Intel’s new Arrow Lake architecture, aka the Core Ultra 200S series, brings AI capabilities onto Intel desktops. But the chip doesn’t use the Copilot+ capabilities of Intel’s mobile Lunar Lake chip — its designers used the older NPU found on Meteor Lake instead. For now, this means that if you buy an Arrow Lake chip, you won’t be able to use it with some of the new AI enhancements found within Windows 11’s 2024 Update, like generative AI and the controversial Recall function. Arrow Lake’s optimized NPU 3 only provides 13 TOPS, while Microsoft set 40 TOPS as the bar for Copilot+ status. Intel still plans to ship more than 40 million AI PCs in 2024, using the vaguer “AI PC” definition that accompanied the launch of Meteor Lake. Arrow Lake is the not the first desktop PC architecture to include an NPU for AI. Last January, AMD announced the Ryzen 8000 series of desktop processors with an NPU capable of 39 TOPS. However, the blink-or-you’ll-miss-it Ryzen 8000 was quickly replaced by the Ryzen 9000 processor six months later in June — without an NPU, but ushering in Zen 5 with a potent 16 percent performance improvement over the prior generation. Neither the Ryzen 8000 nor Arrow Lake meets the threshold to be called a Copilot+ PC. Arrow Lake, like Meteor Lake, is a disaggregated architecture — a fancy name for a modular design. Theoretically, couldn’t Intel have just made more of the 45 TOPS NPU 4 found within Lunar Lake, and added it to the Arrow Lake package? Yes…and no, Intel executives said. Arrow Lake contains rudimentary AI, for a reason. Arrow Lake contains rudimentary AI, for a reason.Intel Arrow Lake contains rudimentary AI, for a reason.Intel Intel Keeping it simple First off, Arrow Lake’s NPU is the same NPU 3 as Meteor Lake, Robert Hallock, an Intel vice president and general manager of client AI and technical marketing at Intel, told reporters. “So we’ve had a lot of time to learn it and optimize it, and it made sense that we would fit this in,” he said. (Meteor Lake’s NPU generated 11.5 TOPS, while Arrow Lake’s optimized version produces 13 TOPS.) However, Intel’s customer base of enthusiasts also indicated that they didn’t want to give up certain features, like a potent GPU, to check the box of AI. And Intel, which faced pressure to deliver Arrow Lake on time, found it easier to just use an established design. “We actually had a long, a really long chat internally about how to allocate the transistor budget on this part,” Hallock continued. “To be clear, yes, it was fully possible to put a 50 TOPS, 40 TOPS NPU on this product, but to do so would also require shrinking the core count, changing the GPU core count. You start making sacrifices in sort of fundamental performance dimensions that enthusiasts really care about — that didn’t feel like the right mix. And we also talked at length about sort of the enthusiast market’s disposition on AI as a whole. And I think it’s fair to say it’s somewhat reluctant.” Instead, Intel believes that software developers aren’t always using AI hardware effectively, that a combination of components (CPU, GPU, and NPU) is better than an NPU alone, and various AI models are being effectively compressed small enough that they don’t need a massive NPU. All told, Arrow Lake-S (the Core Ultra 200S series) has a total of 36 platform TOPS. Although Arrow Lake has an integrated GPU, many customers will pair the chip with a discrete GPU, which provides far more AI horsepower than just the NPU alone. “We’ve proven that Meteor Lake’s 13-TOPS NPU is more than enough,” Hallock said. “We’ve got enthusiast users who are somewhat skeptical, and so we sized an NPU that kind of fits all of those constraints while preserving and protecting the CPU performance that people care about most and still gives enough AI to embrace workloads that are coming down the pipe.” Interestingly, Intel will debut two mobile chips in the Arrow Lake family during the first quarter of 2024. One, code-named Arrow Lake-HX, will essentially be a mobile copycat of the Core Ultra 200S chips that Intel will begin shipping in a few weeks. A second family of Arrow Lake-H chips for notebooks provides many more TOPS overall than Arrow Lake-S or -HX: 99 platform TOPS in all. However, those will come from a beefed-up GPU that uses XMX extensions and more Xe cores. The NPU will still provide 13 TOPS. Roger Chandler, vice president and general manager for enthusiast PC and workstation product marketing at Intel, reiterated what Hallock said — that software developers aren’t using the full capabilities of the existing NPUs effectively. Intel’s goal, he said, was to offer a “balanced platform.” “When I look at AI right now, we’re like, 10 seconds into a 20-hour movie,” Chandler said. Read...

