dreamcolor vs nondreamcolor lcd panel in stock

The HP DreamColor Z27x is a top-end monitor, intended primarily for designers and other creative types who need serious colour accuracy. At this point it may seem a stop-gap before OLED monitors are within reach of those without a company credit card and an “anything goes” expenses policy. However, it’ll be a while before that changes.

The HP DreamColor Z27x, which can be picked up for a mere pittance versus the Dell (about £900), uses an IPS panel, so elements like response times and black level aren’t quite as good as OLED. Its colour performance, and other aspects that professionals and creative types will value highly, are top-notch, however.

The HP DreamColor Z27x is a 27-inch "professional" monitor. That means a few things: first, it’s not cheap. Second, the design is rather plain. Unlike a Samsung consumer monitor, its aim isn’t to appear as slim and shiny as possible.

On the back panel are an HDMI port, two DisplayPort connections, two USB 3.0s, an Ethernet connector, and a USB 3.0 Type B for connection to a PC rather than a peripheral.

These are your normal connections, but there’re more. Two extra “DreamColor” USB ports on the back let you plug in a colorimeter and recalibrate the various screen modes without a computer even being connected. This is handy, letting you alter the screen’s performance, or simply give it a refresh without touching any often-clunky colorimeter software.

HP sells its own DreamColor calibration kit for £220, but it’s really just a rebranded X-Rite iDisplay Pro (£200) as far as we can tell. A standard iDisplay Pro works too, and HP supports most big-brand colorimeters, including the Klein K10-A. Calibration only takes a couple of minutes for each run, and is a good way to take the sting out of the regular recalibration that"s required for pro use. That"s particularly true if the monitor is going to be used on secured IT systems that only allow certain approved software installs.

The other stand-out feature of the HP DreamColor Z27x is that it can be network-controlled. It doesn’t have inbuilt Wi-Fi, though, needing to be connected using the Ethernet socket. Advertisement

The way you interact with the HP DreamColor Z27x is typical of its unalloyed pragmatism. A column of buttons sits to the right side of the monitor, not hidden on the back or the side. HP has tooled the interface for designers rather than the hardcore tech crowd that gets a kick out of seeing colour gamut charts for new monitors. It’s very accessible, and some of you might even find it a bit too simple.

The HP DreamColor Z27x is an AH-IPS monitor. This tells us it uses an LG panel, as AH-IPS is an LG-developed technology. It stands for Advanced High Performance IPS, but like all the other IPS variants, it’s still an IPS LCD display with an LED backlight.

It’s a 2560×1440 resolution display rather than 4K too, resulting in pixel density of 108 pixels per inch (ppi). 4K Ultra HD displays get you 163ppi at the same size, making pixelation less obvious if you use the display at reasonably close quarters. It’s a reminder of quite how much more we appreciate high-ppi monitors than high-res TVs. Those tiny fonts aren’t kind to lower pixel-density displays. As a useful extra, the Z27x will take 4K input, simply downscaling it to its native 2560×1440 rather than refusing altogether.

At present only the 31.5-inch HP DreamColor Z32x (£1500) offers 4K resolution in this particular range, although HP’s cheaper, less colour-obsessed lines offer plenty of 4K monitors for less cash. For example, the HP Z27s (non-DreamColor) costs £670 and has a UHD panel, but only claims to fulfil the sRGB standard, not Adobe RGB, which digs far deeper into the colour spectrum.

No other parts were required (I was worried about the "Dreamcolor calibration board" but it was already in my laptop base) and everything just worked. When I rebooted, Windows detected the new display, adjusted for it, and I"ve been in Dreamcolorland ever since!

Added to the mix of choices is a new generation of mobile workstations that are remarkably portable. They’ve been able to shave off the girth and pounds without seriously compromising performance or battery life. Following that trend to its logical conclusion, HP is now shipping the first quad-core mobile workstation that qualifies as a thin-and-light Ultrabook. It’s the HP ZBook Studio G3, and one of the soon-to-be-available configuration options is a 4K UHD DreamColor display.

The weight of the ZBook Studio will vary according to the components you choose. For example, the DreamColor UHD display weighs 345 grams versus 360 grams for the non-touch HD display. However, the variation in component weight isn’t likely to amount to a significant difference. The well-equipped configuration that HP supplied for this review weighed in at 4.7 pounds versus the 4.4-pound starting weight.

