HP OMEN 27i Monitor Review

The HP OMEN 27i has a very similar design to the HP OMEN 27, but it's been updated a bit, with slimmer bezels and a sturdier stand. The back of the monitor has a unique design, with easy-to-access inputs and a nice RGB backlight feature. It has only basic cable management, but it's extremely well-built.

The stand is slim but solid, and it supports the monitor extremely well.

Unfortunately, the HP OMEN 27i has disappointing ergonomics, as it can't swivel, and can't be rotated to portrait orientation. On the other hand, it has a great height adjustment range and a great tilt range. For a similar monitor with better ergonomics, check out the ASUS TUF VG27AQ.

The back of the monitor has a very simple design, but it looks great. The inputs are angled to the sides, making them very easy to access, and there's an RGB bias lighting feature around the box that houses the monitor's inputs and electronics. Cables can be routed through a hole in the stand, providing very basic cable management.

The HP OMEN 27i can be VESA mounted, but it's very important to make sure that your mounting bracket can be rotated at least 45°, as the mounting holes are on an angle. HP has posted a video showing how to mount it.

The borders around the monitor are very thin on three sides, making this a great choice for a multi-monitor setup.

When attached to the stand, the HP OMEN 27i is a bit thicker than most similar monitors we've tested. Unlike the HP OMEN 27, the mounting arm has to be removed to VESA-mount the display, so it's quite a bit thinner when mounted.

The HP OMEN 27i is extremely well-built. The stand is solid, made of metal, and it supports the monitor well. The display is made of good quality plastic, and we didn't notice any gaps or loose panels.

Typical for IPS panels, the HP OMEN 27i has a low contrast ratio, so blacks look gray in a dark room. In a brighter viewing environment, this isn't as noticeable. HP advertises a typical contrast ratio of 1000:1 for this display, so these results are a bit on the low side, but this varies between units.

There's no local dimming feature on this monitor. This video is provided for reference only.

Very good SDR peak brightness, this monitor can easily overcome glare in a brighter viewing environment. It's also extremely consistent, with no noticeable change in brightness with different content.

The HP OMEN 27i doesn't support HDR.

Unlike the TN panel used on the HP OMEN 27, the HP 27i uses an IPS panel, and has excellent horizontal viewing angles. This is great if you often share your screen with someone else sitting nearby, as the image remains accurate even when viewed off-center.

The HP 27i has decent vertical viewing angles. This is important if you often share your screen with someone standing next to you, as you can be confident that they'll see the same thing you do.

Excellent gray uniformity overall. The sides of the screen are a bit darker than the center, especially the left-hand side of our unit, but this can vary a bit between units. If you have this monitor, let us know in the discussions if you notice the same thing.

Unfortunately, the HP OMEN 27i has poor black uniformity. There's noticeable backlight bleed on our unit, especially from the bottom left corner, and the entire screen is a bit cloudy. Black uniformity varies between units, so if you have this monitor let us know how it looks.

Sub-par accuracy out of the box. Although gamma follows the sRGB target curve well, there are noticeable errors in the white balance and most colors. There's also no sRGB mode, which is a bit disappointing. Note that the out-of-the-box accuracy can vary between units. If you want a monitor with better accuracy out of the box, check out the Lenovo Legion Y27q-20.

After calibration, the HP OMEN 27i is much more accurate. The remaining inaccuracies in the white balance aren't noticeable, and except for highly saturated blues, colors are reproduced accurately.

You can download our ICC profile calibration here. This is provided for reference only and shouldn't be used, as the calibration values vary per individual unit even for the same model, due to manufacturing tolerances.

The HP OMEN 27i has an impressive SDR color gamut. It can display the entire sRGB color space used by most web content, and it even has great coverage of the wider Adobe RGB color space, making it a great choice for content creators.

Outstanding SDR color volume. The HP OMEN 27i is limited by the low contrast ratio, as it can't display dark, saturated colors. Like most LCD monitors, highly saturated blues aren't as bright as other colors, but this shouldn't be very noticeable.

This monitor doesn't support HDR.

This monitor doesn't support HDR.

There are no signs of temporary image retention on our unit. This can vary between units though, so let us know if you have this monitor and have seen any signs of image retention.

Although this monitor doesn't support HDR, it can accept a 10 bit signal, but only if the refresh rate is below 120Hz. When sending a 10 bit signal, gradients are extremely clean, with almost no noticeable banding.

While there is some very slight color bleed, it's not at all noticeable.

Very good reflection handling. Combined with the high peak brightness, glare shouldn't be an issue even in a brighter room.

The HP OMEN 27i has decent text clarity, but it's recommended to enable ClearType, as seen in the diagonal and curved lines in the top photo.

The HP 27i has outstanding response time at the maximum refresh rate, resulting in a very short blur trail behind fast-moving objects. Unfortunately, this isn't as good as the HP OMEN 27 or the HP OMEN X 27.

There are four pixel overdrive settings, but we recommend the lowest setting, level 1. Level 2 is faster, but there's more noticeable overshoot. Higher settings aren't recommended, as the amount of overshoot increases drastically.

Outstanding response time at 60Hz, with very little blur behind fast-moving objects, much better than the ASUS TUF VG27AQ. Like at the maximum refresh rate, the level of overdrive can be adjusted, but we still recommend the Level 1 setting. Higher settings are slightly faster, but unlike at the maximum refresh rate, even the Level 2 setting has significant overshoot.

The backlight is completely flicker-free, which is great.

Unlike the HP OMEN 27, this monitor doesn't have an optional Black Frame Insertion feature.

This monitor's high refresh rate is great for gaming or desktop use. The HP OMEN 27i supports FreeSync variable refresh rate technology, but it's also certified by NVIDIA to work with their G-SYNC Compatible technology. Although FreeSync works over both HDMI and DisplayPort, NVIDIA's G-SYNC Compatible mode only works over DisplayPort with this monitor.