Iiyama ProLite XUB3293UHSN-B5 review: Office 4K on a budget

The new Iiyama ProLite XUB3293UHSN-B5 is a high-resolution, 32in monitor for working in standard definition at a low price. It isn’t fancy, and lacks such luxuries as HDR, wide colour gamut support or any pretensions to gaming ability.

What you do get is a significantly wider selection of I/O ports than most monitors costing less than £500, making the Iiyama ProLite XUB3293UHSN-B5 the perfect home office monitor.

Iiyama ProLite XUB3293UHSN-B5 review: What do you get for your money?

The Iiyama ProLite XUB3293UHSN-B5 is good value at £399, but it hasn’t been ruthlessly built down to a budget, so it’s still reasonably well equipped with a decent pair of speakers and a more flexible stand than you’d find on cheaper screens.

It won’t be winning any design awards, however. It’s a rather anonymous affair made from black plastic, quite bulky and weighs a hefty 9.9kg. It feels solid enough, though; the cabinet doesn’t creak or groan when manhandled.

If the design doesn’t look like something Sir Jony Ive dreamed up in a moment of inspiration, Iiyama deserves a pat on the back for putting the two USB-A ports on the left side of the cabinet where they are very easy to access. All the other I/O ports are on the back facing downwards as is common.

The monitor’s on-screen menu is accessed via five buttons on the lower rear right side of the cabinet. This isn’t my favourite layout, but at least Iiyama has put a decent amount of space between the power and menu buttons so you don’t hit the wrong one too often, and each button has a clear white graphic on the front of the cabinet. Too many monitor makers rely on black-on-black graphics, which are effectively invisible and thus useless.

The stand is a solid and chunky affair with a large, solid foot. The foot and the cabinet bracket are both attached using thumbscrews for added security, although this means setting up takes a little longer than it would if the cabinet were attached with a quick-release mount. Surrounding the cabinet mount is a 100 x 100mm VESA mount for use with a display or desk arm.

The stand provides good adjustment levels, including 150mm of height, a 45-degree swivel to the left and right, a 90-degree pivot (again to both left and right) and tilt from +23 to -5 degrees. There’s a cutout to keep your cables bunched together in the middle of the stand neck.

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Iiyama ProLite XUB3293UHSN-B5 review: What type of connections does it have?

Iiyama has been bold regarding I/O ports, giving users one of everything they need rather than multiple iterations of fewer ports. At this price, a couple of HDMI ports would be expected, but Iiyama has opted for a single HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort 1.4, Gigabit LAN and USB-C ports along with one USB-B and two USB-A data ports.

All the USB ports are 5Gbit/sec 3.2 Gen 1 specification and the USB-C port supports both 65W power delivery and DisplayPort video input. That means that, unusually for a cheaper display, the XUB3293UHSN-B5 has genuine KVM (keyboard, video, mouse) functionality.

In short, this is a system that lets you connect one computer to the monitor via the USB-B port and another – for example, a laptop via the USB-C port – and control each using the same (wired) keyboard and mouse. This works just as well with a phone with a desktop feature (I regularly use my Motorola Edge 30 Ultra like this) or something like the Asus ROG Ally.

The best KVM monitors automatically jump between sources as you move your mouse between screens in picture-by-picture mode and have dedicated manual switches. The IIYAMA ProLite XUB3293UHSN-B5 lacks those niceties, so you must open the Input menu to switch between sources, but it’s still a very handy feature to have on a budget monitor.

Iiyama ProLite XUB3293UHSN-B5 review: How good is the image quality?

With a 31.5in diagonal and a resolution of 3,840 x 2,160, the ProLite XUB3293UHSN-B5 has a pixel density equivalent to a Full HD 15.6in laptop display. That means even small text looks sharp and crisp with no visible pixel structure.

The difference between 31.5in 3,840 x 2,160 and 27in 2,560 x 1,440 (that’s 140dpi vs 101dpi) is both dramatic and relevant given that some 27in displays don’t cost much less than this Iiyama.

The IPS panel is bright, too, producing a maximum of 352cd/m2, and the panel is capable of reproducing a range of colours equivalent to 127.4% of the sRGB colour space, 87.8% of Adobe RGB and 90.3% of DCI-P3. Measuring the gamma and visual daylight temperature gave figures of 2.29 and 6,798K, that second just a little on the cool side but not by enough to be a big huge problem.

The Iiyama lacks standard colour profiles; there isn’t even an sRGB mode. Instead, you get Warm, Cool and Normal profiles and a User option with adjustable RGB sliders. Regardless, colour accuracy is still pretty decent. Measuring the Delta E variance against the sRGB standard returned an average of 2.7, which isn’t bad, certainly not for a 4K display costing this little.

An average Delta E of less than 1.0 means that when experts compare two colours side by side, there is no perceivable difference, while a figure of less than 3.0 means there’s no significant difference an average person could perceive. This means that for anyone other than the most exacting of creative professionals, the ProLite XUB3293UHSN-B5 will do just fine.

Dividing the display into 25 segments and pointing a colorimeter at each showed the Iiyama to be impressively uniform in brightness as well, with every swatch falling within the recommended tolerance level.

Motion fidelity, on the other hand, is pretty basic, and with a maximum refresh rate of 60Hz, the XUB3293UHSN-B5 is not really designed for gaming. I saw a fair amount of ghosting in the Blur Buster’s UFO test and although there is a five-position overdrive, positions one to three have little effect, while four and five introduce visible overshoot. Moreover, without support for AMD’s FreeSync or Nvidia’s GSync, screen tearing will disturb your gaming.

One feature I was surprised not to find in the ProLite XUB3293UHSN-B5 was a picture-in-picture or picture-by-picture facility to run two images on the desktop simultaneously. Granted, these features work better on 32:9 rather than 16:9 monitors, but given the size and resolution of the ProLite XUB3293UHSN-B5, I still think it would be useful.

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Iiyama ProLite XUB3293UHSN-B5 review: Are there any other features I should know about?

Given the price of the ProLite XUB3293UHSN-B5, I was expecting the sound system to be pretty terrible but was rather impressed by the performance of the two 3W speakers.

The system is certainly loud, pumping out 82.4dBA as measured from a pink noise source at a 1m distance. Even more surprising is that there was more than a suggestion of bass, plenty of detail and no distortion, even at maximum volume.

If you’re in the habit of having Spotify playing your favourite tunes in the background as you work, the Iiyama’s speakers are more than up to the job.

There’s no built-in webcam with this monitor, so if you’re looking to take part in virtual work meetings, you’ll have to supply your own.

Iiyama ProLite XUB3293UHSN-B5 review: Should I buy it?

The Iiyama ProLite XUB3293UHSN-B5 is specifically aimed at people who want a productivity monitor larger and sharper than the standard 27in 1440p norm, but who would also rather not pay through the nose for the privilege. Viewed in those terms, it is a resounding success, offering a big, crisp display at an impressively low price.

Given the asking price, including a basic KVM system with LAN support and a pair of reasonably tuneful speakers can only be regarded as a genuine bonus. Even without them, the ProLite XUB3293UHSN-B5 would be a solid recommendation. With them, this new Iiyama is an automatic Best Buy recommendation for anyone in the market for a 4K home office monitor.