14 DAY TRIAL // If you thought the 4K resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels was very good for our time, you were right. However, that didn't stop HP from launching a monitor with an even better pixel ratio, specifically 5K.
That's right, the advancement in resolution is happening really fast, and HP is doing it without letting the display size go absolutely postal.
In case you don't know or have forgotten, when 4K resolution and 3D visuals started to hit their stride, TVs with positively ludicrous screen sizes appeared, up to 110 inches.
Even 40-inch and 50-inch displays, considered “small” by the standards of high-end LCDs, are actually large enough to take up half a wall in a small room.
In this case, HP has decided to open the path to the next resolution stage on the monitor front, not the TV market. Consequently, the world's first 5K screen is pretty small compared to the others we mentioned.
The HP Z27q
This is just one of several displays that HP brought to its booth in Las Vegas, Nevada, at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2015).
The others are quite remarkable as well, from the 27-inch 4K monitors to the curved displays and even an augmented reality screen. We'll look at those separately though.
The HP Z27q may not sound like a name grand enough for what is essentially a forerunner to a whole new type of display technology.
Then again, HP was never much for pompous names, at least on the monitor front. It prefers to let the names contain the size indicator (27-inch diagonal) and allow the spec sheet to do the rest.
Speaking of which, the HP Z27q Display has a native resolution of 5,120 x 2,880 pixels, meaning seven times more pixels than a Full HD display (1920 x 1080 pixels).
There are 14.7 million pixels in total, spread across a panel with 16.9 aspect ratio and a brightness of 300 nits. Altogether, the monitor can display 1.07 billion colors.
Both picture-in-picture and picture-by-picture modes are included, as an extension of the multi-pronged display input loadout: DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort 4 USB 3.0 ports. Well, that's what we assume they are. While the 4 USB ports are confirmed, the display connectors weren't specified, unlike for the others (which, as we said, we'll check out separately soon).
Availability and pricing
The price of the HP Z27q 5K monitor is $1,299 / €1,086 - €1,299 and shipments should begin in March 2015.