Intel’s latest Arrow Lake processor for desktop PCs fuses its “Meteor Lake” and “Lunar Lake” architectures together, carrying over Meteor Lake’s NPU and Lunar Lake’s abandonment of hyperthreading. Yes, hyperthreading has been banned from Intel’s desktop chips, based on a similar rationale for excluding the feature from Lunar Lake. Intel launched Arrow Lake, also known as its Core Ultra 200S processor lineup, on Thursday. The chip is Intel’s first “disaggregated” desktop processor, built on tiles, meaning each part of the chip is individually fabricated on a different process. In a twist, Intel unveiled a deep dive into the architecture of Lunar Lake and the models, prices, and performance of the Core Ultra 200S processor. A key omission? Hyperthreading, which also was not part of Intel’s Lunar Lake mobile processor. The story of Arrow Lake is a simple one: More performance and yet substantially less power than the 14th-generation Core chips. And to get there, Intel executives said they applied the same thinking to both Lunar Lake and its next-gen desktop counterpart: Make its cores as efficient as possible, both for power and for space. What is hyperthreading? Hyperthreading (also known as simultaneous multi-threading) is a fairly simple concept: While each processor core is designed to execute one instruction thread, hyperthreading creates a second “virtual” processor inside the single processor core. With hyperthreading, the idea is that the individual processor core is always executing instructions on at least one of the two cores, keeping it in operation the whole time. The last thing enthusiasts want is a CPU core sitting idle when it could be performing useful work. Intel Intel Intel The problem is that the second core is a virtual core, and not a “true” second physical core. That can lead to some contention of resources and additional overhead, enough that the question of whether to leave hyperthreading on or off while gaming has been a source of debate for years. Intel, meanwhile, has gone back and forth on the feature: Some of Intel’s 9th-, 10th-, and 11th-gen Core processors have excluded hyperthreading, such as the Core i7-9700K, and Intel’s Atom chips never used it. Most of Intel’s Core chips do, however. AMD has pretty consistently used hyperthreading, however, and still does. The question has always been: Does hyperthreading deliver a performance increase that surpasses the toll it takes in terms of system latency, the controller die cost, and the power hyperthreading consumes? In Lunar Lake, the answer was “no,” and that has carried over to Intel’s latest desktop chips, too. In part, that’s because Arrow Lake cribs heavily from Lunar Lake, with the same Lion Cove performance cores and the same Skymont efficiency cores that appear in Lunar Lake. Robert Hallock, a vice president and general manager of client AI and technical marketing for Intel, said that Intel basically comes out ahead in terms of power and performance by not using hyperthreading. Arrow Lake includes both desktop and mobile processors, and Hallock was being asked about the desktop implementation of hyperthreading. But it sounds like Hallock’s response applies to both desktop and mobile chips. “It’s a combination of a couple things, actually,” Hallock told reporters. “First, we knew that we can actually save the wattage for hyperthreading by not including it on the product, and you see that we’re still coming out net ahead by roughly 15, 20 percent in [multicore performance] without it. So we’re able to bump up efficiency and still hit our goals in overall compute performance. “The other thing that I would say is, you know, these are the same designs as leveraged from Lunar Lake,” Hallock added. “We took those cores, those designs, and were able to immediately integrate them because of [Intel’s] Foveros [technology]. So that’s the kind of one-two punch that influenced our decision: speed to market and maximizing performance per watt.” Will hyperthreading ever return? It’s possible it could. But it would have to justify itself in terms of performance, power, and die space, and it appears right now that it isn’t making the cut. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Long battery life Great-looking OLED touchscreen Thin and light in tablet mode Price includes keyboard Cons Low performance next to peers Some keyboard connection wonkiness Underwhelming speakers Our Verdict The Asus ProArt PZ13 lacks performance next to its laptop competitors, but as a 2-in-1 tablet it shines. A quality design, a great display, lengthy battery life, and incredibly competitive value set it apart from other 2-in-1. If you’re set on a tablet, this one is well worth Considering. