Iiyama’s ProLite XB2779QQS: a 27-inch 5K IPS Monitor for $900
by Anton Shilov on March 26, 2018 3:20 PM EST
Iiyama has started selling its new 5K IPS monitor. The ProLite XB2779QQS boasts with a 5120x2880 resolution and is available at a price point of around $900. The catch? It has a rather thin feature set and it can only display 5K resolution over a DisplayPort 1.4 interface.
The Iiyama ProLite XB2779QQS monitor relies on a 27-inch 6-bit + A-FRC IPS panel featuring a 5120×2880 resolution, a 440 nits typical brightness, a 1200:1 contrast ratio, a 4 ms response time, a 60 Hz refresh rate, and 178°/178° viewing angles. The LCD is equipped with a LED backlighting featuring a flicker-free technology, which is common on many displays these days. In addition, the screen is covered with glass from edge to edge, that can produce a glare.
The ProLite XB2779QQS is among the first 5K monitors to use a 6-bit + A-FRC IPS panel - its predecessors aimed at professionals were based either on 8-bit + A-FRC, or even 10-bit panels. A 6-bit + A-FRC panel is considerably cheaper than the aforementioned types of display modules, but at a cost of color accuracy. Iiyama says that its 6-bit + A-FRC IPS panel can display 16.7 million colors (vs. 1.07 billion on professional LCDs), but it never mentions color spaces that the monitor supports internally and how well it covers them. It is completely reasonable to expect the XB2779QQS-S1 to support some form of sRGB, but it is unlikely that the display can handle a high percentage of DCI-P3.
The new ProLite XB2779QQS display requires a DisplayPort 1.4 connection to support a 5K resolution at 60 Hz. By contrast, existing 5K monitors use two DisplayPort 1.2 streams (either via two DP cables, or one TB3 wire in case of the LG UltraFine 5K). In addition to DisplayPort 1.4 inputs, the ProLite XB2779QQS also has HDMI 2.0 connectors, but the monitor can only support a 3840×2160 resolution at 60 Hz over HDMI.
Like many prosumer displays, the ProLite XB2779QQS supports height, swivel, and tilt adjustments. In addition, the monitor features two 2.5 W speakers and a headphone connector for added comfort.
| Specifications of the Iiyama ProLite XB2779QQS | |
| XB2779QQS-S1 | |
| Panel | 27" IPS (6-bit + FRC-A) |
| Native Resolution | 5120 × 2880 (DP) |
| Maximum Refresh Rate | 60 Hz |
| Response Time | 4 ms GtG |
| Brightness | 440 cd/m² (typical) |
| Contrast | 1200:1 |
| Viewing Angles | 178°/178° horizontal/vertical |
| Pixel Pitch | 0.1167 mm² |
| Pixel Density | 217 ppi |
| Display Colors | 16.7 million |
| Color Gamut Support | ? |
| Inputs | 2 × DisplayPort 1.4 (5120 × 2880 @ 60 Hz) 3 × HDMI (3840 × 2160 @ 60 Hz) HDCP 1.4/2.2 supported |
| Stand | Height adjustment: 130 mm Swivel stand: 90°; 45° left; 45° right Tilt angle: 17° up; 2° down |
| Audio | 2 × 2.5 W speakers 1 × 3.5-mm audio jack |
| VESA | 100 × 100 |
| Additional Information | Link |
Iiyama formally introduced its 27-inch 5K monitor early this month and by now the monitor is available from Amazon in France, Germany, Japan, Spain, and the UK. It is possible to order the ProLite XB2779QQS in the US, but since it is imported from Japan, its price looks a bit high. The monitor costs around $900 in most of the countries, which is a very reasonable price for a display that has a 5120×2880 resolution, a 440 nits typical brightness, and a 1200:1 contrast ratio. The 6-bit + FRC-A panel naturally has its limitations and the DisplayPort 1.4 might be a limitation, but considering all the other advantages the display has, the monitor still looks very competitive for people who need a 5K resolution.
