HannsG HS271 review

A 27in screen is on the large side for 1,920×1,080 pixels, and while a monitor this size doesn’t give you any more desktop space than the average 24in or 22in screen, everything onscreen is nice and big and movies and games have more impact. The HannsG HS271 is an inexpensive way to put a big screen on your desk.

First impressions aren’t particularly strong. The monitor’s looks live up to its budget price, with cheap-looking and -feeling black plastic coating the whole unit. We also found the monitor somewhat tricky to assemble; the base and the stand don’t fit together particularly well, which made us worry about build quality. The screen bezel is fairly large at over 20mm thick, and this increases to 28mm at the bottom of the monitor to make room for the image adjustment buttons.

In terms of physical adjustment, you can only tilt the monitor. There isn’t much backwards tilt and rather too much forward movement, so it’s not particularly easy to get the right viewing angle. The stand is also very wobbly, with both sideways and back-and-forth movement on the limit of what we’d find acceptable. We’ve seen better build quality and more design flair on monitors in this price range.

If looks and build quality aren’t on your priorities list, then the rest of the monitor should be satisfactory. There are the usual display inputs, with HDMI, VGA and DVI all present, but no DisplayPort. There’s no USB hub either, although we wouldn’t have expected to see one on a cheap display.

Screen quality is definitely the HS271’s strongest suit, with the PLS panel (similar to IPS) displaying a fair level of colour accuracy. We measured it displaying 90 per cent of the sRGB colour gamut, which is a good score, if nothing spectacular. Colour coverage was slightly lacking in pale greens and blues, purples and lighter reds, but the screen performed somewhat better when displaying reds, yellows and deeper greens. The 1000:1 contrast ratio claimed by HannsG was confirmed by our tests, while a low measured black level of 0.3cd/m2 was borne out in the deep blacks we saw onscreen. However, despite the good on-paper contrast ratio, some detail was lost in the darker areas of our test images, with some parts appearing entirely black instead of showing the hints of dark grey we see on the best monitors.

The monitor’s size means text and icons are large and easy to read, although the relatively low (for the screen size) resolution of 1,920×1,080 means that if you sit too close to the monitor, imperfections and blurriness in both text and images are apparent. We would suggest using the screen over a foot away from you on the desk, but it’s perfect for playing games leaning back in your chair with a gamepad.

Although the HannsG HS271 is far from perfect, it performs admirably considering its low price. However, the 27in BenQ EW2740L is only slightly more expensive and is more versatile with better image quality.