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Microsoft has opened the door for some fierce competition. The Surface Pro has long charged a considerable premium for the honor of giving you a tablet and laptop in one (and then charged a premium for the all-too-essential keyboard). And that’s where the Asus ProArt PZ13 swoops in. It not only comes offering a sharp OLED display, a regal tablet design, and a competitive $1,099 starting price, but it also includes the keyboard cover in that price, not to mention 1TB of storage. This is a great start to compete with the base Surface Pro 11 configuration and also sees it undercut another 2-in-1 tablet we tested recently, the much pricier Dell Latitude 7350 Detachable. There’s a lot of promise for the Asus ProArt PZ13, but its choice of a lower-tier Snapdragon X Plus processor (on top of the choice to use a Snapdragon processor at all given some compatibility concerns) may hold it back from being the perfect tool for a lot of people. But as a 2-in-1 tablet, it’s highly compelling.  Further reading: Best laptops 2024: Premium, budget, gaming, 2-in-1s, and more Asus ProArt PZ13: Specs and features Model number: Asus ProArt PZ13 HT5306 CPU: Snapdragon X Plus X1P-42-100 Memory: 16GB LPDDR5X Graphics/GPU: Adreno Graphics Display: 13.3-inch 2880×1600 OLED Storage: 1TB PCIe Gen4 SSD Webcam: 1440p Connectivity: 2x USB-4, 1x SDcard reader Networking: WiFi 7, Bluetooth 5.4 Biometrics: Windows Hello facial recognition Battery capacity: 70 watt-hours Dimensions: 11.5 x 7.9 x 0.71 inches (total); 11.5 x 7.9 x 0.35 inches (tablet only)  Weight: 3.34 pounds (total); 1.92 pounds (tablet alone) MSRP: $1,099 as-tested ($1,099 base) Asus ProArt PZ13: Design and build quality IDG / Mark Knapp IDG / Mark Knapp IDG / Mark Knapp The Asus ProArt PZ13 is a classic two-in-one tablet following in the footsteps of the Surface tablets. The tablet connects to a thin keyboard cover with a proprietary magnetic connector at its base with hard pins to ensure proper alignment and a secure link. A flexible band goes from the connector to the keyboard, allowing the keyboard to sit flat regardless of the angle of the tablet.  Rather than building a kickstand into the tablet itself, Asus has gone with a magnetic cover. A back cover has a hinged kickstand that folds out about halfway down the back of the tablet to prop it up at various angles. This is effective, but not without its issues. The magnetic hold is firm, but I have had the cover try to pop off while folding out the kickstand. The stand also struggles to hold the tablet up at high angles when used with the keyboard cover, needing the screen to rock back about 10 degrees before it’ll stand stably. Between the base of the keyboard cover and the foot of the kickstand, the Asus ProArt PZ13 doesn’t get a lot of traction on surfaces, so it can slide around a little more easily than many other laptops, though still isn’t slipping willy-nilly.  Where I have to give Asus major props is in its decision to include the rear cover and keyboard cover with the Asus ProArt PZ13. Unlike the Microsoft Surface tablets, you won’t see a price and then find out its hundreds more to get it with a keyboard. Asus doesn’t include its pressure-sensitive stylus though. These accessories are a little curious, as I would have expected something more regal for Asus’s ProArt series, but Asus has instead gone with an outdoorsy design with military greens and an external material that feels more like camping gear.  The tablet itself is a different story. It’s made with a firm metal unibody, has a Gorilla Glass NBT display cover, and has an IP52 rating for protection against dust and light rain. It feels tanky, and at 0.35 inches thick, it’s thinner than many laptops, though a little on the thick side for a tablet. The keyboard and kickstand also add a lot of extra depth, bringing it up to 11.5 x 7.9 x 0.71 inches. The top-left corner of the tablet has a power button and the right edge has two volume volumes, giving the laptop a total of three hardware controls for volume with the keyboard cover attached. Two speakers also live on either side of the chassis.  Asus has opted for an actively cooled design. Heat vents out the top edge of the Asus ProArt PZ13. One air intake sits below the volume buttons on the side of the tablet, and a curious little one is also on the back. This rear vent is wide but incredibly tight, and it’s a wonder how much air it actually can pull in.  Asus ProArt PZ13: Keyboard, trackpad IDG / Mark Knapp IDG / Mark Knapp IDG / Mark Knapp Asus has managed to effectively carry over its laptop keyboard to the keyboard cover for the Asus ProArt PZ13. The look and some of the feel is there, though the white backlighting doesn’t evenly illuminate the keycaps. It’s a quick and functional keyboard that feels pretty good to type on, though not excellent. The keypresses are a bit soft, and the stabilization could be better. As a result, I can type at a little over 100 words-per-minute with a bit over 95 percent accuracy, but pushing to go faster is a struggle. The keyboard cover is so thin, though, that it completely avoids creating a pressure point for the wrist or palms, feeling more like typing away on a desktop or table than on a keyboard set atop that surface. The trackpad on the Asus ProArt PZ13 is decent and serves a few purposes. It’s impressively sizable for a trackpad built into a keyboard cover, keeping up with Asus’s other laptop trackpads. Asus puts all the extra space to good use with gesture controls along its edges. A swipe along the left edge can adjust system volume while swipes along the right edge can change display brightness. Swiping along the top scrubs forward or backward in video, theoretically, but it can also move the cursor along text one letter at a time, though I find it jumpy and inaccurate for that task compared to the finer nuance of using the whole trackpad. These trackpad controls also overlap to some degree with buttons on the keyboard.  