Eizo FlexScan EV2750 review: The final word in image quality

Every time a new monitor arrives on my desk, I’m asked all the same questions. Is it 4K? Is it OLED? Does it do 3D? In the case of the 27in FlexScan EV2750, the answer to all of these questions is no. In terms of cutting-edge technology, Eizo’s latest monitor has little to show for itself. But then this is a display that’s designed for the office, and, as business monitors go, the FlexScan EV2750 is pretty special. On Amazon UK the monitor will set you back £675 (on Amazon US it costs under $1,000 from a reseller).

Big screen, slim profile

The first surprise is how compact it is for a 27in monitor. Sat next to my everyday display, a Dell U2713H, the Eizo is far less imposing. A super-slim 7mm bezel runs around the panel, and the matte anti-glare screen coating stretches tight to the monitor’s edges, surrounded only by a millimetre-thick ring of plastic.

The monitor’s angular, contoured design is also impressively slender,  and the adjustable stand packs in all the essentials without swallowing precious desk space. It provides 155mm of height adjustment in addition to a generous amount of tilt and swivel, and the whole screen can rotate into portrait mode.

There are none of the high-end features you’d expect from Eizo’s ColorEdge ranges – no wide gamut colour support and no hardware colour calibration – but the FlexScan EV2750 has everything else you could reasonably ask for. A two-port USB 3 hub and headphone output are positioned on the left-hand edge, and DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort inputs are hidden around the back.

And before you ask, the FlexScan EV2750 is also available in a more traditional and sombre black finish, not just the eye-catching white in the photographs here.

Image quality and features

Eizo has something of an image quality reputation to uphold, and the FlexScan EV2750 does it proud. The 2,560 x 1,440 IPS panel is nigh-on perfect, and the matte anti-glare finish provides extremely wide viewing angles with nothing in the way of distracting reflections.

Brightness stretches from an unusually low minimum of 1cd/m² right up to 341cd/m² – and is flicker-free due to the lack of pulse width modulation (PMW) – while contrast reaches a very respectable 935:1. Colour accuracy is superb, too. In testing, I found the factory-calibrated sRGB mode covered 98.8% of the sRGB gamut with a low average Delta E of 1.6.

The consistency of the monitor’s LED backlighting also is good, with only a slight 8.5% drop in brightness in the top-right corner, and an average variance across the screen of 3%. Colour temperature is very stable, too, with no obvious shifts in colour tone at all. Colours look even and clean across the entire width of the display.

The on-screen menu is dramatically less complex than on Eizo’s ColorEdge ranges, which is no bad thing on a business monitor, and, although touch-sensitive menu buttons are normally a bit of a no-no, the ones here are consistently laid out, with clear onscreen legends making it easy to know which button to press.

In addition to two user-configurable picture modes, there are pre-calibrated sRGB and DICOM (the standard for medical displays) modes and a “Paper” mode which reduces the white level and overall contrast to make for easier reading. Interestingly, the supplied ScreenManager Pro software also provides support for circadian dimming, which adjusts the screen’s colour temperature setting to suit the time of day.

Watts, pounds and pence

If you’re wondering what makes this specifically a business monitor, then the FlexScan EV2750 has a few answers. Perhaps the most useful feature is Eizo’s Auto EcoView, which adjusts the display’s backlight to best suit on-screen content as well as ambient lighting conditions.

A brightness sensor on the lower bezel deals with the latter, and brightness shifts are subtle, smooth and unintrusive. Maximum and minimum brightness settings can be tweaked to better suit the lighting conditions, too.

Eizo’s EcoView Optimiser goes one step further by reacting to the content displayed on-screen and reducing the backlight brightness accordingly. For darker content, it reduces the brightness of the backlight and boosts the gain applied to the incoming image signal, ensuring everything remains visible. Inevitably, this reduces quality, giving images a slightly washed-out effect, but it also reduces long-term running costs.

It’s also possible to save the FlexScan EV2750’s image and EcoView settings to an XML file and – as long as each computer has Eizo’s EvoView NET software installed – deploy them over an office network.

Verdict

The FlexScan EV2750 is an excellent monitor. It‘s expensive compared to basic consumer monitors – not to mention the increasing number of affordable 4K models – but take into account the variety of useful power-saving features, and the five year warranty, and the Eizo goes a long way towards justifying its high price.

On the other hand, the price isn’t all that different to business rivals such as the £659 inc VAT Dell U2715H, which doesn’t include a brightness sensor. However, if you’re after a top-notch business display, and can afford to pay the premium, the Eizo FlexScan EV2750 will not disappoint.