I've purchased two of these displays in the last couple months and they have both been awesome, its always nice to see that the test data agrees. I purchased one with and one without tempered glass and would recommend skipping on the glass. It makes the display much more reflective and has a pretty large gap between the glass and the actual panel. That said, the glass is great for cleaning and makes it look like an enormous iPad...
I was half tempted to replace my U2412Ms with some of these, but then I'd need even more powerful GPUs for Eyefinity, and I'm not sure three of them would be comfortable on my desk anyway. Definitely seems like a good deal for some tho. If I ever wanna dump my EF setup I'll definitely be looking at these again.
Thanks for the review. I was doing some reading about this monitor and I came upon a few threads over the internet that describes the "overclockability" of some of these monitors. In particular, there has been cases where users have successfully "overclock" these monitors to 100Hz +, such as in these threads : http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=22413... (see image on post #125) and http://www.overclock.net/t/1225919/yamakasi-catlea...
Just wondering if your sample is able to be overclocked. If you could do some more investigation into these it would be fantastic.
The crossover has the best build quality, full metal back, and a fairly rigid stand. That's the one to get. Also this test is fairly pointless as there is epic variation between these panels LG labels "A-." You'll be lucky if your colors are in any way even.
These are all glossy aren't they? Or is there a matte version? That and the lack of DP input (which some variants add) is what turned me off of these last time I looked at them.
I used a mac in a windowless lab. It had great colors and black levels, but I fired up a movie and was horrified at the reflections. Me, lights, other computers, people, and that was at max brightness. It's a deal breaker, imo.
I agree in SOME situations a glossy display will be a deal breaker, it depends on the rooms lighting.
At the same time the horrible anti-glare coating on many dell (any other brand monitors that use LG IPS panels) should also be a deal breaker. It ruins what would normally be such a beautiful screen. This anti glare coating is only select matte IPS LG panels.
I agree some mild antiglare, like the antiglare used for virtually all LCDs, would be preferable.
However, I think glossy is bad is more than the majority, or at least more than half of the use cases. Dark images are not just in movies/games, and it would be unreasonable to expect the user to wear a black turtleneck with dark jeans, and to wear contacts instead of glasses just to use the screen.
These are glossy displays. If you get the version with the glass front, then it's extra reflective. The regular version, that's reviewed here, is definitely reflective, but I've certainly seen worse. Basically, if you put it near a bright window you'll have trouble, but otherwise the monitor is bright enough that the reflections mostly disappear. Plus you don't have that annoying grainy anti-reflection coating like whats on the dell u2412.
It's only the Catleap brand version of this monitor that's possibly overclockable, and only the 2B version had the board that let it get up to 100hz. Unfortunately the 2Bs have long since been replaced subsequent manufacturing runs. On the bright side, it looks like you can now order a special edition Catleap that has the old board. And with a top of the line nVidia, you can actually push them up to 120hz over displaylink. Sexy monitor magic!
One of the forum regulators made a deal with Catleap about ordering more of the 120hz version of the Catleap in a limited quanity run. They are orderable at 120hz.net
They cost $459 though and even though the monitors are capable of 120hz most video cards can only do 85 hz or 100 hz. The only video cards that can do 120hz at 2560x1440 currently are the 600 series of nvidia (but not in sli)
Nice review. Got one of these 2 months ago and it's been pretty sweet. I've been using the 220v rated power brick that came with the monitor in my 120v outlet without problems so far The brick doesn't even feel that warm. Worst case, it'll be 30 bucks to get a 110v brick.
...to buy one of these from Korea. Too much of a hassle when it comes to complaints with the display. I'm happy with my Samsung 1440p display that wasn't too expensive either (570€) and I like having an OSD and some more inputs. :-) But if you are in the market for a few 27" the saved cost could be well worth it. :-)
Thanks Anand for the write up. I've been using the Catleap version of this monitor for 2 or 3 months and have been VERY happy so far--no bad pixels, minimal light bleed, and good uniformity.
Also, it's worth noting that Microcenter appears to be selling a version of these monitors for those concerned about state-side warranty issues (although slightly more expensive at $399 but also with HDMI input).
The article mentions there's no scaling hardware on the cheaper models. What happens when you connect something like a PS3 where many games only output a 720p signal? Is there just a laughably small picture surrounded by a huge black border? That might actually be kind of funny, but not so useful.