In my testing, I’ve experienced a touch of wonkiness with the keyboard cover. At two points, the keyboard cover stopped working entirely, despite still being fully connected to the tablet. Disconnecting and reconnecting it several times did nothing to get it working again. Pressing the power button to lock and then unlock the system got it working again, though there’s no clear reason why this should have worked.  The design of this keyboard attachment, like most other detachable 2-in-1 setups, doesn’t lend itself well to use on most surfaces other than tables and desks. Set on a bed, the pressure can result in weird angling of the keyboard, and set on a lap, it creates uncomfortable pressure points. This is simply something people should be aware of if they’re coming from a laptop and expecting similar utility. Asus ProArt PZ13: Display, audio IDG / Mark Knapp IDG / Mark Knapp IDG / Mark Knapp Asus has tucked a great display into the Asus ProArt PZ13. 2880×1600 goes a long way on a 13.3-inch screen, and the OLED panel provides both excellent color gamut and contrast. The screen hits 100 percent coverage of the DCI-P3 color space, and it even offered a measured color accuracy with maximum dE of 1.48 — accurate enough for professional work. The display maxed out at 405 nits, though small highlights should be able to go higher. It supports Dolby Vision (though streaming services neglect PCs for high-quality streams). It’s also a touchscreen and a responsive one at that. The 60Hz refresh of the display is a bit of a letdown, as it limits how smooth the tablet can feel, especially for things like stylus input. The glossy finish is also fairly reflective, so it can depend on ideal conditions to let you make the most of the rich blacks its OLED panel can provide.  The Asus ProArt PZ13 is a snazzy little tablet packing in a gorgeous display for content consumption and creation alike. The speakers on the Asus ProArt PZ13 are no match for the display. They can push high volumes, but not without distorting, and this makes for rather grating audio when the speakers are pushed. That’s for music though. Movies and speech don’t get boosted quite as much, and therefore aren’t as harsh, but also aren’t as loud. Watching a movie on the tablet, even in a fairly quiet space, I occasionally had trouble hearing everything going on. This all in spite of “Dolby Atmos support,” which is something that seems to mean very little for computers. Asus ProArt PZ13: Webcam, microphone, biometrics The Asus ProArt PZ13 has respectable cameras and mics. The three-mic array captures a bit of room noise, making my voice sound a little distant, but it still gets everything I’m saying. It also neutralizes background noise quite well, completely eliminating a loud box fan just feet without impacting voice quality. The front includes a 5MP camera that’s sharp and performs decently in middling light conditions. It doesn’t capture the most colorful visuals, but it’s serviceable. It’s not quite reaching the promise of these new Snapdragon-powered machines to deliver smartphone-level camera quality though. The Asus ProArt PZ13 also includes a 13MP rear camera, but it’s not very good. It struggles to take in much light, and is therefore incredibly prone to noise.  Microsoft’s camera app in Windows still doesn’t appear to work properly with Qualcomm’s processors. Short videos recorded on it will randomly fail to record the entirety of what was presented, even leaving out audio. Asus omitted fingerprint scanning on the Asus ProArt PZ13, but it does include Windows Hello facial recognition, and it works fairly quickly.  Asus ProArt PZ13: Connectivity IDG / Mark Knapp IDG / Mark Knapp IDG / Mark Knapp Typical for a tablet, the Asus ProArt PZ13 doesn’t have a lot of ports, but it makes the most of what it does have. You’ll find only one exposed USB-C port on the left edge of the Asus ProArt PZ13. Next to that is a port cover hiding away another USB-C port and a full-size SD card reader. That’s it. No headphone jack, no USB-A. Those USB-C ports are high-bandwidth USB 4.0 ports though, so at least they can support some extreme hubs. And since one of the ports is needed for charging, hubs will likely be all too critical.  