Moving on, the Gigabyte M28U boasts a rapid 1ms GtG pixel response time speed for minimal ghosting behind fast-moving objects. In short, you’re not getting the true HDR viewing experience (as expected from a 4K 144Hz monitor at this price range), but some scenes will look a bit better thanks to the display’s wide color gamut, a small boost in brightness, and at least some form of local dimming. This scaling issue is largely mitigated when gaming, at least. In those terms, the M28U is a superb size for pixel density and detail to shine through without overpowering the desktop, and next to my 32-inch monitor it feels far less imposing. If a little less immersive for it. FreeSync and HDMI 2.1 VRR are supported up to 144Hz (48-144Hz range) for tear-free gameplay. While the monitor is not certified as G-SYNC Compatible by NVIDIA, you can use VRR with compatible GeForce cards without issues. I've done a little testing of it, and there is one catch - it still can't do 4k@120Hz 4:4:4. It does 4k@60Hz 4:4:4, but when I ran it at 120Hz Chroma subsampling was definitely enabled. It still looked great and I would never have noticed without a test image (and even then, the pathological case text was still very much readable, just not totally sharp), but it does mean the only way to avoid chroma subsampling at the full refresh rate is to use DisplayPort (and that requires DSC to achieve the full 144Hz). At some point I would like to try and figure out at what refresh rate precisely the chroma subsampling is enabled, but I've yet to spend time on that.

The stand of the monitor is sturdy and offers height adjustment up to 130mm, tilt by -5°/20° and 100x100mm VESA mount compatibility. While not mandatory for DisplayHDR 400 certification, the M28U also has localized dimming. However, there are only 8 zones that dim parts of the screen that needs to be dark. So, you’ll only see benefits from it when dark and bright objects are far apart. The Gigabyte M28U also supports HDR (High Dynamic Range) and has VESA’s DisplayHDR 400 certification. When playing HDR content, the monitor gets a boost in peak brightness to ~400-nits for more vivid highlights.I was recently made aware that the Gigabyte M28U 4K@144Hz monitor was 1) out now, 2) actually available (at least in Australia) and 3) a little over half the price of its competitors (e.g. the LG GN950), which you can't actually buy anyway because we live in the end times. The colors are rich and consistent; the gamut is equivalent to ~120% sRGB, so you get some over-saturation for added vibrancy when viewing regular sRGB content. With a peak brightness of 300-nits, the Gigabyte M28U can get more than bright enough under normal lighting conditions, while the static contrast ratio amounts to around 1,000:1, as expected from IPS panels. The real toss-up to consider before purchasing the M28U, then, is whether to buy a 4K, 16:9 panel or an ultrawide. The former has the pixel advantage, and you know your games will look incredibly detailed and crisp, but the latter may mitigate some of the performance load on your GPU while maintaining plenty of real estate for gaming and productivity. It's a tough call, and I think you can make a great case either way.

There are also advanced image adjustment tools available, including sharpness, gamma, color hue/saturation and color vibrance. This KVM switch allows you to switch keyboard and mouse input between devices connected over USB Type-C. (Image credit: Future) It does have AMD’s FreeSync Premium Pro certification, so compatible games will get better HDR tone and gamut mapping. Then there's the stand. There had to be some cost-cutting with a monitor at this price point, and the stand has taken the brunt of it. It's sturdy, and so it's practically all it needs to be, though it's limited in its movement to just height and tilt adjustments. It's also a little bit cheap looking, and the underside relies on pads that are glued on for grip to the desk. On my review sample these pads have already started to peel away with the small adjustments I've made over time, and may end up having to be replaced just to keep the screen steady. Since screen tearing is a lot less noticeable at 144Hz than it is at 60Hz, you might want to consider disabling VRR at low FPS if pixel overshoot bothers you.This also means that if you’re using VRR (variable refresh rate) technology, such as FreeSync, and you’re getting around 60FPS (and therefore 60Hz), some overshoot will be noticeable too. Note that the HDMI 2.1 ports of the monitor are limited to 24 Gbps and use DSC (Display Stream Compression) for 4K 144Hz 10-bit color 4:4:4.