1. No mention that it's only available in glossy. Some of us just won't use glossy displays. The semi-gloss of the BenQ VA screens is as reflective as I can tolerate.
2. No mention once again as to whether these use PWM or constant control backlighting. The expensive HP uses constant control so there is no fatiguing flicker. This is EXTREMELY important for buyers like me who can't tolerate flickering LED backlighting. I have had to quit using my EW2420 because of the flicker. I can literally see an afterimage composed of horizontal lines when I close my eyes after using it.
I am in the market for a new display with constant control backlighting and a non-reflective screen.
Have a question for any who own this. I understand it doesn't have a scaling chip but I *presume* that the power and abilities of decent discreet graphics cards should allow most configurations. For instance, I would be worried that my 5850 is good for 2D but would struggle at 2560x1440 on most modern games. So....
a) If you set the graphics card to, say, 1920x1200, will this monitor show it centred it with large black bars around or not at all? b) Is this monitor ok if you *render* at 1920x1080 but have your gpu *scale up* the output to 2560x1440 to use the full screen real estate? c) If you're ok to scale up an image rendered at 1920x1080, does it look fine at such high resolution/low pixel pitch? Or does it look blurred or jaggy? i.e. how acceptable and noticeable is the fact that it is scaling?
For game rendering, I have an ATI Radeon 6850 and my video card scaled everything automagically for me, and the scaling looks pretty good. There are no black bars.
I had it rendering 1920x1200 for Skyrim today as a demo and it looked great and filled the whole screen. It was not as crisp as at the native 2560x1440, but it looked good enough that we actually weren't sure what resolution it was running at. I didn't think it looked super blurry, but I had to say that when we switched to 2560x1440, it was obvious that it had been scaled. But like I said, I was showing the monitor to co-workers and we weren't sure what res it was at, so that's a pretty good thing.
I was looking into buying a cheap IPS display (Dell 2412m was on the top), but after reading this, Im very interested. The only thing Im not sure about, if I would be able to use dualDVI converted to connect to HDMI? Is that possible? (I would be connecting it to my laptop running ATI Mobility 5870)
Please help me find answers to these questions (I have Asus G73 with ATI Mobility 5870):
Would I be able to get 1440p via HDMI to HDMI? Would I be able to get 1440p via HDMI to HDMI-to-Dual-DVI converter Any other way to get 1440p from my G73?
From AMD website, i get the following about my Mobility 5870:
Integrated dual-link DVI output with HDCP Max resolution: 2560x1600 Integrated DisplayPort output Max resolution: 2560x1600 Integrated HDMI 1.3 output with Deep Color, xvYCC wide gamut support, and high bit-rate audio Max resolution: 1920x1200 Integrated VGA output Max resolution: 2048x1536.......
So it seems that GPU can support that resolution, but as my G73 only has HDMI and VGA, is there a way i can do it?
Hey phemark, i think the hdmi on 5870 is version 1.3. Version 1.3 doesn't support any resolution above 1920x1200 over hdmi. So even though your mobile 5870 can run at a resolution of 2560x1440, that much resolution can't be sent through hdmi 1.3 so you can't run 1440p with your laptop unless your laptop happens to have a dual-link dvi output. Hope this helps.
I have this in MATTE, HDMI OBD, Zero dead pxiels. Great screen for $380 shipped.
While next to it I have the Samsung XL30($2800), not much to compare.I had the factory calibrate the XL30 for the LED triads to uniform neutrality.
While the Shimian took a couple calibrations, it is acceptable. and required a bit of override on color adjusts. Or the Spyder3 didn't work to well with it.
I am a non gamer, only Photo editing workstation. I don't think I would use it as my main editing display. I have it as a second screen to browse and have secondary tools on.
I have just recently purchased one of these Shimian Monitors. Unfortunately it didn't have the power cord adapter to it. I have been looking and getting irritated by the day. That I have been having trouble finding one. Can someone please direct me to a source of some kind. It could be new, used, or if there is something compatible. Thank you and looking forward to some solution soon!
Its nice to see a quick info. filled review. Your graphs took work and time to put together. Sadly you don't say if higher or lower numbers are better. Please say this in future reviews often times higher numbers are worse.