Wireless connectivity is strong with Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4. In testing, I had no trouble with either and enjoy fast speeds and stable connections. Asus ProArt PZ13: Performance Given that the Asus ProArt PZ13 is packing the lowest-tier Snapdragon processor, I’ve seen yet from the new Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus lineup, I expected performance to fall on the low side, and it certainly did. It generally fared worse in single- and multi-core performance than a handful compact thin-and-light laptops running Intel processors and even the Dell Latitude 7350 Detachable with a modest Intel Core Ultra 5 134U. That said, earlier versions of Cinebench don’t run natively on ARM, so these results show the Asus ProArt PZ13’s performance while working with the penalty of emulation.  In Cinebench R24, which can run natively on ARM without emulation, the Asus ProArt PZ13 is a little more competent. Its single-core score of 107 outpaces the Framework Laptop 13’s Intel Core Ultra 7 155H, which hit only 101 points. And the gap in multi-core performance went from an 83 percent lead in Intel’s favor to a much more modest 12 percent lead. Against the Lenovo ThinkBook 14 2-in-1 Gen 4’s Intel Core Ultra 5 125U, the Asus ProArt PZ13 turned the tides slightly. That said, the Asus ProArt PZ13 still falls well behind other Snapdragon X-powered laptops like the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6. And then there’s the fact that the Asus ProArt PZ13 isn’t always going to get to run native apps, and when it doesn’t the performance penalty will rear its head.  Graphics performance follows right in line with the lackluster CPU performance. The Asus ProArt PZ13 simply couldn’t keep up with Intel Arc graphics, which are establishing a strong baseline for integrated graphics quality. Falling short even of basic Intel Graphics is a considerable letdown.  The Asus ProArt PZ13 simply isn’t a high-performance machine. For lighter creative workloads, it may be able to keep up. And with a gorgeous display and stylus support, on-device content creation is likely what Asus had in mind when it decided to make this tablet part of its ProArt brand. But if heavy editing and video are called for, it’s probably not up to the task like its competitors are.  Asus ProArt PZ13: Battery life The Asus ProArt PZ13 reclaims some of its honor in battery life, where it makes a 70Wh batter — impressively large for a compact tablet — stretch on for over 16 hours. It’s a decent lead over its competitors here, especially considering Asus used a sharp OLED display. The Framework Laptop 13, the Dell Latitude 7350 Detachable, and the Lenovo ThinkBook 13x Gen 4 all used even sharper displays. The 3:2 aspect ratio on some of these doesn’t help with battery life for LCD panels in our battery test, though. The extra vertical space in our video test ends up turning into black letterboxes that an LCD panel still tries to illuminate. In contrast, OLEDs can turn off pixels for letterboxes and conserve power. Somewhere between that, the general efficiency of the Asus ProArt PZ13, and its large battery (the second largest of the bunch), it outlasts the competition here. That efficiency doesn’t apply just to local video playback in airplane mode, though. Doing some work with the display set to 40 percent brightness, I had the laptop on for hours as I browsed and wrote in Google Docs, and over a few hours, it drained slowly enough that it was on track to hit over 20 hours. Of course, the display is quite dim at this level. Even at 50 percent brightness, the screen is only hitting 94 nits. Asus ProArt PZ13: Conclusion The Asus ProArt PZ13 is a snazzy little tablet packing in a gorgeous display for content consumption and creation alike. It’s surprising to see it come in at just $1,099 and not make more sacrifices and all the more surprising that Asus includes the critical keyboard accessory that lets the Asus ProArt PZ13 serve dual purposes as a tablet and laptop. The detachable keyboard is a decent accessory, though not an excellent keyboard in its own right, and this type of laptop alternative tends not to work well on laps or soft surfaces.  Perhaps the most critical shortcoming of the Asus ProArt PZ13 is simply its lack of performance. The chip inside is the lowest tier we’ve seen yet from the new Snapdragon X lineup, and it shows. While everyday computing is still managed easily enough, more demanding tasks will expose its weakness. And though the Asus ProArt PZ13 has good battery life, it’s also not dominating the field, as that honor belongs to the Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 — a very worthy alternative for those looking for on-the-go productivity and longevity in a lightweight package. Regardless, the Asus ProArt PZ13’s ability to switch from tablet to laptop sets it apart from basic laptops for those who need this flexibility, and its decent all-around quality helps it remain a compelling option at a competitive price. Read...

