The HP M27ha FHD Monitor ($169.99 on Amazon) has some features that are out of the ordinary for a budget monitor: a DisplayPort connector (as well as HDMI and VGA), a stand with great ergonomics, and two built-in speakers. Set against these benefits are the lackluster sRGB color coverage it showed in our testing, and the fact that its 1080p resolution is the bare minimum for a 27-inch display. But though it isn’t a monitor that would appeal to photo buffs or videophiles, it’s a solid screen for those of us who—by choice or necessity—are working from home.
Not Many Pixels
Measuring 20.1 by 24.4 by 8.3 inches (HWD) and weighing 11.5 pounds, the M27ha is a typical size and weight for a 27-inch economy monitor. Its top and side bezels are quite thin, but its thick black screen borders lack the sleek appearance of the near-edgeless LG 24MP88HV-S.
The 27-inch in-plane switching (IPS) screen offers full HD (1,920-by-1,080-pixel) native resolution and a 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio. Its pixel density is 82 pixels per inch (ppi), which is fine for household or home-office use but less than ideal for photo or video fanciers.
The larger the screen size, the lower the pixel density for a given resolution. Full HD is as low as you would want to go on a panel of this size, and you’ll only find it on bargain 27-inch monitors such as the M27ha and Philips 272E1CA Curved Frameless Monitor. The Editors’ Choice-award-winning Dell 27 USB-C (P2720DC) Monitor has QHD (2,560-by-1,440-pixel) resolution, which is more typical of today’s 27-inch screens. Others, such as the Dell UltraSharp 27 4K USB-C (U2720Q) Monitor, even go up to UHD resolution (3,840 by 2,160).
The screen’s viewing angles are rated at up to 178 degrees for both vertical and horizontal. As with many IPS panels, you can look at the M27ha almost from right angles above or to the side without notable posterization, color degradation, or color shift.
Like those of many other low-priced HP monitors, the M27ha’s stand has an impressive range of ergonomic features. It supports up to 4 inches of height adjustment, a tilt range of up to 5 degrees toward the user and up to 30 degrees away, and the ability to pivot between landscape and portrait modes. Should you want to go beyond the stand, in the rear is a square grid of holes spaced 100mm apart to fit a VESA wall-mount or arm bracket.
As mentioned, the HP M27ha goes beyond the typical budget display’s complement of inputs by adding a DisplayPort connector to the usual HDMI and VGA ports. This monitor, which has a built-in pair of 2-watt speakers, also has an audio-in jack, the same arrangement as the Editors’ Choice-winning HP 24mh. The Philips 272E1CA, which also has built-in speakers, has the same set of ports and adds a headphone jack. For more money, you can get a wider range of ports. The Dell 27 USB-C Monitor, for instance, adds USB-C, a second DisplayPort connector, and a USB hub.
All of the M27ha’s ports are downward-facing in back, which would normally make them hard to reach, but thanks to the flexible stand, you need only pivot the screen from landscape to portrait position to access the hidden ports.
Next to the power button are four buttons that control the onscreen display (OSD) menu system. The buttons proved responsive, and the OSD was fairly easy to navigate.
Speaker quality was so-so, with volume on the soft side and a slightly tinny sound. Still, considering that most budget monitors lack built-in speakers, this panel is ahead of the game.
The M27ha is not built for gaming. Its refresh rate is 60Hz, and it lacks adaptive sync. For a modestly priced 27-inch 1080p gaming monitor, look to the Editors’ Choice-winning Dell 27 Curved Gaming Monitor (S2721HGF), with a 144Hz refresh rate and support for both AMD FreeSync and Nvidia G-Sync technologies to prevent screen tearing.
HP backs the M27ha with a one-year warranty. This is common in the budget-monitor arena, but we still wish it were longer. Some other vendors do better; Acer, for example, covers its SB220Q for three years while Philips supports the 272E1CA for four.
Testing the HP M27ha: Basic Brightness and Color Coverage
I did our luminance, color, and contrast testing using a Klein K10-A colorimeter, a Murideo SIX-G signal generator, and Portrait Displays’ CalMAN 5 software. HP rates the M27ha’s luminance (brightness per unit area) at 250 nits (candelas per square meter), and it fell a bit short in my testing at 218 nits, about the same as the HP 24mh (221 nits). The Philips 272E1CA was brighter, managing 288 nits. The M27ha’s 1,018:1 contrast-ratio score was in line with its 1,000:1 rating, typical of an IPS panel. (See how we test monitors.)
Above is a color-accuracy or chromaticity chart of the sRGB color space—the standard color space used on the web and in many other applications—generated when testing the M27ha in its default mode. The display covered 96.5% of sRGB. The area within the triangle represents all the colors that can be made by mixing the primary colors (red, green, and blue). The circles, representing my measurements, are on or just outside the triangle.
This sRGB coverage is not as good as that of the HP 24mh and HP VH240a—they both covered about 99.5% of sRGB—or other budget monitors we have recently reviewed, although it did top the 93.3% of the Philips 272E1CA. Still, the M27ha should be fine for a small or home-based office or family-room use, provided you’re not a videophile or photo buff.
In my ad hoc testing of the M27ha, I viewed a selection of video clips and photos from our test suite. When rendering videos, the panel did a decent job in retaining detail in both bright and dark scenes. Colors looked reasonably true in both videos and photos.
A Budget Panel for Homebound Workers
As a low-priced 27-inch IPS monitor, the HP M27ha offers a three-function (height, tilt, and pivot) ergonomic stand, a good range of ports for its price, and even a pair of built-in speakers. Its downsides include relatively low resolution—which makes for a low pixel density at the screen size—and mediocre color coverage. If you’re looking for a decent, affordable display for workaday tasks, it should fit the bill. For a bit more money, though, you can get a higher-resolution 27-inch panel such as the Dell P2720DC, which gives you a wider range of ports as well.
