NZXT's Second Round Of Blistering-Fast Gaming Monitors Are Even Lighter On The Wallet
NZXT is making quick work of fleshing out its recently minted Canvas monitor lineup. After making its first foray into monitors with a couple of 1440p/QHD displays in July—Canvas 27Q and Canvas 32Q Curved—it's now added two 1080p models. Like the two QHD models, the new Canvas FHD displays boast a 240Hz refresh rate for competitive gaming.
The two models include the 25-inch Canvas 25F and 27-inch Canvas 27F. Both of these are built around a flat in-plane switching (IPS) panel offering 99 percent coverage of the sRGB color space and 89 percent coverage of the DCI-P3 color space. Assuming the monitors live up their specs, the insinuation is that they're also suitable for content creation chores where color accuracy counts a bit more.
IPS technology has come a long way in recent years. To wit, both Canvas FHD monitors mate a fast refresh rate to a low 1ms response time. These are also FreeSync Premium models with DisplayHDR 400 certification, with 400 nits brightness and a 1,000:1 contrast ratio. While we haven't spent any hands-on time with any of the Canvas models, 400 nits is on the lower end of what you'd want for HDR content (when it comes to LCD displays, anyway).
Nevertheless, HDR is officially supported. NZXT also claims its Canvas displays are "compatible with NVIDIA G-Sync," though you mileage may vary—none of the four models appear on NVIDIA's official list of G-Sync Compatible displays.
As with most things under the NZXT banner, there's a push to use these monitors with the company's CAM utility. It's not required, but it does grant some perks.
"NZXT CAM is the focal point for the NZXT Canvas Monitors because it allows gamers to tune their monitor's settings easily, set custom game profiles, and have it change automatically when it starts. This gives you the ability to change the Canvas's settings easily, tuning the picture to optimize the settings for each game," NZXT explains.
As for connectivity, you're again looking at a pair of HDMI 2.0 ports, a DisplayPort 1.2 input, two USB 3.0 Type-A ports, a single USB-C/DP Alt port, a USB-B 3.0 port, and a 3.5mm audio jack. This is the same set of connectivity options as offered on the QHD variants. HDMI 2.1 is missing from the list, though with the supported specs, the added bandwidth really wouldn't come into play anyway.
NZXT is sticking with its approach of offering its monitors with or without a stand. If you plan to utilize the VESA mounts to hang the monitor from your wall or to an existing stand/arm, you can buy the Canvas 25F for $209.99 and the Canvas 27F for $229.99, both sans stand. Otherwise, tack on $40 to bundle in a monitor stand, bringing the costs to $249.99 and $269.99, respectively.
Both models are available now in white or black trim, The same color options are available for the stand, which you can mix and match (black monitor with a white stand or vice versa, for example).