Eels coach Jason Ryles and general manager Mark O’Neill met with Clint Gutherson and his agent on Thursday morning to discuss the veteran’s future at the club. Read...

At a glanceExpert`s Rating Pros Attractive colorway and design Good range of video inputs including USB-C Excellent color gamut and accuracy Cons USB-C port only provides 10 watts of power Mediocre contrast ratio HDR performance falls short of Mini-LED competitors Our Verdict The Gigabyte M27QA ICE stands out from peers with an attractive white colorway that should fit perfectly in a home office or cozy gaming den. However, the monitor’s image quality is less alluring than its design. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Gigabyte M27QA ICE Retailer Price $279.99 View Deal Price comparison from over 24,000 stores worldwide Product Price Price comparison from Backmarket Monitor manufacturers are starting to wise up to a fact that keyboard and mouse makers have long understood: People like personalization. The charcoal shade that monitors frequently use is okay but doesn’t stand out next to a mechanical keyboard with custom keycaps. The Gigabyte M27QA ICE is one of several new budget monitors that try to fix the situation with an uncommon colorway (in this case, white) and alluring design. Gigabyte M27QA ICE specs and features The Gigabyte M27QA ICE’s basic specifications are typical for a 27-inch monitor sold around $300. It has a resolution of 2560×1440, an IPS display panel, and a refresh rate of up to 180Hz. Dozens, if not hundreds, of price-competitive monitors offer similar specs. Display size: 27-inch 16:10 widescreen Native resolution: 2560×1440 Panel type: SS IPS Refresh rate: Up to 180Hz Adaptive sync: AMD FreeSync HDR: Yes, VESA DisplayHDR 400 Certified Ports: 2x HDMI 2.0, 1x DisplayPort 1.4, 1x USB Type-C with DisplayPort Alternate Mode and 10 watts Power Delivery, 1x USB-B 3.2 upstream, 2x USB-A 3.2 downstream, 1x headphone jack VESA mount: 100x100mm Speakers: None Price: $299.99 MSRP The monitor’s connectivity is a bit stronger than usual, as it provides a USB-C port, though it’s unfortunately limited to 10 watts of USB Power Delivery. The monitor also has a KVM switch feature alongside two USB-A ports. Further reading: See our roundup of the best gaming monitors to learn about competing products. Gigabyte M27QA ICE design  The first thing you notice is obvious: The Gigabyte M27QA ICE is white. While PC World has reviewed a few monitors available in an alternative white colorway, like the Pixio PX248 Wave, most monitors still stick to a basic, boring black. And you know what? The M27QA ICE looks nice. It fits well into setups embracing other white peripherals or a minimalist, cozy vibe. For some, the color alone will be half the reason to buy this monitor. Matthew Smith / Foundry Matthew Smith / Foundry Matthew Smith / Foundry Color aside, the Gigabyte M27QA is fairly basic. The rear of the panel is attractive and makes good use of texture to liven up the look, but the monitor lacks RGB-LED lighting. Material quality is typical—not bad, but nothing special. The bundled monitor stand is a mix. It’s sturdy, and while the base is a bit wide, it’s also flat, which means you can easily place notebooks or knick-knacks on top of it. The stand adjusts easily for height and tilt. However, it doesn’t swivel or rotate into portrait mode, a feature many similarly priced monitors offer. The monitor has the typical 100x100mm VESA mount, so a third-party monitor stand or arm is an option. Gigabyte M27QA ICE connectivity and menus  The Gigabyte M27QA ICE’s video connectivity includes two HDMI 2.0 ports, one DisplayPort 1.4, and one USB-C port with DisplayPort alternate mode. That’s a total of four video inputs, which is solid for an inexpensive gaming monitor. However, the HDMI 2.0 ports can’t handle 2560×1440 at 180Hz, which means only the DisplayPort and USB-C ports can access the monitor’s full refresh rate. That’s a minor disappointment. The USB-C port connects to two USB-A 3.2 ports but only offers 10-watt power delivery, so it can’t charge a laptop. This is another small disappointment, since it means you’ll still need to connect a power brick to a laptop connected to the monitor over USB-C. The USB-A 3.2 ports can also connect via the USB-B upstream port. Additionally, the monitor includes a KVM switch for seamlessly switching between devices when a wired keyboard and mouse are connected. Matthew Smith / Foundry Matthew Smith / Foundry Matthew