27-inch Monoprice 4K Ultra Slim Aluminum Monitor Review

The 27-inch Monoprice 4K Ultra Slim Aluminum monitor is an excellent value and it delivers a great looking 4K image that you can use with PC, Mac or connected to a console like the Xbox One X.

While Monoprice is best known for cables, they also make great monitors and speakers. Like their other monitors, the 27-inch 4K Monoprice monitor is backed by a pixel perfect guarantee that means if there is even one dead pixel in the first year they will replace the display.

At $399, and sometimes on sale for $359, the 27-inch Monoprice 4K Ultra Slim Aluminum monitor is a great value with plenty of inputs, features and a nice looking display.

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I tested the 27-inch 4K monitor from Monoprice with my 2016 MacBook Pro using a USB C to DisplayPort adapter and directly connected to the Xbox One X where I played Madden 18, Call of Duty: WWII and Wolfenstein 2.

Once plugged in the Xbox One X saw this as a 4K monitor immediately. I did need to change the resolution on my MacBook Pro settings, but that’s only a few clicks and you are good to go. I’ve used this monitor alongside a curved Samsung monitor and the Monoprice WQHD monitor for the last month.

The Monoprice 4K Ultra Slim Aluminum monitor image quality is incredible. Watching 4K videos at full screen is incredible. Out of the box the color is great. While I had to adjust the saturation higher on the WQHD monitor, this one hits my personal sweet spot right out of the box. The panel is made by LG and it is an IPS display with very good viewing angles. I used this display to the side of my primary setup, so viewing angles are very important in this kind of setup.

While working on my Mac, I can put a lot of windows on the 4K display, but at full resolution it can be tough to see small text on the screen. Apple includes options to change the scaling, or resolution so that text is easier to see thanks to HiDPI which is a fancy way of saying it uses the pixels kind of like your iPhone does.

I spent a few days with our home media center torn apart and during that time I connected the Xbox One X to the 4K Monoprice monitor. The display worked out really well for testing some of the Xbox One X enhanced games at 4K, but it does not support HDR, so that’s a very important consideration if you plan to use this for gaming. The monitor does support FreeSync, which can help your PC games look better.

There are a ton of inputs including two Displayport 1.2a input with FreeSync and Two HDMI inputs. There is also a headphone jack, but there is no speaker built-in.

The monitor design is modern with slim bezels and an aluminum trim on the bottom edge and around the sides of the display. It’s not very thick and it’s pretty lightweight. While the monitor tilts up or down, there is no height adjustment. For extended use, we would need to invest in a monitor arm for better placement.

A small joystick is on the back of the monitor. This is the power button and it is also the controls for the menu and monitor settings. The menu controls are tricky to follow, and you will likely turn your monitor off at least once every time you use it thinking a push in is select. It’s something you can live with, but we’d rather see a dedicated power button on the back.

The price is right at $399, which is good for a 4K IPS display with FreeSync, but it’s not as much of a steal as the WQHD monitor we recently reviewed. Overall the prices are dropping for 4K monitors and even those capable of doing 4K at 60Hz, so make sure you compare prices when it comes time to buy your next 4K monitor.