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xxtypersxx - Sunday, June 3, 2012 - link
I've purchased two of these displays in the last couple months and they have both been awesome, its always nice to see that the test data agrees. I purchased one with and one without tempered glass and would recommend skipping on the glass. It makes the display much more reflective and has a pretty large gap between the glass and the actual panel. That said, the glass is great for cleaning and makes it look like an enormous iPad...Impulses - Sunday, June 3, 2012 - link
I was half tempted to replace my U2412Ms with some of these, but then I'd need even more powerful GPUs for Eyefinity, and I'm not sure three of them would be comfortable on my desk anyway. Definitely seems like a good deal for some tho. If I ever wanna dump my EF setup I'll definitely be looking at these again.JMS3072 - Sunday, June 3, 2012 - link
I've been looking for an economical IPS screen for months- just as I'm about to put money down on a Dell, this comes up. Thank you, Anandtech!palladium - Sunday, June 3, 2012 - link
Hi Anand,Thanks for the review. I was doing some reading about this monitor and I came upon a few threads over the internet that describes the "overclockability" of some of these monitors. In particular, there has been cases where users have successfully "overclock" these monitors to 100Hz +, such as in these threads : http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=22413... (see image on post #125) and http://www.overclock.net/t/1225919/yamakasi-catlea...
Just wondering if your sample is able to be overclocked. If you could do some more investigation into these it would be fantastic.
Thanks in advance.
landerf - Sunday, June 3, 2012 - link
The crossover has the best build quality, full metal back, and a fairly rigid stand. That's the one to get. Also this test is fairly pointless as there is epic variation between these panels LG labels "A-." You'll be lucky if your colors are in any way even.Impulses - Sunday, June 3, 2012 - link
These are all glossy aren't they? Or is there a matte version? That and the lack of DP input (which some variants add) is what turned me off of these last time I looked at them.Roland00Address - Sunday, June 3, 2012 - link
It is a glossy display, it is not that bad as long as you don't have a window directly behind you. I prefer matte displays yet I love this monitor.Now the problem with most matte LG IPS panels they have the horrible anti glare coating on them that you see on monitors like the u2412 or the u2711
Zoomer - Sunday, June 3, 2012 - link
I used a mac in a windowless lab. It had great colors and black levels, but I fired up a movie and was horrified at the reflections. Me, lights, other computers, people, and that was at max brightness. It's a deal breaker, imo.Roland00Address - Sunday, June 3, 2012 - link
I agree in SOME situations a glossy display will be a deal breaker, it depends on the rooms lighting.At the same time the horrible anti-glare coating on many dell (any other brand monitors that use LG IPS panels) should also be a deal breaker. It ruins what would normally be such a beautiful screen. This anti glare coating is only select matte IPS LG panels.
Zoomer - Monday, June 4, 2012 - link
I agree some mild antiglare, like the antiglare used for virtually all LCDs, would be preferable.However, I think glossy is bad is more than the majority, or at least more than half of the use cases. Dark images are not just in movies/games, and it would be unreasonable to expect the user to wear a black turtleneck with dark jeans, and to wear contacts instead of glasses just to use the screen.
Whedonic - Sunday, June 3, 2012 - link
@ImpulsesThese are glossy displays. If you get the version with the glass front, then it's extra reflective. The regular version, that's reviewed here, is definitely reflective, but I've certainly seen worse. Basically, if you put it near a bright window you'll have trouble, but otherwise the monitor is bright enough that the reflections mostly disappear. Plus you don't have that annoying grainy anti-reflection coating like whats on the dell u2412.
Whedonic - Sunday, June 3, 2012 - link
@PalladiumIt's only the Catleap brand version of this monitor that's possibly overclockable, and only the 2B version had the board that let it get up to 100hz. Unfortunately the 2Bs have long since been replaced subsequent manufacturing runs. On the bright side, it looks like you can now order a special edition Catleap that has the old board. And with a top of the line nVidia, you can actually push them up to 120hz over displaylink. Sexy monitor magic!