| Pricing of the Iiyama ProLite XB2779QQS | ||||
| Local Price | Price in USD (w/o tax) |
|||
| Amazon France | €841 | $875 | ||
| Amazon Germany | €755 | $790 | ||
| Amazon Japan | ￥105,990 | $959 | ||
| Amazon Spain | €834 | $880 | ||
| Amazon U.K. | £751 | $890 | ||
| Amazon.com | $1077 | |||
Related Reading
- LG Introduces New UltraFine 4K and 5K Monitors
- HP Z27q Monitor Review: Aiming For More Pixels
- LG Announces the 5K UltraWide 34WK95U: A 'Nano IPS' Monitor with a HDR600 Badge
- LG Develops ‘Nano IPS’ LCD, Unveils 32UK950 4K Display with DCI-P3, HDR600, TB3
- Dell Previews 27-inch ‘5K’ UltraSharp Monitor: 5120x2880
Source: Iiyama
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npz - Tuesday, March 27, 2018 - link
I would rather have 38" at 5k and zero or 1:1 scaling. I want to make use of the actual real estate. As for kanji and kana, that would be more useful too without scaling. Everything's better without scaling or virtually cutting the useable resolution down. I'd even rather have slightly blocky but perfectly aligned kana/kanji and roman text via true type per-font byte code pixel alignment which is what CKJ has always used on Windows rather than vector fonts that have to rely on blurring edges and using blurry thick lines like Mac.Gimme 1 pixel width bitmap fonts (hooray for "Fixed"), 10 pixels high where I can fit lots of vim terminals side by side with lots of text density rather than scaling them and thus loosing 1/2 the density and text real estate. That's why even for coding even this is too high DPI for most people's eyesight. And I say that as one who has better eyesight (no glasses) than all of my peers. Reply
Spunjji - Tuesday, March 27, 2018 - link
That's all great but also all really personal. I LOVE high-dpi displays. My visual acuity when corrected is pretty average, I just find text -way- more readable when it's composed of a decent amount of pixels.I also like the extra dpi for photo editing and assessing critical sharpness but obvs this display isn't much cop for that task. Reply
olafgarten - Monday, March 26, 2018 - link
This is a pretty pointless monitor, who needs a 5k resolution but no colour accuracy? Replytorchedguitar - Monday, March 26, 2018 - link
It's pretty great for people who primarily work with black & white text with a handful of basic colors, like programmers. I switch back and forth between 94 dpi monitors at work and a 276 dpi 13" laptop at home, and after getting used to the crisp text on the laptop, it's hard to go back to pixelated monitors. The only current desktop monitor that hits 276 dpi is the Dell 8K 32" for $3700, so considering dpi/$, getting 217 dpi for $900 is a lot closer to reasonable. I'm also very excited to see DisplayPort 1.4 in a shipping monitor, since GPUs have supported it for like two years now (since NVIDIA Pascal & AMD RX5xx). Replytim851 - Monday, March 26, 2018 - link
There's definitely more people who want the increased sharpness of 5K than people who need calibrated color accuracy. It's not like this thing will just pick colors randomly... Replymr_tawan - Monday, March 26, 2018 - link
developers who works with 4K target resolution? Replynfriedly - Monday, March 26, 2018 - link
The Planar IX2790 is another 5k / DP 1.4 monitor that might have better color accuracy. I'm still hoping to see you guys review it. ReplyLord of the Bored - Monday, March 26, 2018 - link
Seriously, when will 6-bit go back to whatever hole it crawled out of? We had 24-bit color as a standard feature in the nineties, there's no excuse for backtracking to 18-bit. Especially when nothing will feed the monitor 18-bit signals anyways. I am sick of things being WORSE than I had twenty years ago! Replyhaukionkannel - Tuesday, March 27, 2018 - link
Ofcourse you can buy 8 or 10 bit monitor that I better and cost 2000-5000$ this is just cheap variant. Not all people Are willing to pay for something that They don`t need. ReplyLord of the Bored - Tuesday, March 27, 2018 - link
Fine, let me clarify. When I say that I'm not sick of things "being worse" than they were twenty years ago, I mean that I'm sick of the basic minimum standard of twenty years ago being an expensive premium option now.24-bit color should not be a goal to aspire to, reserved for premium products. Computers should not be GETTING WORSE as time goes on. I dare say that 30-bit color should be standard by now, but... we can't even get 24-bit color reliably because of monitor manufacturers deciding that a minimum standard should be a premium feature.
I guess we'll have to settle for 18-bit and hope technology doesn't get any worse, because I swear to Wozniak that if we backslide further and 256-color displays become the standard I'm going to end someone. Reply