In May or June, a fourth display option will be available. It’s a DreamColor version of the UHD (3840×2160) UWVA IPS screen. Both of the 4K UHD display options support 100% of the Adobe RGB color gamut. The DreamColor version is color-calibrated at the factory. and it includes the DreamColor Assistant software, which lets you adjust the color space for individual applications. The DreamColor Assistant software also facilitates user color calibration.

Because it wasn’t mentioned in the specifications, I asked HP how much of the DCI-P3 color gamut will be covered by the ZBook Studio’s 4K DreamColor display. The answer I got back was that — when it ships in May or June — they’ll be able to calibrate the screen as it leaves the factory to 92 percent of the DCI-P3 colors. That’s quite a bit less than the 98.8 percent of DCI-P3 coverage with the HP DreamColor Z27x monitor, but then this is a portable 4K screen that can run on batteries. with a mobile workstation attached.

All four 15.6-inch screen options allow for viewing angles up to 85 percent in each direction (left, right, up, and down). That should give you ample flexibility for using the ZBook Studio for ad hoc presentations. The two HD and non-DreamColor UHD displays have a typical brightness rating of 300 nits, while the DreamColor UHD display is rated somewhat higher at 340 nits. There’s a significant difference in the contrast range among the four display options. If you go with either of the HD displays, the contrast range will typically be 600:1. The non-DreamColor UHD will typically be 400:1. And the DreamColor UHD will typically be 1000:1. All four are LED-backlit.

And all four screens have a matte finish to reduce glare, which is pretty much essential for use on an airplane and other fixed-position environments. The non-DreamColor UHD display on the review unit was reasonably bright. In direct sunlight, it did tend to wash out some, though it held up better than the screens that I’ve seen on other mobile workstations.

The review unit included the full 32 GB complement of DDR4 system RAM, the NVIDIA Quadro M1000M graphics chipset (with 4 GB of dedicated of GDDR5), a 512 GB Samsung NVMe PCIe SSD, and the non-DreamColor UHD (3840×2160) screen.

You could argue that a 15.6-inch UHD screen, even if it meets the DreamColor standards for color and contrast, is too small for judging critical detail in 4K content. That may depend on how you plan to use your mobile workstation and how crucial your judgements would need to be when you’re away from your desktop workstation and full-size monitor.

Pro-class color quality with 100% coverage of sRGB, BT.709, and 99% of Adobe RGB. Crisp and clear 1,000:1 contrast ratio and high temperatures on a 1920 x 1200 resolution wide-angle IPS panel.

The integrated quick-release feature is an easy-to-use, VESA-compliant, LCD monitor mounting solution that allows you to quickly and securely attach an LCD monitor to a variety of stands, brackets, arms, or wall mounts.

HP’s Z-Series line of Dreamcolor reference monitors was very popular due to its affordable price tag and its built-in color calibration routine. Sadly, after Panasonic, which provided the IPS display screens, stopped making them, HP was forced to discontinue the design.

But the Z-Series is back—mostly—with the HP DreamColor Z32K G3 4K USB-C Display. And while the new model comes calibrated at the factory, it does not have a color calibrator built-in like the second generation did. According to HP sources, future models may return the built-in feature once the company can secure a supply of panels that meets its standard of quality.

The DreamColor Z32K G3 will offer Thunderbolt 4 (a world first for ISP Black Displays) and a 31.5-inch IPS Panel display that has been factory color calibrated for accuracy. It is rated for 400 nits of brightness with a 100% VESA HDR 400 sRGB accuracy and 98 percent P3 rating, which provides deeper blacks, more vibrant colors, and a 2000:1 contrast ratio that is twice that of other IPS panels in the category.

The edge-lit panel also offers an ultra-wide screen and horizontal and vertical viewing angles of 178 degrees. The screen also has an anti-glare coating, as well as HP"s Eye Ease feature that is TÜV Low Blue Light Hardware Solution certified to make those long editing sessions easier to cope with on the eyes.

The DreamColor Z32K G3 4K USB-C Display has four USB-A 3.2 ports, a display port 1.4 in and out, HDMI 2.0, and Thunderbolt 4 with the delivery of up to 100 watts of power. There’s also a USB-C port that can do double-duty charging devices with 15W of throughput, as well as a USB-C and RJ-45 port.