Roland00Address - Sunday, June 3, 2012 - link
One of the forum regulators made a deal with Catleap about ordering more of the 120hz version of the Catleap in a limited quanity run. They are orderable at 120hz.netThey cost $459 though and even though the monitors are capable of 120hz most video cards can only do 85 hz or 100 hz. The only video cards that can do 120hz at 2560x1440 currently are the 600 series of nvidia (but not in sli)
Zoomer - Monday, June 4, 2012 - link
Somone just hacked it so a GCN card can drive a catleap at >100 Hz in both single card and xfire. Good news.Roland00Address - Sunday, June 3, 2012 - link
Love it, has no dead pixels and I have no regrets. Cost me $374 at the time but as you said the prices have now dropped to $300.hammer256 - Sunday, June 3, 2012 - link
Nice review. Got one of these 2 months ago and it's been pretty sweet. I've been using the 220v rated power brick that came with the monitor in my 120v outlet without problems so far The brick doesn't even feel that warm. Worst case, it'll be 30 bucks to get a 110v brick.geforce912 - Sunday, June 3, 2012 - link
This blog has a nice write up of the different versions that use this same display.http://www.swiftworld.net/2012/04/14/budget-korean...
Death666Angel - Sunday, June 3, 2012 - link
...to buy one of these from Korea. Too much of a hassle when it comes to complaints with the display.I'm happy with my Samsung 1440p display that wasn't too expensive either (570€) and I like having an OSD and some more inputs. :-) But if you are in the market for a few 27" the saved cost could be well worth it. :-)
Taronga - Sunday, June 3, 2012 - link
Thanks Anand for the write up. I've been using the Catleap version of this monitor for 2 or 3 months and have been VERY happy so far--no bad pixels, minimal light bleed, and good uniformity.Also, it's worth noting that Microcenter appears to be selling a version of these monitors for those concerned about state-side warranty issues (although slightly more expensive at $399 but also with HDMI input).
Link for the monitor is at http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results....
duffman55 - Sunday, June 3, 2012 - link
The article mentions there's no scaling hardware on the cheaper models. What happens when you connect something like a PS3 where many games only output a 720p signal? Is there just a laughably small picture surrounded by a huge black border? That might actually be kind of funny, but not so useful.Ryan Smith - Sunday, June 3, 2012 - link
You get nothing. Because it lacks scaling hardware it can only show a 2560x1440 image.Impulses - Sunday, June 3, 2012 - link
Doesn't the PS3 upscale everything to 1080p anyway? You'd still have a problem regardless, it's not a useful display for consoles.eXces - Sunday, June 3, 2012 - link
This guys have the Extreme 2B Overclock Edition 120hz capable ofCatleap Q270http://www.120hz.net/
hechacker1 - Monday, June 4, 2012 - link
Yeah, the caveat being that you need a GTX 680 to overclock it to 120Hz.I think only a few 7970s get to 100Hz, most to 85Hz.
Which is still really nice for a display of that size. I'm buying one after I save a bit for both the 680 and monitor.
Oxford Guy - Monday, June 4, 2012 - link
1. No mention that it's only available in glossy. Some of us just won't use glossy displays. The semi-gloss of the BenQ VA screens is as reflective as I can tolerate.2. No mention once again as to whether these use PWM or constant control backlighting. The expensive HP uses constant control so there is no fatiguing flicker. This is EXTREMELY important for buyers like me who can't tolerate flickering LED backlighting. I have had to quit using my EW2420 because of the flicker. I can literally see an afterimage composed of horizontal lines when I close my eyes after using it.
I am in the market for a new display with constant control backlighting and a non-reflective screen.
JNo - Monday, June 4, 2012 - link
Hi,Have a question for any who own this. I understand it doesn't have a scaling chip but I *presume* that the power and abilities of decent discreet graphics cards should allow most configurations. For instance, I would be worried that my 5850 is good for 2D but would struggle at 2560x1440 on most modern games. So....
a) If you set the graphics card to, say, 1920x1200, will this monitor show it centred it with large black bars around or not at all?
b) Is this monitor ok if you *render* at 1920x1080 but have your gpu *scale up* the output to 2560x1440 to use the full screen real estate?
c) If you're ok to scale up an image rendered at 1920x1080, does it look fine at such high resolution/low pixel pitch? Or does it look blurred or jaggy? i.e. how acceptable and noticeable is the fact that it is scaling?
Thanks for any help
pm - Tuesday, June 5, 2012 - link
I just bought one of these QH270's last week.For game rendering, I have an ATI Radeon 6850 and my video card scaled everything automagically for me, and the scaling looks pretty good. There are no black bars.
