- Table of Contents
- Intro
- Our Verdict
- Video
- Test Results
- Differences
- Compared to others
- Discussions
The LG 27GL83A-B is a good 1440p IPS monitor with great gaming performance. It has an outstanding response time that delivers fast-moving content with almost no blur trail, and an outstanding low input lag for very responsive gaming sessions. Also, this monitor supports FreeSync variable refresh rate technology and is G-SYNC compatible, offering a nearly tear-free gaming experience. Unfortunately, this monitor can't display deep blacks in a dark room due to the low contrast ratio, so it's not a good choice for late-night gaming. However, it can get fairly bright, suitable for most rooms, and supports HDR, although it can't get very bright in that mode.
Our Verdict
The LG 27GL83A-B is a good monitor for almost any use. It has remarkable motion handling and outstanding low input lag, which is great for gaming. It performs well in an office environment with its wide viewing angles and great peak brightness. Finally, its resolution and size make it a great choice for those who are looking for a monitor with good performance in media creation and multimedia.
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Outstanding response time.
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Excellent low input lag.
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Good out-of-the-box accuracy.
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Disappointing contrast ratio and poor black uniformity.
The LG 27GL83A-B is a good monitor for office use. It has a high resolution and size that favors multitasking. The viewing angles are excellent, and this is good news if you often share your work with a colleague. Unfortunately, it isn't the easiest monitor to place comfortably due to its disappointing ergonomics, but on the upside, you can place it a bright office without issue due to its good reflection handling.
The LG 27GL83A-B is a great monitor for gaming. It has an extremely low input lag and an outstanding response time that delivers a crisp image regardless if it's displaying fast-moving content or not. It supports FreeSync for nearly tear-free gaming, but on the downside, it may be difficult to place it comfortably due to its lack of swiveling.
The LG 27GL83A-B is a good monitor for consuming multimedia. It has great resolution and size and displays most content at its native resolution. The input lag is very low and the monitor feels very responsive. The wide viewing angles favor watching a movie together with a friend, although you might have a hard time positioning the monitor comfortably.
Very good monitor for media creation. The high resolution and large size on the LG 27GL83A-B allow you to watch more of your project on your screen. Unfortunately, it'll take you a little longer to position the monitor to your ideal position, but once you do, you should enjoy a very responsive experience thanks to the very low input lag. Also, the image remains accurate at the sides even when you sit up close to examine the details of your work.
The LG 27GL83A-B is a decent monitor for gaming in HDR, mainly due to the great gaming performance. The low contrast ratio prevents it from displaying deep blacks in a dark room where HDR is meant to be watched. On the upside, it displays a wide color gamut in HDR, but its brightness is just decent and can't deliver highlights as it should.
- 7.8 Mixed Usage
- 7.8 Office
- 8.2 Gaming
- 7.7 Multimedia
- 7.8 Media Creation
- 6.9 HDR Gaming
- Update 6/4/2020: We retested FreeSync over HDMI, and updated our results below.
- Update 2/17/2020: Converted to Test Bench 1.1.
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Video
Test Results
The 27GL83A-B looks like every other monitor in LG's UltraGear lineup. It's mainly black with a red circle on the back and the stand has wide-set feet. It's designed as a gaming monitor, but fits nicely into any office environment.
The stand supports the 27GL83A-B well with only minimal wobble. It has a wide footprint and you can place small objects in front of the monitor.
Disappointing ergonomics. This is mainly because the stand prevents swiveling, making it difficult to share your work with a colleague.
The back of the monitor has a red circle like other UltraGear monitors. There's a quick release button and cable management is done through a clip in the stand.
The borders are thin and not very distracting. The bottom bezel is slightly thicker, just like on the 27GL850.
The screen is very thin, and won't stand out when VESA-mounted. However, the stand makes the entire setup look thicker.
The 27GL83A-B has okay overall build quality. It's mostly made of plastic but there are no gaps or loose ends.
The 27GL83A-B has a disappointing native contrast ratio, as expected for an IPS monitor. Unfortunately, blacks in a dark room look more like gray.
This monitor doesn't have a local dimming feature. The above video is provided for reference only.
Good peak brightness in SDR. This monitor can easily overcome glare in a bright room and the brightness level remains unchanged with different content, which is great.
The 27GL83A-B has decent HDR peak brightness. Highlights don't stand out as much as they should in HDR.
