Planar PXL2790MW

By Brian Westover

The Planar PXL2790MW brings WQHD (2,560-by-1,440) resolution to the desktop in a 27-inch IPS monitor that offers solid color and grayscale performance and an attractive cabinet design. There's no shortage of video ports with this monitor, but it doesn't have any USB ports and it doesn't offer the level of ergonomic adjustability that you get with similarly priced WQHD models.

Design and Features With its bezel-less design and edge-to-edge glass, the PXL2790MW is one fine looking monitor. Its 27-inch WQHD (Wide Quad High Definition) panel is housed in a sleek looking matte black cabinet sporting a curved back panel and a depth of only 1.7-inches. The 13.2 pound cabinet is attached to a black metal wedge-type stand that lets you tilt the cabinet 5-degerees forward and 25-degrees backward but lacks the height, swivel, and pivot capabilities that you get with models like the Dell UltraSharp U2713HM and Asus PB278Q. You can remove the stand if you wish to use the VESA mounting holes to hang the monitor on a wall using an optional VESA mounting bracket.

At the back of the cabinet you'll find virtually every video input you could want, including VGA, DVI, HDMI, and DisplayPort inputs. There's also an audio input and a headphone jack back there but no USB ports like you'll find on the Dell U2713HM. The down-firing 2-watt speakers provide decent volume but lack bass.

There are four touch-sensitive buttons and a power switch on the lower front edge of the cabinet. The buttons are used to navigate the various OSD (on screen display) menus containing picture and audio settings. There are five Color Vision Modes (picture presets) including standard, cinema, scenery, game, and text as well as six color temperature settings and a user defined temperature setting. Other picture settings include brightness, contrast, gamma, Eco (power saving), and clock and phase (for analog signals). Audio adjustments are limited to volume and mute.

The PXL2790MW comes with a DVI dual link cable, a DisplayPort cable, and audio cable, and a user guide. It also comes with a three year warranty which includes Planar's 2-Day Advanced Replacement service.

Performance The PXL2790MW is a strong performer. It had no trouble displaying every shade of gray on the DisplayMate 64-Step Grayscale test and showed good highlight and shadow detail in my test photos. It also handled text wonderfully; the smallest text from the Scaled Fonts test was clean and easy to read.

Out of the box color accuracy was good but not perfect. As shown on the chromaticity chart below, red (represented by the colored dot) is very close to the CIE standard for red (represented by the box), while green and blue are a tad heavy but still within an acceptable range.

As far as picture quality goes, the PXL2790MW delivered well-balanced colors, and there was no noticeable tinting or over saturation. Viewing angles were wide with no discernable shift in color quality or luminance when viewed from a side or top angle.

The PXL2790MW consumed 48-watts of power during testing with Eco mode turned off, which is rather high for a 27-inch IPS panel. The Dell U2713HM used 32 watts and the HP Envy 27 used 30 watts. Oddly, enabling the PXL2790MW's Eco mode made no difference whatsoever.

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Planar PXL2790MW