4K Monitor Comparison - which is the best 4K monitor?

[jim]

With all of the 4K monitors announced recently, I thought it might be good to keep track of which ones are available and what the key differences are. I'm interested in buying one at some point, but there are a few options out there.

There are quite a few gaps, so if you have any relevant info then please post up and I'll add it in. There are some really poor quality reviews out there for some of these, and I haven't included those for obvious reasons.

Monitors in italics are not currently available in the UK - as far as I can make out.

Size	PPI	Manuf.	Model	IPS/TN	Coating	Refresh	Connectivity	Est. Price	Reviews
24"	185	Dell	UP2414Q	IPS	Anti-glare	60Hz	HDMI, Mini-DP, DP + USB3 Hub	£830	N/A
28"	157	Dell	P2815Q	TN	Anti-glare	30Hz	HDMI, Mini-DP, DP + USB3 Hub	£540	N/A
28"	157	Lenovo	Pro2840m	TN?	Unknown	Unknown	HDMI, Mini-DP, DP + USB3 Hub	£550	Unreleased
28"	157	Asus	PB287Q	TN	Unknown	60Hz	HDMI, DP	£600	PC Pro
28"	157	Samsung	U28D590	TN	Unknown	60Hz	HDMI, DP	£480	HardForum
28"	157	AOC	U2868PQU	TN	Anti-glare?	60Hz	HDMI, DP, DVI, D-SUB + USB Hub & Speakers	£500	N/A
28"	157	Iiyama	B2888UHSU-B1	TN	Unknown	60Hz	HDMI, DP, DVI, D-SUB + USB Hub & Speakers	£500	ETA July
31.5"	140	Dell	UP3214Q	IGZO	Anti-glare	60Hz	HDMI, Mini-DP, DP + USB3 Hub	£1500	TFTCentral
31.5"	140	Asus	PQ321QE	IGZO	Unknown	60Hz	DP	£2200	HEXUS
31.5"	140	Sharp	PN-K321	IGZO	Unknown	60Hz	DP	£3300	N/A
31.5	140	Samsung	UD970	IGZO	Unknown	Unknown	HDMI, DP, DVI-DL	Unknown	Unreleased

[jim]

ebuyer are now offering the UP2414Q for £870 on a pre-order, which is pushing it pretty close to the 28" TN offerings. I think I'm going to hold out for a lower DPI screen, but it's a bit more tempting all of a sudden.

[KeyboardDemon]

I read somewhere that the refresh rates on the Lenovo Pro2840m and the Asus PB287Q will be 30hz as both monitors will be using the same panel as the Dell P2815Q but I can't find the details now I want to share them with you.

[jim]

Yeah I'm sure it will be the same panel - I wondered exactly the same thing, but a couple of Asus sources have specified 60Hz. I certainly hope it is, otherwise they're pretty useless as anything other than general office use.

[KeyboardDemon]

Yeah I'm sure it will be the same panel - I wondered exactly the same thing, but a couple of Asus sources have specified 60Hz. I certainly hope it is, otherwise they're pretty useless as anything other than general office use.

It's possible that you would get 60hz at lower resolutions, my monitor is capable of 75hz but I can't get that at 1080p, it would only happen if I reduce the resolution.

[jim]

That's how the Dell works, AFAIK. My understanding is that the panel does support 60Hz, it's a limitation of the electronics behind it that prevents it from achieving higher throughput. Some articles have even suggested that Dell might be able to introduce 60Hz @ 4K support with a firmware update, but I'm sceptical. We'll have to wait for some decent reviews, but as you can see from the table above, even some of the already-released monitors have got very few reviews out.

[jim]

P2815Q now on PCBuyIt for £568. Still doesn't look like a great idea though, 30Hz and TN.

UP2414Q down to £830.

UD590 coming out in US on April 18th.

[jim]

UD590 now available to pre-order in the UK - cheers to HalloweenJack for the tip

[jim]

Converted into a table, because I'm a generous soul

[jim]

The Asus is now listed on Scan as a pre-order for £600

[rob4001]

I was thinking of getting a 1440p 27" display but now these are coming out hmm 4k is still a bit gimmicky for now but interesting to see if the TN panels have improved leaves me with a dilemma!

[Taniniver]

Nice summary, thanks jim

I'd really like a 4k monitor but I'm sitting on the fence for now awaiting news of one with G-sync support - given the fact that even a couple of high end graphics cards right now will struggle to deliver 60 FPS in many games (at maximum quality of course) I think it would be a really big plus.

[Taniniver]

I was just looking to see if I could find any proper reviews of the ones lacking them at the moment, and came across something interesting about the Samsung U28D590 - it seems this monitor doesn't do the common trick of appearing as two displays and using MST, it's using single-stream transport:

http://techreport.com/news/26337/sam...t-60hz-for-800

This seems like a noteworthy feature, to avoid the difficulties that can be encountered with combining multiple virtual screens into one to drive the 4k resolution.

[jim]

Yes, it's an interesting point and certainly something that I found off-putting when looking at some of the earlier options. Some living reviews of the 31.5" monitors were quite damning in that regard. When I get chance, I might add something in.

FWIW, I now have the Samsung on pre-order from Amazon so hopefully it's as good as everyone has said it is.

[Judge888]

Will be interested to see if the sammy comes in when Amazon says as on other forum sites (not sure if allowed to name Scan competitors) they cast serious doubt on any retailer getting it before the end of May at the earliest.

Plus reports on stand are not great, linus tech tips did a video review of the monitor and whislt in general he was favourable he did stress that the lack of vesa mount combined with a poor stand was not great, especially when you consider the AOC seems to be the smae monitor with none of the issues (though no reviews exist for this yet so only based on looking at the specs and pics of the monitor)

[jim]

Will be interested to see if the sammy comes in when Amazon says as on other forum sites (not sure if allowed to name Scan competitors) they cast serious doubt on any retailer getting it before the end of May at the earliest.

Plus reports on stand are not great, linus tech tips did a video review of the monitor and whislt in general he was favourable he did stress that the lack of vesa mount combined with a poor stand was not great, especially when you consider the AOC seems to be the smae monitor with none of the issues (though no reviews exist for this yet so only based on looking at the specs and pics of the monitor)

Yeah it's fine to name competitors etc, although Scan may restrict usage on Scan-moderated sections.

Amazon haven't said anything about a delay yet, will be frustrating if there is one. I'm personally not too worried about the mount as I really don't move my monitors around, but I can see why some might find it frustrating.

TBH I think I've had enough of reviews now anyway - time to try it out! And if it's awful, it'll be straight back on its merry way.