Smith / Foundry The monitor’s on-screen menus are navigated using a joystick located on the right side of the screen. This placement is convenient for right-handed users but not ideal for left-handed ones. The joystick is very responsive, at least. Gigabyte also provides a helpful Windows software utility to adjust monitor settings. This is common among major monitor brands. However, the Gigabyte’s lower price means you might consider it alongside brands that don’t have a Windows monitor utility, like Spectre and Pixio. In that case, Gigabyte’s software gives the M27QA ICE an edge in ease-of-use. Gigabyte’s on-screen menus are well-organized, though the small font size and low contrast can make them difficult to read. The monitor offers a wide range of image quality features, such as color saturation, temperature, and gamma adjustments. It also has gaming features like a crosshair, timer, picture-in-picture, and a dashboard displaying system information, including CPU and GPU temperatures. Additionally, the monitor has a black equalizer to enhance visibility in shadows and an aim stabilizer for improved motion clarity while aiming. These features are typical among gaming monitors, though the on-screen system information is less common. Speakers are absent, though, so you will need to use external speakers or headphones. Gigabyte’s software gives the M27QA ICE an edge in ease-of-use. Gigabyte M27QA ICE SDR image quality The specifications of the Gigabyte M27QA ICE are standard for a mid-range 27-inch gaming monitor. It features an IPS panel with quick pixel response times and a resolution of 2560×1440. However, it lacks newer technologies like a Mini-LED backlight or OLED display panel, leading to a predictably average image quality. Matthew Smith / Foundry Matthew Smith / Foundry Matthew Smith / Foundry The M27QA ICE performs well in our brightness test, with it reaching a peak SDR brightness of 354 nits. This is impressive for a budget monitor and ensures usability even in well-lit rooms, though positioning it near sunlit windows may still be a problem. The screen also has a matte finish to minimize glare. But what about the Xiaomi G Pro 27i, which absolutely slays in this test? That’s due to its Mini-LED backlight, which Xiaomi does not limit when displaying SDR content. However, it’s worth noting that an overly bright monitor can lead to eye strain. So, while the Xiaomi’s brightness can have a purpose if you’re planning to game in an atrium, it’s not as advantageous as it appears on the graph. Matthew Smith / Foundry Matthew Smith / Foundry Matthew Smith / Foundry Next up is contrast, which highlights distinct differences. The M27QA ICE’s contrast performs adequately for a budget gaming monitor and surpasses some options like the RCA Evolution Premium. However, the Xiaomi and AOC 27G15 are significantly better in this area. The Xiaomi achieves great contrast with a Mini-LED backlight, while the AOC 27G15 uses a Vertical Alignment (VA) display panel. Both alternatives have their downsides, as they land behind the M27QA ICE in motion clarity. But if you want a more lifelike and immersive image, they’re a better pick. Matthew Smith / Foundry Matthew Smith / Foundry Matthew Smith / Foundry Color gamut is a strength for the M27QA ICE, as it hit 100 percent of sRGB, 98 percent of DCI-P3, and 88 percent of AdobeRGB. Color performance like this was reserved to high-end photography monitors just five years ago, so it’s great to see it on a budget monitor. Competitors also tend to perform well, though, so Gigabyte doesn’t have much advantage. The RCA Evolution Premium and Xiaomi find an edge against the Gigabyte, as they provide a notable improvement in the AdobeRGB color gamut. For gamers, it’s all a bit of a wash. All three monitors will look similarly vivid and punchy. Content creators, however, could find an advantage in broader AdobeRGB cover, as it means the RCA and Xiaomi can display colors not visible on the Gigabyte. Matthew Smith / Foundry Matthew Smith / Foundry Matthew Smith / Foundry The M27QA ICE does well in color accuracy, as it effectively ties the AOC 27G15 for first place. A color error this low means the monitor will looks realistic straight away and should work for nearly any purpose, whether it’s gaming or content creation. Gigabyte’s good color accuracy is supported by a gamma curve result of 2.3 and color temperature of 6600K. These are close to our targets of gamma 2.2 and a color temperature of 6500K. Critical viewers might feel the Gigabyte is a tad darker than usual, but it’s subtle. The color temperature of 6600K is slightly cooler than our preference, but also hard to notice. And as mentioned, the Gigabyte has a good range of image quality adjustments to help owners tune the monitor to their preference. Sharpness is good. The 27-inch panel has a resolution of 2560×1440, which works out to a pixel density of about 109 pixels per inch. A 27-inch 4K panel is much sharper at 163 pixels per inch, but the M27QA ICE still looks crisp. 