Read these or watch the extended video versions to learn about proper display height (vastly reduce AHVA/IPS/PLS glow), and how to match the display brightness with the room light (how much display brightness to use versus room lighting brightness) first.
The majority of modern monitors come with what the manufacturers call bezel or frame-less panels which are not truly bezel-less or frame-less, and have a perceived black depth reducing inner black bezel on the top and sides, and sometimes all four edges of a display:
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I'll start this off with photos of BioShock Infinite displayed on the glossy 2560x1440 IPS panel in a Yamakasi Catleap I owned in 2014. Yamakasi Catleap Flickr Gallery.
I'm not sure why, but I did not give the Plasma Deposition Coated (Steemit article with glossy photo comparison photos) Nixeus PRO VUE27S and Planar PXL2790MW (Fall 2013 release) the attention they deserved, but am now since both are still available in North America. Europeans can look for the iiyama XB2779QS (review links) which is very similar to the Planar.
The Case For 27" 1440p 75hz AHVA/IPS/PLS Work In Progress
TL ; DR: All TN panels have bad image quality, and 27" 2560x1440 75hz AHVA/IPS/PLS offer the best overall gaming and image quality improvement to those with less than 400$ US to spend. I’m arguing for people to upgrade everything instead of sacrificing image quality panel in order to gain 144hz from a low-quality TN panel, of which there are many with worse image quality than the 60hz TN panels people upgrade from.
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The EB321HQ Awi uses the same almost-glossy or low haze coating as the 25 & 27" HP 25 CW/er/es/f/XW and 4K HP 32 Spectre monitors, and the Qnix UHD32R I reviewed. Asus (VA325H), LG (32MP68) and Philips (323E7QDAB) all sell EB321HQ Awi equivalents, but there are no reviews.
*I'm not sure if it has an AHVA, IPS (Innolux or LG), or PLS panel, but suspect it has an AHVA panel since it suffers from vastly less glow than everything else aside from the 32" 4K AUO AHVA panels in monitors like the BenQ BL3201PH/PT, PD3200U and multiple 4K Qnix monitors (I reviewed the matte UHD3216R & almost-glossy/low haze coated UHD32R). The 32" 4K AUO AHVA panels glow more than the Acer, but less than IPS panels ,smaller AHVA panels and PLS panels aside from the LTM270DL06 mentioned above.
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2017: HP 24 Envy Review: Semi-Glossy 1080p IPS with 75hz & AMD Free-Sync: The 24 Envy natively supports 75hz (no overclock required), can cover more of the HDTV/REC 709 color space than the 25-27" HP monitors, but is less accurate than the HP 25er and 25es. Displayport, HDMI and USB-C.
2016: HP 25er/es Review: Non-overclock-able 2016 Almost-Glossy/Low Haze Monitors with slightly more accurate color presets than the rest, especially once the Contrast is reduced from 80 to 75. 2x HDMI and 1x VGA.
2015: HP 27CW, 25XW and 27XW Review: Overclock-able 2015 monitors with worse preset color accuracy than the 25er and 25es. 2x HDMI and 1x VGA.
The 25" and 27" HP CW/er/es/XW series monitors all use the same almost-glossy (Low Haze) coating which HP describes as:
"The reflective-ness typical with glossy screen surface is appreciably reduced with the Low Haze Screen enhancement, without losing clarity and contrast of screen imagery."
HP 25-27VX: These monitors use LED PWM Dimming or Flicker which ruins motion clarity and makes some people suffer from health issues like headaches and/or eyestrain. The VX monitors have less vibrant colors since they have a smaller and less accurate color gamut capable of covering up to 92% of the sRGB color space versus the 25-27CW & XW monitors 97%, and use a pure glossy coating while the 25-27 CW & XW monitors use a treated glossy or almost-glossy coating with some ant-reflective properties.
I live in Canada and am a 28 year old European mutt whose ancestors are from multiple European countries such as England, Germany, and Scotland. I post recommendations frequently on Reddit's r/Monitors. Check out my post history.
My recommendations are based off of testing more than 60 monitors and reading in-depth reviews from over fifteen reviewers across the realm. I started reading monitor reviews frequently in 2009 and quickly realized that most reviewers kept their content in a bubble, or did not account for competing reviews of the same, or very similar monitors. Without reading multiple reviews one may miss obvious flaws, and the fact that the same panels can vary greatly, such as the contrast of IPS panels which often varied by 30% between the same panels, and the gamma which may be 1.8 on one unit and 2.2 on another.
One must read multiple reviews since no reviewer tests everything, myself included, since doing so requires thousands of dollars worth of testing gear, and vast amounts of time. One must read multiple reviews to account for panel variance, see oscilloscope measurements of pixel responses times, in-depth perceptual analysis of pixel response times or overdrive performance, resolution scaling, judder, uniformity, and multiple other areas of performance which no single reviewer covers. Reading multiple reviews also subjects one to the different ways reviewers prioritize certain areas of performance, and expose a reader to important testing methods and aspects of performance the reader was previously unaware of. One reviewer may have an oscilloscope for measuring pixel response times, but ignore how clear or grainy a coating is, and not test a monitor with external devices such as consoles to ensure that a monitor display their signals properly.
I try to account for everything in my analysis, but can't always do so since most monitors are not reviewed by multiple in-depth reviewers. I do not have an oscilloscope or signal processor, but I provide unique analysis of the perceived black depth and contrast of a display, explain how to properly view (display height and viewing distance) each panel type, and test monitors with consoles. Reviewer priorities vary based on their own knowledge, access to equipment, priorities, and time they're willing to put into a review.
The best monitor reviewers are significantly superior to the best TV reviews, and the best monitors without HDR are vastly superior to most TV's available under 1000$ since TV's tend to be very inaccurate compared to monitors, and use LED PWM Dimming or flickering back-lights which ruin motion clarity and make some people suffer from health issues like headaches and/or eyestrain.