The Gigabyte M28U is a great monitor with a 28-inch, 4k IPS screen. It delivers an excellent gaming experience with low input lag, a fast response time, and a great selection of gaming features. It's also great for office use, as the high pixel density results in outstanding text clarity, and it has wide viewing angles. It's one of the first monitors on the market to support HDMI 2.1, making it a great choice for 4k @ 120Hz gaming on the next generation of consoles. It's not without its flaws, as there's some overshoot with every overdrive mode. It also doesn't look very good in a dark room, as it has low contrast and bad black uniformity.
Our Verdict
The Gigabyte M28U is a great monitor for most uses. The high-resolution screen delivers outstanding text clarity, making it a great choice for office use. It has wide viewing angles, a superb SDR color gamut, and excellent gray uniformity, making it a great choice for media creation and a decent monitor for watching videos. It's an excellent gaming monitor with low input lag, a fast response time, and a great selection of gaming features, including HDMI 2.1 bandwidth for next-gen console gaming. Sadly, it's just okay for HDR as it has a low contrast and a terrible local dimming feature.
- High-resolution screen and high pixel density.
- Excellent gray uniformity.
- Image remains accurate at an angle.
- Low contrast.
- Terrible local dimming feature.
The Gigabyte M28U is a great office monitor. The large, high-resolution screen delivers outstanding text clarity, and it has wide viewing angles, great for sharing your screen with your colleagues. It has excellent peak brightness in SDR and good reflection handling, so glare generally won't be an issue. It's also a great choice if your work requires accurate colors, as it has fantastic accuracy out of the box, incredible gradient handling, and excellent gray uniformity. Unfortunately, the stand has limited ergonomics in that it can't swivel or rotate to portrait orientation.
- High-resolution screen and high pixel density.
- Fantastic text clarity.
- Excellent gray uniformity.
- Image remains accurate at an angle.
- Low contrast.
- Stand can't swivel or rotate to a portrait orientation.
The Gigabyte M28U delivers an excellent gaming experience. It has an outstanding response time and a great selection of gaming features, including support for variable refresh rate technology (VRR). It has HDMI 2.1 bandwidth, making it a great choice for next-gen console gamers. Input lag is also really low, but you need to make sure it's updated to the latest firmware. The overdrive settings are a bit strange, too, as there's noticeable overshoot in every mode.
- HDMI 2.1 ports for next-gen console gaming.
- Outstanding response time.
- Fast refresh rate.
- Low contrast.
The Gigabyte M28U is a very good monitor for watching videos. The large, high-resolution screen is great for watching high-definition videos, and the wide viewing angles make it comfortable for sharing your screen with your friends. It has excellent peak brightness in SDR and good reflection handling, so glare won't be an issue for most people. It's not as well-suited for watching movies at night, though, as it has low contrast and a terrible local dimming feature.
- High-resolution screen and high pixel density.
- Fantastic accuracy out of the box.
- Excellent gray uniformity.
- Image remains accurate at an angle.
- Bad black uniformity.
- Low contrast.
The Gigabyte M28U is a great monitor for media creation. The large, high-resolution screen makes it easier to see more of your project or timeline at once. It has fantastic accuracy out of the box, incredible gradient handling, and excellent gray uniformity. It also has an outstanding color gamut in SDR, but coverage of the Adobe RGB color space might be a bit too limited for some professional users. Unfortunately, it's not as well-suited for a dark room, as it has low contrast and bad black uniformity.
- High-resolution screen and high pixel density.
- Fantastic accuracy out of the box.
- Excellent gray uniformity.
- Image remains accurate at an angle.
- Bad black uniformity.
- Low contrast.
- Stand can't swivel or rotate to a portrait orientation.
The Gigabyte M28U is okay for HDR. It displays a wide range of colors in HDR and has decent peak brightness, so some highlights pop, but it's not enough for a true cinematic HDR experience. However, it has a low contrast ratio that makes blacks look gray, and its local dimming feature is terrible and doesn't do much to improve the contrast.
