyway, however you possibly can customise these shortcuts to your liking.
Connectivity
The Redmagic 4K Gaming Monitor boasts a variety of connectivity choices however they’re all fairly exhausting to succeed in. We had a tough time setting it up as a result of the connectors are in a small compartment so plugging within the cables is a little bit of a problem.
Anyway, the monitor has 2x HDMI 2.1 ports, 1x DisplayPort 1.4, USB-C connector that helps as much as 90W charging, information switch and video enter. There are additionally two USB-A 3.0 ports and a 3.5mm audio jack.
Needless to say utilizing the HDMI 2.1 connectors would restrict the refresh charge to 120Hz at 2160p, so if you’d like the quickest doable refresh charge at 4K, you must use the DisplayPort.
Gaming options and show modes
There are many gaming-specific options to undergo, however maybe an important ones to recollect are the 160Hz refresh charge, 1ms response time, overdrive of 4.5ms (in all probability gray-to-gray) and assist for FreeSync. And since Nvidia opened up its API a few years again, you possibly can nonetheless use the variable refresh charge with an Nvidia GPU.
Gaming-related modes and options
The monitor permits you to tinker with most of these choices. You’ll be able to arrange the refresh charge, the response time and allow/disable FreeSync.
As anticipated, the show has a few gaming profile presets, relying on the style. It has MOBA and FPS. There’s additionally a built-in body charge counter and a large selection of crosshairs. As an example you do not just like the crosshair design in a selected recreation or you’re are an avid AWPer in Counter-Strike and also you want that crosshair for simpler no-scopes. The Redmagic 4K monitor has you lined.
The remainder of the colour presets are sRGB, AdobeRGB, DCI-P3 and Eye care mode. however extra on these within the subsequent part.
To our shock, we weren’t capable of activate the automated brightness, nor the dynamic distinction options. Not that we might hold them on, however nonetheless.
Maybe that is the place we complain concerning the total OSD menu navigation. It is all over. Urgent down on the joystick key turns the monitor on and off, you possibly can’t use it for menu choice. A proper press selects the mode, the left one takes you again whereas up and down cycle between modes/menu picks. It is very unintuitive and peculiar. We additionally did not just like the menu translations. A few of them are complicated, even.
Picture high quality
For the reason that monitor incorporates a miniLED panel, we had excessive hopes for the general high quality. MiniLED panels are a extra superior model of the usual LED-backlit panels with extra backlight diodes. This allows extra lighting zones (1,152 on this case) and better most brightness. The backlight nonetheless shines by means of a coloration filter, although, so the underlying show expertise remains to be IPS LCD. That is why miniLEDs are far nearer to conventional panels than microLEDs.
microLEDs are nearer to OLEDs in a way that they do not want a coloration filter and every diode is self-emitting.
In any case, the marketed specs are fairly spectacular. Purple Magic lists 650 nits most brightness and 1,300 nits spot brightness when watching HDR content material, 1,000:1 distinction ratio, 10-bit coloration depth and 99% protection of all coloration areas – AdobeRGB, sRGB and DCI-P3. For the reason that panel has 1,152 lighting zones and excessive most brightness, the monitor is HDR100-certified. It is not the very best one however we take into account it as a correct HDR customary.
Extra image settings
The show seems to be nice. It presents vivid colours, deep blacks and regardless that the anti-glare floor is not preferrred, the Redmagic 4K will get shiny sufficient to compensate. With out additional ado, let’s get to the take a look at scores.
Brightness, distinction, coloration copy
We examined the colour copy, brightness and distinction within the sRGB, AdobeRGB and DCI-P3 coloration modes as a result of testing the colour accuracy within the Film, Eye care or within the gaming modes is pointless. It is apparent that coloration accuracy is not the precedence in these three modes. The Film, MOBA and FPS gaming modes colours are oversaturated fairly a bit.
Let’s begin with essentially the most generally used sRGB mode. With the Customary coloration temperature preset, we acquired a median dE2000 of three, which is okay however we did not just like the purple-ish tint of the grays and whites. Additionally, the utmost brightness was simply 474 nits. It is not unimpressive nevertheless it’s removed from the marketed 650 nits. Distinction is not spectacular both – 929:1.
sRGB preset: Customary • Heat
The excellent news is that the Heat coloration temperature preset fixes nearly every thing. Brightness went as much as 532 nits, distinction was 1009:1 and the common dE2000 was near-perfect at 0.7. We’re notably impressed by the utmost deviation – simply 1.5.
