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The Prolite E2773HS is the newest version of our Budget Buy-winning Iiyama Prolite E2773HDS. You wouldn’t know it from the outside, as it looks almost identical to the previous version with its thick, black glossy bezel and fixed stand. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, though, as the previous model was one of our favourite monitors of last year.
Initial impressions were good. The screen looked a little bright at its default settings, but this is due to its higher than average luminance levels. Our colour calibrator recorded a high white level of 288.53cd/m², which is just off Iiyama’s claimed figure of 300cd/m², but you can easily tone this down using the screen’s touch-sensitive controls.
Our calibration tests measured the monitor as displaying 95% of the sRGB colour gamut straight out of the box. This is a great score for a TN panel, as these generally have lower colour accuracy than monitors that use IPS panel technology. Our calibration graphs showed comprehensive coverage of the blue and green areas of the sRGB colour space, but the screen was a little short on reds and purples. We managed to reclaim this lost space after calibration, though, and the screen’s overall colour accuracy increased to an even more impressive 97.7%, which puts it on par with IPS-equipped monitors.
Our subjective tests were a little more disappointing. Despite our colour calibrator recording a pleasingly low black level of 0.25cd/m², the blacks in our solid colour image tests appeared quite mauve toward the bottom of the screen, with a small amount of backlight bleed running all along the base of the monitor. Whites were also a little grey, but reds, greens and blues were bright and vivid and there was plenty of detail in our high contrast test photos thanks to the monitor’s high measured contrast ratio of 1134:1.
Around the back, the screen has a decent range of inputs, including VGA, DVI and HDMI, a 3.5mm audio line in and a headphone jack, which is particularly handy if you like to keep your PC tucked away on the floor. There are also two 2W speakers on the back of the monitor. These are definitely a cut above your average monitor speakers, but the lack of bass makes the E2773HS’s overall sound quality quite tinny compared to proper dedicated speakers. They’re fine for Windows sounds, but you’ll want something better for listening to music and for games.
We were particularly surprised by the monitor’s wide viewing angles. TN panels usually have narrower viewing angles than IPS monitors, but we only noticed a big change in contrast when we were almost side-on to the screen. Its vertical viewing angles were less impressive, but you shouldn’t have a problem finding a comfortable viewing position with this screen.
Apart from some mild problems with displaying large areas of black, the Prolite E2773HS has impressive overall image quality. It’s a top-class 27in monitor at a great price, and wins a Best Buy award.
