The OMEN series of monitors from manufacturer HP has long been a gold standard for gaming monitors. Their newest entry, the OMEN 27qs, is a powerhouse display packed with impressive specs all packaged together at a responsible price. HP’s goal here, it seems, is to offer great value for dollars that allows you to stay competitive with the latest visual tech without breaking the bank.
Out of the box, the OMEN 27qs is a solid monitor. All of the components, from display to stand, are well constructed, easy to assemble and sturdy when put together. The back plate mount offers a lot of adjustment for various viewing angles and heights to accommodate your needs. While quite adjustable, it is worth noting that it isn’t possible to flip the monitor for vertical positioning with the stock stand.
Regardless of this minor issue, the OMEN 27qs is of premium build quality and design. While the full vertical positioning isn’t possible, when fully extended, there is still plenty of room under the monitor for a console or other device to sit comfortably. As for assembly, it takes about 2 minutes to assemble with no tools required.
Sporting a 240Hz refresh rate, the OMEN 27 qs works hard to present the sharpest visuals possible. Sporting an interesting QHD display, the 2560×1440 resolution looks amazing on the 27-inch monitor. QHD, known for producing a much sharper quality than the standard HD resolution of 1080×1920, seems to offer the perfect resolution-to-display size ratio.
“To put it plainly, the OMEN 27qs QHD is one of the prettiest monitors I’ve gamed on.”
While some might scoff at using a QHD resolution vs. a full 4K spec, it’s important to consider screen size when weighing out resolution, cost and diminishing returns. At 27 inches, the OMEN 27 qs’ 2560×1440 pixel resolution delivers spectacular images.
While a full 4K display offers a sharper image per square inch of pixel space, there is a diminishing return when packing pixels into a 27-inch surface area. For starters, the cost of a 4K display vs. a QHD with similar specs will see you adding an additional three to four hundred dollars to your price tag.
Another important factor to consider is the refresh rate. The OMEN 27 qs boasts a stunning 240Hz refresh rate on a 27-inch display at QHD resolutions. Most impressively, it does it at a sub-500-dollar mark.
For those new to monitors, refresh rate is the measurement of how frequently an image is updated on the display before you. The higher the refresh rate, the smoother the on-screen visual motion appears to your eye. When we refer to 240 Hz refresh rate, we say an image is updated 240 times per second.
This translates into a smoother game experience for gamers and allows for higher frames-per-second (assuming you have the hardware to support it). When it comes to finding the perfect monitor, refresh rates, resolutions, fps and price all become essential elements to consider.
HP has done an excellent job balancing all of these factors when constructing the OMEN 27qs. It manages to find the sweet spot that produces incredible image quality without sacrificing the price point or too much pixel density. It’s an impressive albeit difficult balance to manage.
Another contributing factor to the OMEN 27qs’ success is the use of IPS display technology. In-Plane Switching (IPS) monitors achieve superior colour accuracy by implementing liquid crystals running in parallel. These crystals can shift patterns in colour both vertically and horizontally. The result is two-fold: the aforementioned vibrant colours and better viewing angles for the onlooker.
When combined with the QHD resolutions at the 27-inch display size, the result is a stunning gaming experience. Even when connected to Xbox series S, which caps at 120Hz, images still manage to look crisp and vibrant on screen. While all of that is impressive in its own right, HP has taken it a step further by implementing a 1ms GtG (gray-to-gray) response time with overdrive functionality.
In layman’s terms, a GtG response time is how long it takes for a pixel to change from one shade of gray to another. Essentially, it’s a measure of how long it takes for a pixel to change colour. Overdrive allows this measurement to be further reduced, which in turn reduces the amount of ghosting or trailing present in fast-moving images on the screen.
While overdrive can end up overcorrecting in some implementations, the OMEN 27qs hasn’t had any issues. In fact, after almost two weeks of intense DOOM Eternal testing, there have been no issues whatsoever. To put it plainly, the OMEN 27qs is one of the prettiest monitors I’ve gamed on. The colours are crisp and clear, the refresh rate is spectacular, and the resolution fits perfectly with the size of the display.
Finally, HP has created the OMEN 27qs with NVIDIA G-SYNC compatibility. This offers another layer of quality to the images on-screen. In short, you’ll find that the OMEN works in conjunction with G-SYNC to help produce a smoother, tear-free gaming experience.
For those unfamiliar with screen tearing, the horizontal splitting effect occurs to the images on-screen when the GPU and monitor refresh rate aren’t synced. G-SYNC tracks these two refresh rates and syncs them up so as to remove tearing. The result is an immersive, smooth experience.
While the image quality and overall display features are important, I’d be remiss if I didn’t spend some time unpacking all the other features the OMEN 27qs has to offer. For starters, the 27qs is loaded with ports to create a one-stop shop for device management.
With 2 HDMI 2.0 ports and a Displayport 1.4, you’ll have no problem connecting multiple devices to your display. There are also 2 USB-A 3.2 ports for device connectivity and a 3.5mm headphone out jack so you can route all your devices to a single audio source, be it headphones or external speakers.
It’s a smart layout that is easily managed by a joypad OSD button on the rear right side of the display. The controller allows for ease of navigation around the OMEN’s menus and is responsive and easy to use without needing to look at it. The whole package is well throughout and helps simplify your setup needs.
The OMEN 27qs also includes two built-in speakers and an LED strip light in the back. While nothing to write home about, the built-in speakers do offer adequate sound which is a step above what I’ve come to expect from built-in speakers. They offer a bit of punch on the low end and are at least clean enough in the mid-high and high end to clearly hear in-game dialogue. They won’t be replacing your headphones any time soon but are still a step up from the average built-in speaker.
The LED strip light is a fun added feature that allows for an extra layer of customization. While it can be controlled to a lesser degree from the onboard controls, it really becomes an interesting asset when controlled from the OMEN Gaming Hub software.
This software suite, while designed to centralize the control and monitor of all your connected devices, really helps give you full control of the 27qs. Everything from the aforementioned RGB lighting to overlays, setting controls and picture mode can be handled easily. It’s a fairly streamlined piece of software that makes adjusting settings and customizations easy and hassle-free. It’s one more way that HP has gone the extra mile to create the ideal monitor for gamers.
The OMEN 27qs 240Hz gaming monitor from manufacture HP is everything you need for a superb gaming experience without breaking the bank. While you won’t have the added value of full 4K resolution, this really is minor when refresh rate, IPS, GtG response and screen size are factored in. At a price of USD 429.99, this gaming monitor is worth every dime.