1440p resolution is also a good match for the monitor’s target audience. Shoppers looking to buy a gaming monitor priced at $300 are unlikely to pair it with a high-end video card capable of playing games at 4K resolution. Overall, the Gigabyte M27QA ICE offers solid yet modest image quality. It avoids any major problems but also fails to stand out in any one area. The big problem for Gigabyte, I think, is the encroachment of budget Mini-LED monitors. These have their own flaws but, even accounting for them, a monitor like the Xiaomi G Pro 27i offers a brighter SDR image with a wider color gamut (though its color error might give content creators pause). Gigabyte M27QA ICE HDR image quality The Gigabyte M27QA ICE can display HDR but holds VESA DisplayHDR 400 certification, which is the lowest tier of this certification. Because of that, the M27QA ICE isn’t a great HDR display. Brightness is an issue. The monitor’s maximum HDR brightness reaches only 384 nits, which isn’t enough to deliver the luminance expected from HDR. Bright objects often appear as uniform masses lacking intricate detail. Contrast also falls short. The absence of a Mini-LED backlight or OLED display panel means the monitor can only increase brightness by boosting the entire backlight, resulting in a washed-out appearance in darker scenes. In the movie Interstellar, the inky blackness of space looked more like a gentle fog. The Gigabyte’s performance is not surprising given the monitor’s price point. However, budget Mini-LED monitors like the Xiaomi G Pro 27i demonstrate that better performance is possible in this price bracket. Gigabyte M27QA ICE motion performance The Gigabyte M27QA ICE has a maximum refresh rate of 180Hz (though only 144Hz over HDMI 2.0) and promises a pixel response time as low as one millisecond. These specifications lead to good motion clarity, though it’s hardly the best available today. Scrolling test images from League of Legends and DOTA 2 revealed that character silhouettes and terrain details were easy to make out. Yet smaller details, like character names and hitpoint bars, were difficult to understand in motion. In shooters, it’s generally possible to glimpse fast-moving enemies and objects, but they may elude your sight if they’re far away or moving slowly. Gigabyte advertises official support for AMD FreeSync. As with most modern monitors, this means the M27QA ICE should work with the Nvidia G-Sync Compatible and VESA Adapative Sync standards, though it’s not guaranteed. In my experience, it’s rare to see any problems when using Nvidia cards with an AMD FreeSync monitor, or vice versa. While the M27QA ICE doesn’t raise the bar on motion clarity, its performance is more than adequate for most situations and will look truly spectacular if you’re upgrading from a 60Hz display. The M27QA ICE will have an edge against price-competitive monitors with a VA panel, like the AOC 27G15, as those can suffer a “dark smear” issue caused by poor pixel response times when transitioning from darker colors. Should you buy the Gigabyte M27QA ICE? The Gigabyte M27QA ICE is a fine but unexceptional example of a mid-range gaming monitor that’s also well-suited to content creation and general use. It has a clear, sharp image, good motion clarity, and great color performance in SDR. The monitor’s white colorway also stands out and should fit into any home office or cozy gaming den. However, the monitor’s contrast ratio and HDR performance can’t match price-comparable Mini-LED displays. And while the monitor has USB-C, it only provides 10 watts of power. Because of that, your buying decision will hinge on price. The M27QA ICE has a MSRP of $300, which feels a bit steep, but it’s already reduced to $280, and I expect it’ll dip lower this holiday season. It’s a good buy at $250 or less. Above that, it’s still a solid monitor, but struggles to stand out from competitors. Read...

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