- Decent HDR peak brightness.
- Displays a wide color gamut.
- Bad black uniformity.
- Low contrast.
- Terrible local dimming feature.
Changelog
- Updated Sep 03, 2024: Added that the MSI MAG 274UPF delivers more power over USB-C.
- Updated Jun 02, 2023: Added that the MSI Optix G321CU has higher HDMI bandwidth in Video and Audio Ports.
- Updated May 15, 2023: Added that the newly-tested Gigabyte M27U gets brighter in SDR.
- Updated Feb 23, 2023: Added a note in Text Clarity to say that square images are slightly stretched horizontally, although it isn't a major concern. Also confirmed that 1440p works with the PS5.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We tested the 28-inch Gigabyte M28U, which is part of Gigabyte's M Series gaming monitors, designed with productivity in mind, and all feature a built-in KVM (keyboard, video, & mouse) switch. It's a bit different from the other M series monitors, as it's one of the only ones with a 4k screen and HDMI 2.1 support. It's also available in a 32-inch size, known as the Gigabyte M32U, which we've also tested.
| Model | Size | Native Resolution | Max Refresh rate | Panel Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| M32Q | 32" | 1440p | 170Hz | IPS |
| M32U | 32" | 4k | 144Hz | IPS |
| M28U | 28" | 4k | 144Hz | IPS |
| M27Q (rev. 1.0) | 27" | 1440p | 170Hz | IPS |
| M27F | 27" | 1080p | 144Hz | IPS |
If you come across a different type of panel or your Gigabyte M28U doesn't correspond to our review, let us know, and we'll update the review. Note that some tests, like gray uniformity, may vary between individual units.
Our unit was manufactured in March 2021; you can see the label here.
Popular Monitor Comparisons
The Gigabyte M28U is an impressive gaming monitor, and it's one of the few monitors available with HDMI 2.1 support, making it a great choice for next-gen console gaming. It has a few extra features that help it to stand out against the competition and it's one of the best 4k gaming monitors we've tested, but there are some motion issues that aren't on other monitors.
For more options, check out our recommendations for the best monitors for PS5/PS5 Pro, the best monitors for Xbox Series X, and the best gaming monitors.
The Gigabyte M27U and the Gigabyte M28U are very similar monitors in terms of features, but the M27U edges out in a few areas. The M27U gets much brighter, making it better for bright rooms and delivering a better HDR experience. The M27U also has an overclock feature to 160Hz for a slightly smoother feel than the 144Hz on the M28U.
The Gigabyte M32U is a bit better than the Gigabyte M28U. Although these two monitors are very similar overall, the larger model has better ergonomics and response time. The M28U has worse overshoot in every overdrive mode, especially when gaming at 60Hz. On the other hand, the M28U has better reflection handling, but it's not a significant difference.
The Gigabyte M28U and the MSI MAG 274UPF are 4k gaming monitors. The MSI is the better choice for most people, as it gets much brighter, displays a wider range of more vivid HDR colors, and provides more power over USB-C. However, you may prefer the Gigabyte if you do a lot of co-op gaming, as it has wider viewing angles.
The ASUS ROG Strix XG27UQ and the Gigabyte M28U are very similar overall, but the ASUS is slightly better for most people, as it has better ergonomics. The Gigabyte has slightly better reflection handling, and its black frame insertion feature is a bit more versatile, as it works across a wider range of refresh rates.
We buy and test more than 30 monitors each year, all of which we purchase ourselves, without cherry-picked units or samples. We put a lot into each unbiased, straight-to-the-point review, and there's a whole process from purchasing to publishing, involving multiple teams and people. We do more than just use the monitor for a week; we use specialized, custom tools to measure various aspects and deliver objective, data-driven results. We also consider multiple factors before making any recommendations, including the monitor's cost, its performance compared to the competition, and whether it's easy to find.
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