I had it rendering 1920x1200 for Skyrim today as a demo and it looked great and filled the whole screen. It was not as crisp as at the native 2560x1440, but it looked good enough that we actually weren't sure what resolution it was running at. I didn't think it looked super blurry, but I had to say that when we switched to 2560x1440, it was obvious that it had been scaled. But like I said, I was showing the monitor to co-workers and we weren't sure what res it was at, so that's a pretty good thing.
phemark - Wednesday, June 6, 2012 - link
Hi,I was looking into buying a cheap IPS display (Dell 2412m was on the top), but after reading this, Im very interested. The only thing Im not sure about, if I would be able to use dualDVI converted to connect to HDMI? Is that possible? (I would be connecting it to my laptop running ATI Mobility 5870)
Thanks!
P.S. What about Catleap Q270?
maximumGPU - Wednesday, June 6, 2012 - link
for those that used it for gaming, any noticeable input lag?Throckmorton - Wednesday, June 6, 2012 - link
DVI only is not a drawback. It means there's less hardware between the computer and the display, which means less input lag.Throckmorton - Wednesday, June 6, 2012 - link
Glossy means more sharpness and clarity. This is important for two things especially... Reading text and photo editing.phemark - Thursday, June 7, 2012 - link
Please help me find answers to these questions (I have Asus G73 with ATI Mobility 5870):Would I be able to get 1440p via HDMI to HDMI?
Would I be able to get 1440p via HDMI to HDMI-to-Dual-DVI converter
Any other way to get 1440p from my G73?
From AMD website, i get the following about my Mobility 5870:
Integrated dual-link DVI output with HDCP
Max resolution: 2560x1600
Integrated DisplayPort output
Max resolution: 2560x1600
Integrated HDMI 1.3 output with Deep Color, xvYCC wide gamut support, and high bit-rate audio
Max resolution: 1920x1200
Integrated VGA output
Max resolution: 2048x1536.......
So it seems that GPU can support that resolution, but as my G73 only has HDMI and VGA, is there a way i can do it?
Thanks a lot for all your help!
phemark
geforce912 - Friday, June 8, 2012 - link
Hey phemark, i think the hdmi on 5870 is version 1.3. Version 1.3 doesn't support any resolution above 1920x1200 over hdmi. So even though your mobile 5870 can run at a resolution of 2560x1440, that much resolution can't be sent through hdmi 1.3 so you can't run 1440p with your laptop unless your laptop happens to have a dual-link dvi output. Hope this helps.phemark - Friday, June 8, 2012 - link
Thanks for the reply.I had a feeling about this....
Oh well, Dell 2412M with 1200p is for me then...
(unless I want 1440p in 4:3 via VGA :D)
mi1stormilst - Thursday, July 26, 2012 - link
"I communicate as it is a movie theater deep emotion"Other good ones:
"What a good design of the backside"
"Air Hole"
and last, but not least:
"Yamakasi cares the enviornment"
HAHAHA AWESOME STUFF!!!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-YAMAKASI-CATLEAP-Q270-...
Phil Indeblanc - Monday, February 11, 2013 - link
I have this in MATTE, HDMI OBD, Zero dead pxiels.Great screen for $380 shipped.
While next to it I have the Samsung XL30($2800), not much to compare.I had the factory calibrate the XL30 for the LED triads to uniform neutrality.
While the Shimian took a couple calibrations, it is acceptable. and required a bit of override on color adjusts. Or the Spyder3 didn't work to well with it.
I am a non gamer, only Photo editing workstation. I don't think I would use it as my main editing display. I have it as a second screen to browse and have secondary tools on.
INKSLINGER - Thursday, April 11, 2013 - link
I have just recently purchased one of these Shimian Monitors. Unfortunately it didn't have the power cord adapter to it. I have been looking and getting irritated by the day. That I have been having trouble finding one. Can someone please direct me to a source of some kind. It could be new, used, or if there is something compatible. Thank you and looking forward to some solution soon!glbernini - Monday, November 9, 2015 - link
Its nice to see a quick info. filled review. Your graphs took work and time to put together. Sadly you don't say if higher or lower numbers are better. Please say this in future reviews often times higher numbers are worse.