Excellent horizontal viewing angle, which is expected from an IPS panel. You won't lose image accuracy when viewing from the side, which is great if you need to share your screen with a coworker or for co-op gaming.
The 27GL83A-B has an okay vertical viewing angle. If you sit up close, the edges of the screen might appear darker, but this shouldn't be a problem for most people.
Excellent gray uniformity. The sides of the screen are a bit darker, but this isn't noticeable with most content. This is great for content with large areas of uniform color, such as a web page or document.
The 27GL83A-B has poor black uniformity. There's visible clouding throughout and very noticeable backlight bleed near the top left corner. This may be distracting when watching dark scenes.
Good out-of-the-box color accuracy. Most colors are fairly accurate and the color temperature is extremely close to the 6500K target. Unfortunately, the gamma curve doesn't follow the target curve well, so dark scenes are darker than they should, and bright scenes are brighter.
The 27GL83A-B has excellent post-calibration color accuracy. Any remaining errors can only be observed with the aid of a colorimeter and aren't noticeable in normal content. Gamma follows the target curve almost perfectly, and the color temperature is almost spot on the 6500K target.
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.
Fantastic SDR color gamut. It covers nearly all of the sRGB color space used in most content and has good coverage of the Adobe RGB color space used in photo editing.
Excellent SDR color volume. The monitor can display its color gamut well at most brightness levels, but it's mainly limited by its poor contrast ratio.
Good HDR color gamut. The LG 27GL83A-B has great coverage of the DCI P3 color space used in most HDR content. The coverage of the wider Rec. 2020 color space is only decent.
Decent HDR color volume. This monitor is limited by its low contrast ratio and it can't display dark, saturated colors very well.
There are no signs of temporary image retention on the LG 27GL83A-B, even immediately after displaying our high-contrast, static test image for 10 minutes.
Outstanding gradient handling. There's some very minor banding in darker shades, but this shouldn't be at all noticeable in normal content.
The monitor displays an extremely minor vertical color bleed, but it's not noticeable at all in most content.
The 27GL83A-B has good reflection handling. If you place it in a very bright room, glare might become distracting.
Text clarity is okay. It can be improved by using ClearType (top photo), which makes the diagonal lines on the letters R and N clearer.
| Overdrive Setting | Response Time Chart | Response Time Tables | Motion Blur Photo |
| Off | Chart | Table | Photo |
| Normal | Chart | Table | Photo |
| Fast | Chart | Table | Photo |
| Faster | Chart | Table | Photo |
Outstanding response time, similar to the 27GL850. The recommended Overdrive setting is 'Fast' as motion looks very clear on it. There's some overshoot in darker transitions, and if that bothers you, the 'Normal' setting has a lot less overshoot, but there's more motion blur.
| Overdrive Setting | Response Time Chart | Response Time Tables | Motion Blur Photo |
| Off | Chart | Table | Photo |
| Normal | Chart | Table | Photo |
| Fast | Chart | Table | Photo |
| Faster | Chart | Table | Photo |
The 27GL83A-B has an amazing response time at 60Hz, which is great for console gaming. Unlike at its max refresh rate, the recommended Overdrive setting is 'Normal', so you might have to change your setting while gaming. This setting has less overshoot and motion blur than the 'Fast' setting, but both perform very similarly.
The monitor uses a completely flicker-free backlight at all brightness levels.
The 27GL83A-B doesn't have a black frame insertion feature.
The 27GL83A-B has a remarkable 144Hz refresh rate. It supports AMD's FreeSync variable refresh rate and it's certified by NVIDIA as G-SYNC compatible. You shouldn't have any issues using it with a recent NVIDIA graphics card.
Over HDMI, the 27GL83A-B only supports FreeSync up to 100Hz.
The monitor has an outstanding low input lag, even with VRR or HDR enabled. The 60Hz input lag, although still low, is slightly higher than most monitors, which isn't ideal for console gaming.
The 27 inch screen and the 1440p resolution favor multitasking and can display most details of your favorite game.
The monitor has just a few additional features that can come in handy in games. It has a 'Black Stabilizer' that adjusts the gamma in dark scenes and makes it easier to spot objects in the shadows. You can also add a virtual crosshair in any game and can lock the On-Screen-Display.
Differences Between Sizes and Variants
We tested the 27 inch 27GL83A-B, which is the only size available. There are other models in LG's UltraGear lineup, some of which are listed in the table below.
