There are so many QD-OLED monitors on the market now that it can be difficult to figure out which models are worth buying, particularly when loads of them are on sale now as part of early Black Friday deals. I’ve had a good, long look at MSI’s offers on Amazon and after much deliberation have crowned the MAG 272QPW QD-OLED X28 as my top recommendation of the bunch, now available for just £368.
I wrote our MAG 272QPW QD-OLED X28 review earlier this year, and found plenty to praise about the monitor at its then £449 price. This 18% (£81) discount means the screen offers even better value for money, providing an excellent balance of price to performance.
MSI MAG 272QPW QD-OLED X28
£449 / £368
“The MAG 272QPW X28 carries all the qualities you expect from a high-quality QD-OLED gaming monitor.” Read our review.
As the ’27’ in its name hints, the MAG 272QPW X28 houses a 27in QD-OLED panel. Featuring a native QHD (2560×1440) resolution, the screen boasts 109 pixels per inch, delivering a pleasingly sharp output. That pixel count is a little harder to for your GPU to drive in games than FHD (1920×1080) but brings out much more detail in games and other content.
Further deciphering MSI’s naming convention, the ‘X28’ moniker denotes a 280Hz refresh rate. This is a slight cut above similarly priced 240Hz monitors, allowing you to feel the benefits of 3.6ms frame times if your GPU can provide 280fps. That’s not forgetting the plus of near-instant pixel response times from the QD-OLED panel too, which stave off ghosting and other artefacts regardless of your frame rate.
In our testing, we found the MAG 272QPW X24’s gamut is both encompassing and accurate. The panel covers 99% of the DCI-P3 colour space with 0.67 average Delta E stock tuning to boot. Applying these numbers to real-world use, images simply look incredibly rich on this screen all while respecting creative intent.
Per-pixel local dimming further elevates the monitor’s presentation, netting perfect black levels for inky contrast that’s difficult to give up once you experience it. This is beneficial to both SDR and HDR content, and helps elevate this monitor’s perceived brightness beyond the peak 277nits we measured in the former. Meanwhile, VESA DisplayHDR True Black 400 certification ensures output of at least 250nits fullscreen, with a promise of highlights in excess of 400nits.
It’s worth noting that the MAG 272QPW X24 has a triangular subpixel structure, which can produce fringing artefacts around text elements. Sensitivity to this effect varies, with it having little impact on my eyes, but you’ll find the drawback difficult to notice, if you spot it at all, in most games.
Now, let’s talk about the ever-looming OLED bogeyman: burn-in. Owning a QD-OLED panel requires a little more due care and attention relative to LCD, but MSI packs a host of software protections right into the monitor, including static logo detection and more. If that’s not enough peace of mind for you, the firm also covers the issue as part of the screen’s three-year warranty.
While not pertinent to performance, I would like to highlight the snow-white stylings of the monitor. Amidst a market chock-a-block with black and grey chassis, the MAG 272QPW is undeniably prettier for its less commonplace paint job and helps bring attention to its great build quality.
There’s no USB hub on this monitor, as you might expect for a display of this price. However, MSI outfits the model with two HDMI 2.1 ports as well as a DisplayPort 1.4a input that will all drive the screen at its maximum resolution and refresh rate. That’s not forgetting the USB-C port that supports DP Alt Mode and 15W of charge.
We’ll be keeping our eye out for more display deals as they emerge. In the meantime, check out our picks of the best gaming monitors that we’ve tested.
