NZXT Canvas 27Q Review (1440p/165Hz)

Kicking things off with a look at the design of the NZXT Canvas 27Q, I really like the overall aesthetic the company has gone for. It's very sleek and understated, being entirely matte black (aside from one small purple accent on the joystick), while the bezels are also very slim. There's minimal branding, too, with just a small NZXT logo positioned on the bottom bezel, and another on the rear of the screen.

I thought NZXT might throw in a lot of RGB lighting, or try and do something with the design that might be a bit gimmicky – but the opposite its true. It's a simple, clean-looking monitor and I'd be more than happy to have this on my desk as a daily driver.

We already mentioned the OSD joystick which is positioned in the bottom right corner (when viewed from the back of the screen). This is the only way to control the OSD from the monitor itself, there's no other buttons at all, something which also contributes to the sleek design.

For the purposes of this review, NZXT also sent us their monitor stand. Do note that this is not a mandatory purchase, as the screen itself can be bought separately for £349, while the stand can be added-on for an extra £40. I like this approach as anyone who already owns a third-party stand or mounting arm doesn't have to spend the extra cash on something they won't use, while £40 isn't too expensive for a matching stand with good ergonomic functionality.

Speaking of the ergonomics, NZXT's stand can do the whole lot – we find up to  120mm of height adjustment, 20 degrees of swivel in both directions, tilt from 5 degrees downards to 20 degrees upwards, and there's also full 90 degree pivot functionality so you can use the screen vertically if you should choose.

I also have to add that's its great to see NZXT opt for a single rectangular foot which is nice and compact – I much prefer this to the v-shaped monitor foot design we typically see from gaming monitors.

Lastly, for ports and connectors, we have 1x DisplayPort 1.2, 2x HDMI 2.0 and a USB Type-C that supports DP Alt mode. There's also a USB Type-B upstream port that feeds two 5Gbps downstream Type-A ports, and lastly a 3.5mm audio jack. There are no built-in speakers.

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