DGM IPS-2701WPH review

If you’ve been dreaming of upgrading to a 27in IPS monitor, but just haven’t been able to find the cash, DGM’s IPS-2701WPH will come as a revelation. It’s the first 27in IPS we’ve seen that costs less than £500, and somehow DGM has managed to pack in a glossy 2,560 x 1,440 IPS panel.

The moment you heave the IPS-2701WPH from the box, it’s clear how it has arrived at such an attractive price. The gloss-black chassis is very plasticky; tilting it back and forth is accompanied by audible creaks, and the stand is decidedly wobbly.

Budget-cutting is evident elsewhere: the onscreen display is incredibly basic, and the clicky buttons on the monitor’s bottom-edge make a chore of changing even simple settings such as brightness or contrast. Power, meanwhile, is supplied by a chunky 24v power adapter.

Thankfully, the DGM’s image quality is good enough that there’s little need to fiddle with any settings. Straight out of the box, the DGM presents a crisp, huge Windows desktop, and images and movies teem with detail and rich, lifelike colours. To the naked eye, it’s easily the match of far pricier monitors.

Put to the test with our X-Rite colorimeter, the IPS-2701WPH acquitted itself well. Brightness topped out at an ample 299cd/m[sup]2[/sup], and while contrast reached a more modest 665:1, it’s far from unacceptable. Colour accuracy was excellent right off the bat. An average Delta E of only 1.9 would be a superb result at twice the price, and with a maximum Delta E deviation of 4.3, the DGM retains its accuracy right across the colour spectrum.

There are no serious image quality issues whatsoever. Colour temperature was just a touch warmer than the ideal – the DGM produced a result of 6,261k, just a whisker away from the target of 6,500k. The backlighting wasn’t quite as even as pricier models, with the centre of the screen measuring almost 14% brighter than most of the left-hand side of the panel, but this isn’t noticeable in use.

All the essential features are present. The side-facing ports include a 3.5mm audio input for the scratchy sounding set of internal speakers, and there’s a full complement of DisplayPort, DVI, HDMI and D-SUB video inputs. There’s also a 100mm VESA mount on the rear for attaching the monitor to compatible mounts.

Given the low price, it’s easy to take the IPS-2701WPH’s faults on the chin. It lacks the niceties of our A-List monitor, the Viewsonic VP2770-LED, but that costs over £150 more. For only £360, the DGM’s combination of good image quality and a giant-sized IPS panel make it simply unbeatable value for money.