If you're anything like me, you would have been seeing PRISM+ Australia monitors come up in your Facebook timeline and other social media for quite some time. While I saw them all the time, I actually knew very little about them or what their products are like. I mean, their prices were almost too good to be true at times. GA members often post in the group asking for opinions and questions about their products, which is why I reached out for the chance to review one. So, I've spent the last couple of weeks using this thing every day both for work and for gaming, and here's what I think.
The PRISM+ XQ270 PRO is a QLED 2560 x 1440p monitor with a 1ms response time and a 144hz refresh rate. It has a 1500R curvature and a 140% sRGB colour gamut. On paper it is a very nice monitor with specs to back it up, and it translates to on screen performance.
Out of the box the XQ270 PRO is a gorgeous looking monitor, from the overall design to the super sleek stand and some of the best LED lighting I've seen in a monitor this thing looks awesome. The bezels are a little bigger than my ASUS monitor but nothing overly big and still gives a really nice overall look. Assembly was one of the ways in which the PRISM+ Australia outdid itself for me, there's one screw for the bottom of the base and then the whole thing rather effortlessly clips into the back of the screen. It's definitely one of the more premium assembly experiences I've had. Mounting the monitor on an arm is just as easy, I mounted mine on the PRISM+ Vantage Dual that PRISM+ also sent me to review and without getting side tracked, the thing is awesome. Assembly was easy, but the thing the Vantage Dual does best is help out with cable management, I now have zero trailing wires at the back of my monitors whatsoever. To mount you simply remove the stand with a simple release switch on the back and the stand itself comes off and then attach it to your arm setup via the usual vesa mounting points on the back, the whole thing took me about 2-3 minutes.
The overall build quality of the XQ270 PRO is excellent and aside from one small issue with my particular unit, the whole thing looks and feels rather sturdy, the stand is solid and the buttons all have a very satisfying click when pressed, I am rather pleasantly surprised at just how solid this thing actually feels as I was expecting it to feel a little cheap based on how cheap they are. So you're probably wondering what the “small issue” is that I speak of, well, the unit that I was sent does have what looks to be a small gap between the glass panel and the plastic bezel at the top of the monitor. This gap allows some of the light of the panel to bleed through and depending on your viewing angle/height it can be a little distracting when gaming. Luckily for me, at the height I sit at, it's not noticeable at all, it's only when I stand up and sit down that I even notice it. Of course this, I am presuming, is an isolated issue with my particular unit as stated, however I am sure that as a customer if your monitor turned up with a similar issue, it would be replaced under the products warranty. EDIT: After mentioning this to PRISM+ Australia, they immediately arranged a replacement for me with absolutely zero hassle to myself which is excellent customer service.
Let's talk about the monitor's features and performance. This is where I expected to be disappointed, but I was not. Don't get me wrong, I live by a general rule of, you get what you pay for, so no, next to my ASUS VG28UQ 4K 144Hz monitor that will set you back almost $1300 there is a clear difference, the colours on my ASUS monitor look much deeper and the HDR performs much better as well as the obvious jump in resolution. But to compare apples with apples for a minute, I used to have a Gigabyte G27QC-A which is a QHD display, with 165Hz refresh rate and a 1500R Curve and honestly the PRISM+ is a better monitor in my opinion. Don't get me wrong, out of the box, the colours on the XQ270 PRO weren't great, but with a little calibration I have got them to a place that I am very comfortable gaming with. The QLED display combined with the HDR and deep rich colours does allow the XQ270 PRO to really pop. It stands up against some much more expensive monitors and that added vibrance truly makes some games in particular look spectacular. The addition of adaptive sync is also one that enhances your gaming experience by removing any tearing or stuttering when gaming particularly high paced gaming such as racers or FPS games. I played a bit of COD warzone, Spider-Man Remastered, Fortnite and a few others and in every situation, my game looks super smooth with 144Hz refresh rate, 1ms response time and vibrant colours.
Game performance is a difficult thing to articulate. Without seeing it for yourself how do I explain how smooth the gameplay looked or how quick the response times were etc? Other than me saying that I noticed very little if any difference between the smoothness of this monitor compared to my ASUS and even compared to my LGC1. Of course there are big differences between the 3 in other ways, but in terms of sheer gaming performance, there's nothing separating them to be honest.
When I revealed I would be reviewing this one, a member of our Facebook group raised the suggestion that the curve is a gimmick at 27” and I tend to agree, to a degree. It makes no real impact to my gaming experience due to the size of the screen and my eyes being able to see about 90% of the screen at any given time, however I do like the way it allows me to position my 2 monitors on my dual arm and have the XQ270 PRO essentially wrap around me a little, this doesn't really impact gaming, but it does feel really nice when using my PC as a PC and writing reviews etc.
Let's talk about what I don't like about the XQ270 PRO, because whilst overall, I love it, there are certainly some things that I don't love. Firstly, the lack of HDMI 2.1 is a bit of a bummer. Now I know, this isn't an issue with the monitor as such, it's just a feature it doesn't have and possibly for the price tag, shouldn't have, but nonetheless its one I wished it had. Secondly, the I/O’s on this thing are really difficult to access without removing a plastic cover on the back that is super tight to get out and honestly I struggled for ages for fear of breaking it. Lastly, the lack of audio could be a deal breaker for some. Don't get me wrong, I don't and never will use my monitor's speakers, however some might, and the fact that this monitor doesn't have any is quite odd.
So aside from the audio, which I feel is the only REAL issue, the XQ270 PRO doesn't have a whole lot of downside. The other 2 things I mentioned are quite nit-picky and won't affect some people at all.
Overall, the PRISM+ XQ270 PRO is a great monitor. It has excellent gaming performance, it looks and feels way more premium than it should and while the colours aren't quite as good as some much more high end monitors, they are vivid and look really good whatever you're doing on it. I am pleasantly surprised with the quality of this product and I think it puts to bed any lingering doubts I had about PRISM+ as a brand. If you've got your eye on a PRISM+ Australia monitor then do yourself a favour and go out and get it. You wont regret it.
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