The HP Omen 27qs G2 rolls high-performance and an excellent image into a solid and well-engineered 27-inch display. With premium video processing and saturated color, it delivers most of what an OLED can for less money.
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You’ve decided on a 27-inch flat screen for your gaming and day-to-day productivity needs. You’d really like an OLED but only have around $450 to spend on one of the best gaming monitors. What to do? HP has an idea: the new Omen 27qs G2. An upgrade to the 27qs from two years ago, it’s better in every way, starting with a 280 Hz refresh rate. A new IPS panel delivers an honest 1,200:1 contrast ratio, high brightness, and a wide color gamut. You also get Nvidia G-Sync certification and AMD FreeSync Premium. Let’s take a look.
HP Omen 27qs G2 Specs
Swipe to scroll horizontally Panel Type / Backlight IPS / W-LED, edge array Row 1 - Cell 0 8 dimming zones Screen Size / Aspect Ratio 27 inches / 16:9 Max Resolution and Refresh Rate 2560x1440 @ 280 Hz Row 4 - Cell 0 FreeSync and G-Sync Compatible Native Color Depth and Gamut 8-bit / DCI-P3 Response Time (GTG) 1ms Brightness (mfr) 400 nits Contrast (mfr) 1,000:1 Speakers 2x 3w Video Inputs 1x DisplayPort 1.4 Row 11 - Cell 0 2x HDMI 2.0 Audio 3.5mm headphone output USB 3.2 1x up, 2x down Power Consumption 32.5w, brightness @ 200 nits Panel Dimensions WxHxD w/base 24.2 x 16.5-20.6 x 8.8 inches (615 x 419-523 x 224mm) Panel Thickness 2.1 inches (53mm) Bezel Width Top/sides: 0.3 inch (8mm) Row 18 - Cell 0 Bottom: 0.75 inch (19mm) Weight 18.41 pounds (8.35kg) Warranty 3 years
OLED prices are slowly trending downward, but a 27-inch 280 Hz QHD model will still cost at least $600. The Omen 27qs G2 comes out of the gate at $450 and offers nearly the same video processing performance, along with wide-gamut color, decent contrast, and reference-level accuracy.
IPS averages around 1,000:1 contrast, so the Omen 27qs G2 ups that a bit, and that’s a difference you can see in a side-by-side comparison. HDR is even better with peaks of 470 nits and over 8,200:1 contrast as measured in my benchmarks. This is achieved through an eight-zone edge-dimming backlight design. I also found reference-level color accuracy after a few tweaks to white balance. The color gamut is wider than before and covers over 93% of DCI-P3 and a perfect 100% of sRGB, which makes the Omen 27qs G2 suitable for critical applications.
Video processing is top-notch with a precise five-level overdrive, Adaptive-Sync and MPRT backlight strobing. The latter works instead of AS and is one of the cleanest iterations of the technology I’ve yet seen. Most monitors introduce a phasing artifact when strobing, which looks a bit like double vision. But the Omen 27qs G2 eliminates this issue, making it a great choice for users with slower PCs. If you can keep frame rates over 200 fps, not too difficult at 2560x1440 pixels, Adaptive-Sync is the better option, but under that, strobing can eliminate all motion blur. This puts the video processing on par with many OLED displays.
There are enough extras to call the Omen 27qs G2 a premium monitor. You get USB ports, internal speakers, LED lighting and HP’s well-known high standard of build quality with smooth and understated styling. The speakers and headphone jack aren’t just afterthoughts here; they include quality sound and audio modes selectable in the OSD. A fully adjustable stand rounds out the package, along with a three-year warranty.
HP doesn’t offer the huge array of gaming screens that some other manufacturers do, but what it does deliver is solid quality and premium performance for a reasonable price. And any HP display you choose will have consistent specs and capabilities. The Omen 27qs G2 is another top-notch monitor from one of the OGs of computer tech.
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