Introduction

When looking at the very high resolution panel market, there really isn’t much out there except for Apple’s famous iMac and thunderbolt displays. We stumbled upon Hazro, a UK based specialized seller of very high-grade LED panels. Hazro’s products aren’t your average panels you’ll find on the shelf, their focus is creating high resolution, high density and especially high quality IPS panels destined for professional users (or users/gamers looking for the ultimate in display technology).

We got hold of their HZ2WC monitor, a 27inch stunning beauty.

Specifications

The 27-inch HZ27WC supports 3.68 million pixels across a 2560 x 1440 panel displayed in a 16:9 aspect ratio format. This combination of high resolution and large workspace is guaranteed to increase efficiency and output and allows users to display content in piercing detail. The glossy LED panel offers deeper blacks and brighter whites and is preferred by gamers who require the very highest contrast ratios.

The LED IPS panel consumes less energy than standard CCFL LCD panels and reduces CO2 emissions making the HZ27WC an Eco-Friendly display. 5W TV quality stereo speakers are also included and are noticeably louder, clearer and crisper than the standard 2W speakers found in traditional LCD monitors. Finally, the HZ27WC is VESA 100x100mm compatible allowing for connectivity of arms, brackets and stands without the need for special adapters.

Test results

Right from the gecko… this LED beauty is a picky eater. You do not just get her running from the start if you do not meet certain criteria. We sum up what you shouldn’t try, since we failed getting it to work in these situations:

• External screen for a Macbook Pro End 2011 (or older) model. Fail, so we contacted Hazro. They told us the issue was in the controller used by Apple and it would only work if the output resolution would be 2560×1440 or higher instead of our native 1920×1200. So, unless you get the retina mac, or have an iMac, don’t bother buying.

• PC notebook output with integrated graphics. Fail, issue related to the integrated graphics not being powerful enough to drive the monitor.

• PC desktop with the latest Intel HD4000 graphics (integrated in the Core i7 3770S CPU or other “Ivy bridge” models). Technically speaking, the DL-DVI output should work as these HD4000 graphics can handle the high resolution the monitor requires. But it didn’t.

So… how do you get this 2560 by 1440, 109PPI monitor to work without spending half a day testing?

Simple, you connect it with a dedicated graphics card!
It doesn’t have to cost a fortune, we for example tested with (and provided by) Club3D’s Radeon HD7750 card.

The Radeon HD7750 isn’t particularly an extreme gamers card, but we have no intention to do a lot of gaming here (although it looks incredibly nice), we used it for photo editing, video and photoshop purposes. Where the Club3D Radeon HD7750 shines, is the fact that it’s cheap (avg. 100 Euro or 120 USD), its very power efficient (16W Idle/less than 61W active) and it can sport up to 3 of these high-resolution panels without breaking a sweat.

Obviously you can pick up any card from Nvidia or ATI, as long as the box says it supports the resolution equal or higher than the Hazro HZ27WC you should be all good.

Verdict

Having to admit I didn’t particularly like the display at first due to its picky attitude, I failed to dislike it after a few weeks of usage. The 2560 by 1440 illuminated pixies behind the glass of this Hazro HZ27WC create a vivid showcase that’ll make any professional work those few hours longer.

From early morning’s photo-editing to late afternoon’s HD video job and late night’s gaming fun, this display is at the edge of visual bliss.