Although the KTC M27P20 Pro is well suited to gaming, it's also perfect for general office use or for graphic and imaging.

Are you looking for a monitor to use with your laptop or desktop? Maybe you want more than one monitor to work from home but don’t have the budget to stretch to two screens. Well, don’t give up on seeing double just yet because some excellent 4K displays are on the market at sensible prices and you won’t have to compromise on image quality.

This month, I am reviewing the KTC M27P20 Pro monitor, which comes in under $800 and offers a lot of bang for your buck. KTC says its 27-inch monitor uses the same AUO7.0 panel and Mini LED tech found in displays like the ASUS PA27UCX-K, AOC Agon Pro AG274QZM and Acer X27 S. All these displays can cost up to $1,500, so the KTC M27P20 is a bit of a bargain.

KTC has been making around since 1995 and over the years, it claims to have worked with big names like NEC, Samsung and Viewsonic. Although KTC is probably best known as a gaming monitor brand, this display is well suited for office work, graphics, photographic and video editing thanks to its advanced specs.

At the rear of the KTC M27P20 Pro there are LED lights that can have their hue changed or be switched off altogether.

With its 4K UHD IPS panel and refresh rate of up to 160Hz, the KTC M27P20 Pro is wonderfully flicker-free and uses Mini LED technology for backlighting. There are 2,304 Light Emitting Beads and 576 local dimming zones that can yield deeper blacks and brighter whites than regular LED backlighting technology.

While Mini LED technology isn’t quite up to the same standard as OLED, it is excellent and a step up for regular LED and doesn’t have any LED burn-in issues, which could be an issue with static screens displayed for long periods. The local dimming zones can be set to Off, Auto, Standard and High to suit your desired look. With up to 1000 NITS of brightness plus certified VESA HDR1000, this is one bright and contrasty screen fit for various applications.

Like most screens, the KTC M27P20 Pro uses an external power brick rather than an integral power supply. There’s a choice of two HDMI inputs, one DisplayPort, a USB-C input and up to 90W of power output for running and charging a laptop. There are two USB downstream ports, so you can attach USB peripherals to the monitor and take the data feed from the USB-C cable to the host computer.

The stand for the KTC M27P20 Pro can be adjusted for height, tilt, rotation and swivel.

The maximum screen resolution of the KTC M27P20 Pro is 3,840 x 2,160 at a maximum of 160Hz, with graphics cards capable of supporting that refresh rate. The two HDMI ports offer the choice between 8-bit and 10-bit color with a slightly lower refresh rate of 120Hz.

The panel's response time is rated at 5ms, but with Overdrive turned on, that drops to 3ms, ideal for gaming and video editing. Regarding color gamut, the KTC M27P20 Pro covers 100% of Adobe RGB and sRGB. The DCI-P3 coverage is a respectable 98% and total colors top out at 1.07 billion.

The onscreen display for settings is activated using a four-way joystick on the rear of the screen. The controls offer display and color settings, plus a gaming setup menu and an advanced setting for tweaking the fine points of this screen. There are also two 2W speakers and a headphone jack for audio output.

The KTC M27P20 Pro has plenty of input and output options for connectivity.

Setting up the KTC M27P20 Pro is easy and the stand offers height, tilt, rotate and swivel functions, so you can set the screen in portrait or landscape mode. The display has an auto-sensor that can switch the orientation if supported by the graphics card. Although the maximum 4K UHD resolution is useful, fonts can appear relatively small on spreadsheets or email clients, so I opted to test the screen at 2,560 x 1,440 resolution most of the time.

The color and contrast on the KTC M27P20 Pro are excellent. I only needed to set the Brightness at 50% and Contrast at the same setting. Usually, I calibrate monitors that I test, but the quality straight from the box was excellent once I’d chosen the Apple RGB color space. The semi-matte screen surface of the display is preferable to the glossy finish on many displays, especially if you work with your back to a window.

The overall finish of the KTC M27P20 Pro is satisfactory, although not entirely up to the level of finish that you might expect from LG or Apple. However, there’s nothing wrong with the display itself. The screen isn’t quite edge to edge as a thin black band runs between the image area and the display’s bezel. Even so, the effect is pleasing.

While it's not the slimmest monitor on the market, the KTC M27P20 Pro is well proportioned.

Verdict: For the money, the KTC M27P20 Pro offers a lot. You get 27 inches of 4K UHD and advanced Mini LED backlighting with 576 local dimming zones. The refresh rate of up to 160Hz will please gamers and the color space will please anyone editing photos or videos. There’s a great choice of video inputs on this screen and enough power to run most laptops via USB-C. At this price, I am unaware of much else on the market to beat the KTC M27P20 Pro. If you want one or two 4K 27-inch screens for less than the price of one more well-known brand, this display is perfect. It may not have quite the same build and finish as a more expensive model, but the KTC M27P20 Pro is difficult to beat, considering its price.

Pricing & Availability: The KTC M27P20 Pro 4KL 27-inch Mini LED display is available from Amazon US and costs $789.99.

More info: ktcplay.com

Tech Specs:

• 27-inch Fast IPS panel from AU Optronics.
• 3,840 x 2,160 “4K” resolution (16:9 aspect ratio).
• 160Hz max refresh rate (144Hz max for VRR).
• Adaptive-sync VRR for NVIDIA and AMD systems.
• 576-zone local dimming Mini LED backlight.
• >1000 NITs peak brightness for HDR and VESA DisplayHDR 1000 certification.
• 98% DCI-P3 wide color gamut (118% relative coverage).
• 10-bit color depth.
• 1x DisplayPort 1.4, 1x USB type-C (DP alt mode and 90W power delivery) and 2x HDMI 2.1 video connections.
• KVM function supported.
• 2x USB ports, 2x 2W integrated speakers and headphone jack.
• Stand with tilt, height, swivel and rotate adjustments.
• Rear cover RGB lighting.

TrendForce 2024 New Mini LED BLU Display Trend Analysis
Release Date: 31 October 2023
Language: Traditional Chinese / English
Format: PDF
Page: 153

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