piXL28" LED Widescreen HDMI/Display Port 4K 5ms Monitor

Well, if the price means that it's too good to be true, it probably. I will preface this by saying that I'm coming from the angle of using 5K iMacs, so this monitor will have a fight on it's hands......First things first - packaging: Packed well, but i didn't get that 100% fuzzy feeling that the monitor had not been out the box before.Set up; The monitor comes with a robust two-piece metal stand, which you must bolt together before sliding it and clipping it into the monitor. However, the bolt has a set depth to screw into, yet the bolt is about 3mm too long. I searched the box and packaging for a grommet or washer to plug the gap, but there was none. This means that the foot and stem of the stand do not fit tight together, which, in turn, means the monitor would flop over. The only thing I had to make a shimmy was some cardboard, but this wasn't ideal, but I did have a monitor arm ordered - which fitted fine (10cm x 10cm) and something I always prefer over a stand.I was using this monitor to connect a 2021 Mac Mini M1. The monitor comes with a display port cable, but I opted for an HDMI connection. The two-piece power cable isn't the longest, especially from the adaptor to the jack which plugs into the I/O panel. I'm not a fan of the jack-style of power connection and this one would certainly easily pull out from the requisite vertical socket on the monitor with a slight tug on that short section of power cable. The I/O supports 3 x HDMI ports, HOWEVER, only one carries a HDMI 2.0 signal - the other two only support 1.4 (something to bear in mind when viewing 4K video).Upon connection to the Mac (and obviously the power, too!), the monitor turns on, having connected via the HDMI 2.0 port. The On-Screen Display (OSD) menu is accessed from the buttons on the bottom-left edge of the monitor screen. The reason why I mention this straight away is that you may discover, like I did, that the colour/contrast seem lacking. Now, before I go on, I know I mentioned that I came from a 5K iMac, but connected to that iMac is a 27" 1080p HP monitor - and I will make some comparisons with that. You may need to flick through the (basic) menus to get the picture quality/brightness/contrast you want, but there's not a great deal of accuracy. Personally, I wanted brightness; the 1080p monitor is too dim for my liking. The piXL monitor is better, but I would still like the ability to have the brightness such thst it burns out my retinas, like on the iMac. Although I jest, I really do think this monitor is deserving of a handful more nits of brightness.This is where things may take a turn for you, as they did (do) with me. This monitor is simply not good enough for photo or video editing - not because of the colour and contrast issues, but the choppiness and lag of any system animations and mouse movement. OK, OK, it's not terrible, but I don't have this issue on the HP monitor. The mouse is just that little bit laggy that you do notice a lack of accuracy when trying to pinpoint something specific on the screen, or you need to be delicate; both of which you need for photo editing in Photoshop (or equivalent) and video editing in Final Cut Pro or Premier Pro. (Indeed, the same could be said for audio editors using Logic Pro X). You just don't have that quick accuracy you need when 'grabbing' handles or points on a timeline etc, etc.Picture quality when watching films is fine. You don't have the best contrast ratio, but the main issue, as I mentioned above, is any kind of colour or contrast adjustments you need to make.A colour calibration may solve many issues, but if you want to fork out £100 on a calibrator, then you might as well buy a better monitor(!)*Conclusion*Pros: Price, ease of connection, decent 4K video picture/display.Cons: Lack of more accurate colour/contrast adjustment, choppy animations and mouse movements, monitor stand (was) missing something (or the provided bolt was the wrong one).Good for: Basic/standard monitor use, for those who want a higher resolution display than a standard 1080p monitor.Not good for: Those who edit photos or videos - or any software where a degree of mouse accuracy is required.UPDATE FEB 2022: Right, as I mentioned above, I was unhappy with the 'choppiness' of the animations etc. However, I realised that connection with an HDMI cable means that the refresh rate was capped at 30Hz. Connection with a display port (DP) cable permits the quoted 60Hz refresh rate. That being the case, the next issue came with the lack of a full DP with the M1 Mac Mini; I bought a USB-C (Thunderbolt 3) to DP cable by Benfei from Amazon for GBP10.49 (Amazon designation: USB C(Thunderbolt 3) to DisplayPort 4K@60Hz 1.8M/6 ft Cable, BENFEI USB 3.1 (USB-C) to DP Display Port Adapter Male to Male Gold-Plated Cord). The image is crisper and the absolutely no lag during on-screen animations or mouse movement.

First, let me start by saying that this is a good monitor for what you pay for it. If you are looking for something cheap that does the job, then this is a good option, especially as an entry level 4K monitor. It has a solid stand, and provides a smooth 60Hz experience as promised, even if the build quality does feel a bit cheap.However, having had experience with other 4K monitors in the past (Samsung, Dell and LG), this is decidedly average. The colours feel muted, and no amount of tweaking the settings can resolve this. The whites aren't really white, and the blacks are all grey.Overall, I am quite disappointed - for me the only redeeming feature of this monitor is the price.