Bottom Line
The LG 27UK850 offers all-around balanced performance for gaming, work and everyday use thanks to its many useful features and stunning image quality.
Looking for a 4K monitor with a USB-C port that supports enough power delivery to charge your laptop? Or perhaps you want FreeSync and HDR for PC/console gaming?
Well, the LG 27UK850 offers all that for a reasonable price!
Image Quality
The LG 27UK850-W monitor is based on an IPS panel, which ensures accurate, consistent and vibrant colors making this display adequate for professional photo-editing tasks.
It supports 10-bit color depth (8-bit + 2-bit FRC), it’s factory-calibrated and it covers 99% of the sRGB color space.
As if that’s not enough, the 4K UHD resolution ensures stunning detail clarity with over 8 million pixels, which on the 27″ screen of the LG 27UK850 display result in a high pixel density of 163 pixels per inch.
Such high pixel density will make everything look tiny, so you will have to scale up your interface, which will, in turn, make everything bigger, crispier and more detailed.
Further, the typical peak brightness of 350-nits will get a small but noticeable boost to 450-nits when watching HDR-compatible content.
Alas, the LG 27UK850 lacks proper color gamut and contrast ratio for a decent HDR (High Dynamic Range) viewing experience. Without at least 90% DCI-P3 color gamut, the monitor doesn’t qualify for VESA’s entry-level HDR400 certification.
Nonetheless, some HDR content actually does look better and more vibrant on the LG 27UK850, but not nearly as good as it does on some more capable (and more expensive) HDR monitors.
Performance
There is minimal backlight bleeding, and IPS glow present on the LG 27UK850 4K monitor while the input lag performance is top-notch, amounting to around 10ms.
Overall, the monitor’s performance is without issues. The wide 178° viewing angles will ensure that the picture looks awesome, no matter the angle you’re looking at the screen.
In addition, the LG 27UK850 is flicker-free and has an integrated filter against the harmful low-blue lights.
When it comes to gaming, set the ‘Response Time’ setting in the OSD (On-Screen Display) menu to ‘Faster’ to get the advertised 5ms response time speed.
On top of that, there’s no prominent ghosting or motion blur visible even in fast-paced video games though a 60Hz refresh rate will feel very sluggish if you’re used to higher refresh rate displays; however, if you prefer better graphics over performance, 4K more than makes up for it.
Features
Moving on, the LG 27UK850 HDR monitor offers plenty of additional features.
Now, you will find all the common features found on LG monitors such as On-Screen Control (to adjust OSD settings in a desktop app), Screen Split (to divide the screen into different layouts for multitasking) and advanced picture alterations such as 6-axis, gamma, etc.
Other gaming features include Black Stabilizer, which alters the gamma curve for more visible details in dark parts of the image, Dynamic Action Sync, which further lowers input lag and pre-calibrated picture presets for FPS and RTS game genres.
Using the HDR Effect feature, you can simulate HDR for non-HDR content. Additionally, there are four different HDR modes: HDR Vivid, HDR Standard, HDR Game and HDR Cinema.
Finally, the LG 27UK850 supports AMD FreeSync, which provides a variable refresh rate if you connect the monitor to a compatible AMD graphic card or an Xbox One console.
Moreover, FreeSync removes all screen tearing and stuttering with minimal input lag penalty for a smoother gaming experience. The LG 27UK850 FreeSync range is 40-60Hz/FPS (Frames Per Second). So, as long as your FPS stays within that range, you’ll face no screen tearing nor stuttering.
While FreeSync works without problems when used with AMD cards and the Xbox One, users with compatible NVIDIA cards may run into some issues depending on the particular unit of the monitor, the graphics card and its driver version.
Design & Connectivity
The design of the monitor is modern yet simple with thin bezels, so it will fit in any environment.
Moreover, it offers versatile ergonomics including up to 110mm height adjustment, -5°/20° tilt, 90° pivot and 100 x 100mm VESA mount compatibility, but you cannot swivel the screen to the left or right.
The LG 27UK850 27-inch monitor has rich connectivity options, including two HDMI 2.0 ports, DisplayPort 1.2, a USB-C port, a dual USB 3.0 hub, a headphone jack and two 5W MaxxAudio built-in speakers.
The USB-C port supports DisplayPort Alternate Mode and power delivery up to 60W. So, you can simultaneously transfer 4K video, audio, data and power to a compatible device with just one cable.
Note that when the USB-C port is not used as the upstream port, the USB hub is limited to the USB 2.0 bandwidth.
All display connectors also support HDCP 2.2, so you can stream content from Netflix, Amazon Video, etc. in 4K UHD. FreeSync works over both HDMI and DisplayPort with a 40-60Hz dynamic range.
Price & Similar Monitors
The LG 27UK850 usually goes for around $450. LG’s UK series consists of 2018 models; this monitor is also available as the LG 27UL850, which is a 2019 variant that goes for around $550. There’s also the 2020 model, the LG 27UN850 and the 2021 model, the LG 27UP850.
The only difference between these models is that the UP850, UL850 and UN850 have DisplayHDR 400 certified HDR support.
However, its specs are just tweaked up to get this certificate. The HDR picture quality won’t actually be any better as the display still lacks a wide color gamut and proper contrast ratio.
Simply put: we recommend checking all models and just going for whichever is cheaper.
In case you want an even more affordable USB-C monitor, check out the Samsung S27A800U, which goes for ~$350.
It even supports power delivery up to 90W and has a wide color gamut, but it lacks AMD FreeSync.
For more USB-C monitors with DP Alt Mode and Power Delivery, check out our dedicated best USB-C monitor guide.
Conclusion
All in all, the LG 27UK850 IPS monitor is perfect for anyone who wants a 4K display with HDR, FreeSync and USB-C.
If you don’t care for HDR and AMD FreeSync though, there are more cost-effective alternatives.
| Screen Size | 27-inch |
| Resolution | 3840×2160 (UHD) |
| Panel Type | IPS |
| Aspect Ratio | 16:9 (Widescreen) |
| Refresh Rate | 60Hz |
| Response Time | 5ms (GtG) |
| Adaptive Sync | FreeSync (40Hz-60Hz) |
| Speakers | 2x5W |
| Ports | DisplayPort 1.2, 2x HDMI 2.0 |
| Other Ports | 2x USB 3.0, USB-C, Headphones Jack |
| Brightness | 350 cd/m2 |
| Brightness (HDR) | 450 cd/m2 |
| Contrast Ratio | 1000:1 (static) |
| Colors | 1.07 billion (8-bit + FRC) |
| HDR | HDR10 |
| VESA | Yes (100x100mm) |
The Pros:
- USB-C with 60W PD and DP Alt Mode
- Plenty of features including FreeSync over HDMI
- Ergonomic design and rich connectivity options
- Accurate and vibrant colors
The Cons:
- Design lacks swivel option
- No wide color gamut and low contrast for HDR
