Bottom Line
The Lenovo ThinkVision Creator Extreme P27 is a 27″ 4K IPS monitor with proper HDR support for content consumption and creation with a 1,200-nit peak brightness, ~100% DCI-P3 gamut covearge, Delta E < 1 factory-calibration, Dolby Vision and 1152-zone mini LED FALD.
Moreover, it has a fully ergonomic design with extensive connectivity options, including a KVM switch and USB-C with 100W PD.
The Lenovo ThinkVision Creator Extreme P27 is the first 27″ mini LED monitor available. It’s aimed at high-end professional editors who need accurate DCI-P3 colors and proper HDR support.
Image Quality
As all monitors intended for color-critical work, the Lenovo ThinkVision P27 is based on an IPS panel for accurate and consistent color reproduction, as well as wide 178° viewing angles that prevent image degradation when the screen’s viewed at an angle.
It supports 14-bit 3D LUT and has a wide 99.5% DCI-P3 and 100% sRGB/BT.709 color gamut coverage with Delta E < 1 factory calibration. In the OSD (On-Screen Display) menu, you’ll also find dedicated picture presets for DCI-P3, sRGB, BT.790, BT.2020 and DICOM color spaces.
The main course is obviously the 1152-zone mini LED backlight with full-array local dimming. These zones can individually dim parts of the screen that are supposed to be dark/black without affecting parts that should remain bright, effectively boosting the contrast ratio.
Further, thanks to the display’s exceptional 1,200-nit peak brightness, the Lenovo P27 delivers an outstanding HDR viewing experience with inky blacks, bright whites and vibrant colors.
Without local dimming, typical brightness goes up to 620-nits, while the static contrast ratio amounts to 1,100:1.
Now, as there are 1152 zones and over 8 million pixels on the screen, sometimes the light of a small bright object will bleed into the adjacent dimmed zones, creating the ‘halo effect‘ or ‘blooming.’ However, it’s only noticeable in certain scenarios, such as moving a tiny white cursor across a dark background, so it won’t bother you in real use.
The combination of high peak brightness, proper local dimming, and accurate color output of the entire DCI-P3 color space makes the Lenovo ThinkVision P27 exceptional for HDR content when it comes to both creation and consumption.
Moreover, the 4K UHD resolution ensures crisp details and plenty of screen real estate thanks to the high pixel density of 163 PPI (pixels per inch).
Supported HDR formats include HDR10 (with VESA DisplayHDR 1000 certification), Dolby Vision, and HLG. When viewing Dolby Vision content, DisplayPort needs to be set to ‘DP 1.2’ in the OSD menu; alternatively, you can use HDMI.
Performance
While the Lenovo ThinkVision Creator Extreme monitor is not intended for gaming, HDR video games look amazing and you get smooth performance (as smooth as 60Hz can be) thanks to the decent pixel response time speed and imperceptible input lag.
We recommend using the Normal overdrive mode in order to eliminate ghosting without introducing pixel overshoot.
Sadly, there’s no variable refresh rate support, so you’ll have to use V-Sync to prevent screen tearing.
Some backlight bleeding and IPS glow are noticeable due to the nature of IPS technology, but to a lower degree than what you might see on more common IPS monitors, partially thanks to local dimming.
There’s an integrated low-blue light filter setting (under Scenario Modes in the OSD menu), however, the backlight is not flicker-free as it uses PWM dimming to regulate brightness.
Features
There are four hotkeys for navigation through the OSD menu placed at the right side of the monitor, above the power button.
The menu is pretty straightforward and easy to use though we would’ve preferred a directional joystick for navigation.
Besides the standard brightness, contrast, color temperature and aspect ratio settings, you’ll find three gamma modes (2.2, 2.4 and 2.6) but there are no sharpness or 6-axis hue/saturation adjustments available.
Other features include Picture-in-Picture/Picture-by-Picture and various HDR modes (HDR10, HDR-1000, HLG, Dolby Vision Bright and Dolby Vision Dark), while local dimming can be enabled/disabled for both SDR and HDR content.
Design & Connectivity
The stand of the monitor is robust and offers a good range of ergonomics, including up to 135mm height adjustment, -5°/35° tilt, +/- 45° swivel, +/- 90° pivot and 100x100mm VESA mount compatibility.
Further, the screen has a light matte anti-glare coating that eliminates reflections and a 3-side borderless design with an attachable shading hood, a cable management system and a hole at the base that can serve as a smartphone holder.
Connectivity options are abundant and include DisplayPort 1.4, a DisplayPort 1.4 output for daisy-chaining, three HDMI 2.0 ports and USB type C (with DP 1.4 Alt Mode and 100W Power Delivery).
Other ports, at the left side of the screen, include a quad-USB 3.0 hub (1 upstream USB-B and 4 downstream USB-A ports – one with fast charging) and a headphone jack. There’s also an integrated KVM switch.
Note that HDR is not supported over USB-C.
Price & Similar Monitors
The Lenovo ThinkVision P27 price ranges from $2,000 to $2,500, making it the most affordable monitor for professional HDR editing.
We recommend checking out the Innocn 27M2V 4K 160Hz gaming monitor. It has the same 1152-zone mini LED FALD with 99% Adobe RGB/DCI-P3 color gamut for $800 though it doesn’t support 14-bit 3D LUT or have as accurate factory calibration.
If you’re looking for something better, check out the Dell UP3221Q with a 32″ 4K IPS screen, 2000-zone mini LED FALD and built-in colorimeter for ~$3,500 when on sale.
For game developers, there’s the ASUS PA32UCG, a 32″ 4K IPS monitor with 1152-zone mini LED FALD as well as 120Hz, HDMI 2.1 and VRR support.
You might also want to consider LG’s 27″ and 32″ OLED professional monitors.
Check out our dedicated best photo/video editing monitors buyer’s guide for more information and options.
Conclusion
All in all, if you’re looking to tackle HDR content creation and editing, the Lenovo ThinkVision Creator Extreme P27 is the cheapest model available that will provide you with all the necessary tools.
Specifications
Screen Size | 27-inch |
Resolution | 3840×2160 (Ultra HD) |
Panel Type | IPS |
Aspect Ratio | 16:9 (Widescreen) |
Refresh Rate | 60Hz |
Response Time | 4ms (GtG) |
Ports | DisplayPort 1.4, DisplayPort-out, 3x HDMI 2.0, USB-C (DP Alt Mode, 100W PD) |
Other Ports | Headphone Jack, USB-B, 4x USB-A 3.0 |
Brightness | 620 cd/m² |
Brightness (HDR) | 1200 cd/m² |
Contrast Ratio | 1100:1 (static) |
Colors | 1.07 billion (8-bit + FRC) 99.5% DCI-P3 |
HDR | DisplayHDR 1000, Dolby Vision, HLG |
Local Dimming | 1152-zone mini LED FALD |
VESA | Yes (100x100mm) |
The Pros:
- High peak brightness, wide color gamut and high contrast ratio
- Delta E < 1 factory-calibration, ~100% DCI-P3 gamut coverage
- Plenty of useful features
- Dolby Vision, HDR10, HLG support
- Fully ergonomic design and rich connectivity options, including KVM and USB-C with 100W PD
The Cons:
- Minor blooming/haloing noticeable in certain scenes
- Only 60Hz
- Backlight not flicker-free