If someone comes across a different type of panel or if their 27GL83A-B doesn't correspond to our review, let us know and we'll update the review. Note that some tests, such as gray uniformity, may vary between individual units.
| Model | Size | Resolution | Refresh Rate | Notes |
| 32GK650F-B | 32" | 1440p | 144Hz | FreeSync |
| 32GK650G-B | 32" | 1440p | 144Hz | G-SYNC |
| 27GK750F-B | 27" | 1080p | 240Hz | FreeSync |
| 27GL83A-B | 27" | 1440p | 144Hz | FreeSync, NVIDIA certified |
| 27GL850-B | 27" | 1440p | 144Hz | FreeSync, NVIDIA certified |
| 32GK850F-B | 32" | 1440p | 144Hz | FreeSync |
| 32GK850G-B | 32" | 1440p | 144Hz | G-SYNC |
| 34GK950F-B | 34" | 3440x1440 | 144Hz | FreeSync |
| 34GK950G-B | 34" | 3440x1440 | 120Hz | G-SYNC |
The 27GL83A-B we tested was manufactured in September 2019.
Compared to other monitors
The LG 27GL83A-B is a great gaming monitor with remarkable motion handling. It has worse ergonomics than most comparable models, but if this isn't an issue, it's a great choice. See also our reviews for the best gaming monitors, the best 144Hz monitors, and the best 27 inch monitors.
The ASUS TUF VG27AQ is better than the LG 27GL83A for mixed usage. Though they both have an IPS panel, the ASUS has a much better contrast ratio and black uniformity. Ergonomics are also significantly better on the ASUS, but the LG has a faster response time and better color accuracy out of the box.
The LG 27GL83A-B and the Pixio PX7 Prime are very similar overall. The PX7 Prime has a slightly faster refresh rate, and slightly better ergonomics. The LG 27GL83A-B has a faster response time, resulting in slightly clearer motion, but most people won't notice much difference.
The LG 27GL850-B and the LG 27GL83A-B have very similar overall performance and any differences can be attributed to panel variance. The 27GL850-B has better inputs as it incorporates two USB 3.0 ports, while the 27GL83A-B has no USB ports.
The LG 27GL83A-B is marginally better than the BenQ EX2780Q in most uses. They're both very similar in terms of performance, but the LG has much better motion handling and it has a better HDR color gamut. Out of the box color accuracy is also better on the LG, but its black uniformity is significantly worse than the BenQ.
The LG 27GL83A-B is better than the ViewSonic VX2758-2KP-MHD. The LG has a much better stand, with a decent height adjustment range and the ability to rotate to portrait orientation. The LG supports HDR, although this doesn't add much. The ViewSonic, on the other hand, has an optional black frame insertion feature for clearer motion, and the unit we tested has better black uniformity.
The Acer VG271UP and the LG 27GL83A-B are nearly identical in terms of performance and features. However, the Acer has significantly worse black uniformity and its response time is slower, resulting in more motion blur. Also, the LG has better ergonomics, but the Acer can get brighter in HDR mode.
The LG 27GL83A-B is much better than the Dell S2719DGF. Since the LG uses an IPS panel, it offers much better viewing angles. Black uniformity is also significantly better on the LG, and it supports HDR, while the Dell doesn't. However, ergonomics and reflection handling are much better on the Dell and they both perform similarly in terms of motion handling.
The ASUS ROG Swift PG279Q is slightly better than the LG 27GL83A-B. The ASUS has much better ergonomics, supports G-SYNC, and has a black frame insertion feature that can help improve the appearance of motion. The LG, on the other hand, supports HDR, supports FreeSync, and has a 10-bit panel and better gradient.
The LG 27GL83A-B is slightly better than the Acer Predator XB271HU. The LG has a significantly better color accuracy and gradient performance, and it supports HDR, while the Acer has much better ergonomics and has a black frame insertion feature to reduce motion blur. The Acer also has a better contrast ratio, but it can't get as bright as the LG.
The LG 27GL83A-B and the ASUS VG279Q have very similar performance overall but have also significant differences. The LG has a higher resolution screen, and it supports HDR, while the VG279Q has much better ergonomics and an optional black frame insertion feature to help with the appearance of motion. The LG has a faster response time and delivers extremely clear motion, with almost no blur behind fast-moving objects.
The Gigabyte Aorus AD27QD is marginally better than the LG 27GL850. The AD27QD has better ergonomics so you can easily place it comfortably, an optional black frame insertion feature, and many additional gaming features. The LG, on the other hand, has slightly faster response time and displays crisper motion.
