MSI G27CQ4 E2 quick review – Everything you need, on a budget

LaptopMedia.com Reviews and Analysis MSI G27CQ4 E2 quick review - Everything you need, on a budget Page 2

From: Severin Kolakov 13 November 2023 / 08:17 | 0

2. Display quality, Buy our profiles, Verdict

1. Intro, Specs, Drivers, What’s in the box Previous page Next page

Display quality, Buy our profiles, Verdict

The MSI G27CQ4 E2 comes with a QHD VA panel with a 170Hz refresh rate and a 1ms response time, so MSI is right to market it as an esports monitor. Being a VA unit, you do get worse viewing angles than IPS models, however from running our tests, this is the only caveat and thing to worry about with it. The AMD FreeSync Premium feature keeps gaming and visuals fluid.

There’s also something called Anti-flicker technology. Flickering is very bad for your eyes, primarily because it can cause them to tire easily and dry out more quickly. This is due to the brightness fluctuating hundreds to thousands of times per second. What MSI is doing is ‘stabilizing the electrical currents,’ which eliminates flickering, thus making it easier on your eyes. You can test if your display flickers by aiming your smartphone camera at your monitor and checking for horizontal lines running through the display

Color coverage

Here’s an illustration (Fig. 1). The whole “sail-shaped” map below consists of all the colors we can see, while the black crooked line shows all the colors from real-world scenes and nature around us.

Then, we’ve drawn some of the most important and interesting color spaces, compared to the colors the panel of MSI G27CQ4 E2 can show:

Standard/For Web: sRGB – widely used color space for most consumer devices, ideal for Web design and development
For Print/Photographers: AdobeRGB – used in professional photo editing, graphic design, and print
For Movie/Video Editors: DCI-P3 – used in high-end film production, post-production, and digital cinema
Premium HDR: Rec.2020 – the widest consumer ITU color standard, covering a massive 75.8% of the visible spectrum, a benchmark for premium HDR content

MSI G27CQ4 E2: the yellow dashed triangle (– – – – – –) represents the range of colors this monitor can display. In our tests, we calculated the total color coverage of the monitor at 99.4% of the sRGB gamut, with a total sRGB Gamut volume of 118%. As you can see in the illustration, the monitor spans above the sRGB gamut in the Reds and Greens, while not being able to match it in the Blues.

(Fig.1)MSI G27CQ4 E2 covers 99.4% of the Web colors (sRGB)

This means that if the MSI G27CQ4 E2 tries to show any color outside of its triangle, it will show the closest color to it that’s inside the triangle.

Color accuracy

Now let’s see how big is the difference between the real colors and the one you’ll see on the MSI G27CQ4 E2. We measure that distance in DeltaE – the bigger the number, the more different they look.

For the next illustration, we’ve chosen 24 common colors like dark and light skin, blue sky, green grass, etc.

Values below 2.0 are considered suitable for color-sensitive work. Before our calibration of MSI G27CQ4 E2, the Average color accuracy was 1.4 dE (Fig. 2), and with our Web Design and Office Work profile, it lowers to 1.1 dE (Fig. 3) making it almost perfect! Values below 1.0 are generally indistinguishable to the human eye.

(Fig. 2) MSI G27CQ4 E2 in its factory condition

(Fig. 3) MSI G27CQ4 E2 with our display profiles

Comparison in the sRGB color space (primaries and D65 white point specified in ITU-R BT.709, sRGB encoding curve).

Color accuracy isn’t the only purpose of the Web Design and Office Work profile, though. It also aims to deliver better distinctness and clarity by keeping a flat gamma curve (2.20), and an optimal color temperature (6500K). This is very important for those who often read texts or look at tables on their screen. So if you’ll double the use of the monitor and plan to do some office tasks, the profile will still be of great help.

Health-Guard eliminates the harmful Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) and reduces the negative Blue Light which affects our eyes and body. Since it’s custom-tailored for every panel, it manages to keep the colors perceptually accurate (they may seem strange at first but after a few minutes our brain will start recognizing them as accurate ones – that’s how Health-Guard differs from alternatives like f.lux).

Pro Tip: As the Health-Guard profile simulates paper and has as accurate as possible colors, it could be a great tool for prepress designers!

Left: No Profile | Drag the slider to see the difference | Right: Health-Guard Profile

Gaming and Movies

We also have a third Gaming and Movies profile, which regulates the black colors, making dark areas in games and movies appear more visible, thus giving you a better viewing experience. Shooting at your opponent first can be a make-or-break moment, so make sure you’re best prepared with our profile.

Left: No Profile | Drag the slider to see the difference | Right: Design & Gaming Profile

BUY OUR DISPLAY PROFILES

In addition to receiving efficient and health-friendly profiles, by buying LaptopMedia's products you also support the development of our labs, where we test devices in order to produce the most objective reviews possible.

Office Work

Office Work should be used mostly by users who spend most of the time looking at pieces of text, tables or just surfing. This profile aims to deliver better distinctness and clarity by keeping a flat gamma curve (2.20), native color temperature and perceptually accurate colors.

$9.90 BUY NOW

Design and Gaming

This profile is aimed at designers who work with colors professionally, and for games and movies as well. Design and Gaming takes display panels to their limits, making them as accurate as possible in the sRGB IEC61966-2-1 standard for Web and HDTV, at white point D65.

$9.90 BUY NOW

Health-Guard

Health-Guard eliminates the harmful Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) and reduces the negative Blue Light which affects our eyes and body. Since it’s custom tailored for every panel, it manages to keep the colors perceptually accurate. Health-Guard simulates paper so the pressure on the eyes is greatly reduced.

$9.90 BUY NOW

Get all 3 profiles with 33% discount

$19.90 BUY NOW

Since our profiles are tailored for each individual display model, this article and its respective profile package are meant for MSI G27CQ4 E2.

*Should you have problems with downloading the purchased file, try using a different browser to open the link you’ll receive via e-mail. If the download target is a .php file instead of an archive, change the file extension to .zip or contact us at [email protected].

Verdict

The MSI G27CQ4 E2 is a pretty great gaming monitor, which can act as a base of operations for a designer too, thanks to its ample color coverage. The color accuracy is also fantastic, as our Web Design and Office work profile improves it, especially in the white tones. As for the rest of our profile bundle, it’s there to keep your eyes safe during the day and night (Health-Guard) as well as give you the best visuals possible during gaming and watching content (Gaming and Movies).

The design, the display size, and the curve present a product that feels premium but doesn’t break the bank at all. Instead, you get a quality monitor that’s versatile and capable of handling a lot of different work. All you need now is a Desktop or a Laptop, the latter of which we can help you choose, thanks to our thousands of reviews.

You can check the current price of the MSI G27CQ4 E2 here: Buy from Amazon.com (#CommissionsEarned)