We ran the identical take a look at at 200 and 140 nits to verify the consistency is sweet. We’re pleased to report that even at 140 nits, the common dE2000 was beneath 1. So if you’re planning on doing some color-sensitive work or work on tasks that require design for bodily prints, the Redmagic 4K Gaming Monitor will do the job simply tremendous.
sRGB preset, Heat: 140 nits • 200 nits
We had comparable expertise within the AdobeRGB and DCI-P3 modes as nicely. The Customary coloration temperature makes the whites and grays too purple and/or pink-ish. That is why we advocate you keep on with the Heat preset always.
Nevertheless, coloration accuracy in these two modes is not excellent, nevertheless it’s fairly strong nonetheless. In AdobeRGB, the show peaked at 521 nits, 996:1 distinction and dE2000 of two.5. The utmost dE2000, although, is a bit too excessive. The reds and greens, particularly, are oversaturated.
AdobeRGB: Customary • Heat
The DCI-P3 with the Heat preset presents higher accuracy at 522 nits (once more 991:1 distinction) with common dE2000 of solely 0.9. The reds spoil the near-perfect rating however that is the one noticeable anomaly.
DCI-P3: Customary • Heat
All in all, the Redmagic 4K Gaming Monitor proves to be good not only for gaming however for color-sensitive work too, particularly within the sRGB mode. Video games, films, design work – it will possibly do all of it.
HDR expertise
In comparison with the usual IPS LCD panels, the HDR expertise is strong for essentially the most half. The distinction between non-HDR and HDR content material on the display is not hanging nevertheless it’s positively noticeable. The darkish elements of the scenes in films are well-pronounced and video games like Cyberpunk 2077 look fairly good in HDR mode.
Nevertheless, leaving the HDR mode energetic always might not be the perfect thought, particularly when shopping or simply navigating by means of Home windows. Distinction appears low more often than not and colours are washed out. The monitor does not assist you to change the colour mode when Home windows’ HDR toggle is energetic.
Regardless of the small points, we imagine the HDR1000 implementation within the Redmagic 4K monitor is nice for gaming and not-so-amazing for every thing else. Do not anticipate OLED-level HDR expertise however anticipate a significantly higher one than most LCD panels on the market.
Options
Positive, there are many choices within the $800-1,000 worth vary however solely a handful of them provide a miniLED panel that may go as much as 160Hz at 4K decision. The ThundeRobot LU27F160M is one in all them together with the ViewSonic VX2781-4K-PRO and the Innocn 27M2V. In actual fact, all of them use the identical miniLED panel so the distinction between these is fairly minimal. They can be discovered at roughly the identical worth.
Alternatively, the Coolermaster Tempest GP27U may spark your curiosity as it will possibly do just about every thing the remainder of the miniLED-powered screens can nevertheless it tops them with a Quantum Dot filter layer, G-Sync certification and it is promoting within the mid-$800s. Sadly, the native dimming zones are simply 572, albeit HDR1000 is within the specs sheet.
We’d additionally advocate looking on the LG UltraGear 27″ OLED Gaming Monitor. It is a strong sub-$1,000 various with a superior OLED panel. It has a better 240Hz refresh charge, HDR10 customary and it is G-Sync-certified. The draw back is the decrease 2560 x 1400px decision. In any case, OLED is OLED and that Grey-to-Grey response time of 0.03ms is fairly darn spectacular. To not point out the proper blacks.
Verdict
Not like the Purple Magic telephones, the Redmagic 4K Gaming Monitor will not shock you with affordability. It might price you simply as a lot as comparable miniLED screens. However its efficiency greater than justifies the premium.
You probably have the prospect to seize one, we will simply advocate it. It is not solely appropriate for gaming with its excessive decision, vivid colours, low response time and quick refresh charge, nevertheless it’s additionally appropriate for HDR content material (HDR gaming too!) and color-sensitive work. We solely wished for a greater OSD menu navigation (the joystick navigation is a multitude and it is too far up the again making it more durable to succeed in) and sturdier stand.