HP's Omen gaming monitors have had a good track record with us—in fact, 2020's Omen X 27 was one of the first to bring a blazing-fast 240Hz refresh rate to a 1440p-resolution display. The new HP Omen 27u 4K ($699.99) falls short of that refresh rate but boosts the native resolution, delivering 4K (3,840-by-2,160-pixel) clarity at up to 120Hz for console gaming, thanks to its HDMI 2.1 port. It's a handsome device for next-gen console gamers, equipped with plenty of ports and tempting features, though its input lag measure will deter fast-twitch esports players. (Then again, the most serious of that crowd are likely playing at 1080p, anyway.)A 4K Panel That's Designed for All GamersThe Omen 27u 4K is a great-looking monitor both aesthetically and in terms of image quality. The 27-inch display makes use of the latest IPS panel from LG, dubbed IPS Oxide. Compatible with the VESA DisplayHDR 400 spec, the monitor advertises 95% coverage of the DCI-P3 color gamut for true-to-life gaming and a sharp 1,000:1 contrast ratio (both numbers we'll scrutinize shortly). It's a bit hefty at 17.2 pounds, about two pounds heavier than one of our key picks for the best PlayStation 5 monitor, the Asus TUF Gaming VG28UQL1A. The HP has a height-adjustable stand and tilts back and forth comfortably without needing too much force to move. The panel also comes equipped with AMD FreeSync Premium Pro. In addition to the usual adaptive-sync function of FreeSync (more about that in a moment), Premium Pro helps keep latency low when gaming with HDR enabled or in SDR mode. The panel is capable of a 120Hz refresh rate at 4K resolution over HDMI 2.1. Alternatively, you can hit 144Hz at 4K using DisplayPort 1.4.Adaptive sync is the dynamic adjusting of a monitor's refresh rate to the frame rate of the graphics card (GPU), eliminating screen tearing and stuttering while playing PC games. The FreeSync Premium Pro branding also means that certain titles such as Borderlands 3 and Far Cry 6 have been optimized to include highly accurate luminance and wide color gamut testing to enable an exceptional HDR gaming experience, though it's widely supported by other games. It's also compatible with Nvidia G-Sync, so adaptive sync will work even if you're using an Nvidia GPU. Featuring an RGB-illuminated port hub around back, the Omen 27u provides one HDMI 2.0 port, one HDMI 2.1 port, one DisplayPort, two USB Type-A ports, and one USB Type-C port. The HDMI 2.1 port is the main attraction for the latest gaming consoles (i.e., the Sony PlayStation 5 and Microsoft Xbox Series X), as it lets them display 120 frames per second while maintaining a 4K image. High frame rates were already possible with an HDMI 2.0 port, but limited to 1080p or 1440p resolution.Now, if you find yourself lucky enough to own one of those sought-after consoles, you'll need to keep in mind that not every game is capable of 120fps at 4K out of the box. A limited number of games take advantage of the faster frame rates, mostly on the Xbox Series X thanks to Microsoft's larger backward-compatibility catalog and FPS Boost technology. On the PS5, you're looking at just a handful of games that can truly benefit from 120Hz refresh.The monitor's RGB lighting can be managed in Omen Light Studio, which can sync up with all your HP devices and some third-party devices. You need to install HP's Omen Gaming Hub software to use Light Studio, but once you're in, the app is pretty intuitive. I'm neither here nor there about RGB lighting, but if it looks good, I'll use it—and the Omen 27u's looks good.Testing the HP Omen 27u 4K: XXXXXTo put the new HP display to the test, we ran it through our standard gaming-monitor measurements using a SpyderX Elite spectrometer and its companion Datacolor software.First, we test the display in its default picture mode with an SDR signal. Here the Omen reached a brightness of 346 nits and a black level of 0.31, which yields a contrast ratio of 1,120:1. We expect at least 1,000:1 contrast from a gaming monitor, so all aces here. Contrast ratio indicates the luminance of the brightest white and darkest black that a monitor can produce. The higher the contrast ratio, the deeper the blacks and the brighter the whites. It makes a huge difference in picture quality, especially during dark scenes in gameplay.Next, we switch to HDR and check the brightness again. This time, the HP delivered 430 nits, topping its HDR400 rating. A good Omen, perhaps? Will the magic continue during the color gamut and accuracy tests? As a matter of fact, it did. The Omen 27u 4K registered 100% coverage of the sRGB color gamut, 86% of Adobe RGB, and 94% of DCI-P3. Those results top other 4K monitors in its price range, such as the Asus VG28UQL1A. The HP's color accuracy results are also impressive, with an average Delta E of 1.30: good results that line up nicely with its gamut coverage.Media and Gaming PerformanceWhile those numbers are nice, nothing beats actually using the monitor for the jobs you bought it for—playing games and watching movies. In HDR, our 4K Costa Rica test footage looked great, as did AAA games like Halo Infinite with image quality cranked all the way up. Games like Forza Horizon 5, which support native HDR, also looked impressive on the monitor.That's while using the DisplayPort. When testing games on using the HDMI 2.1 port, we noticed some screen flickering when we set the monitor's response time setting set to its highest level, but this issue was not present at all levels or in every game. The flickering was present during the Final Fantasy XIV benchmark, for example, but not present in our F1 2020 trials. While we weren't able to pinpoint the exact cause, we suspect we might just be pushing the hardware beyond its limits. And while that may seem dire, the HDMI 2.1 port will likely be used for your consoles, so it's an issue that can be sidestepped.One other modest concern during testing concerned input lag (the amount of time between when a monitor receives a signal and the screen updates). Using our HDFury 4K Diva HDMI matrix, we registered lag as high as 7.9 milliseconds. Is that bad? For general gaming, no. In fact, most players in most games will consider anything up to 15ms acceptable. But the lower the number, the better, and while input lag won't matter for normal play, high lag is a turn-off for competitive esports players.It's also important to note that while HP advertises a response time of 1 millisecond for the monitor, response time and input lag aren't the same thing. Input lag refers to the delay between your commands and the image changing, while response time is the time pixels take to change from black to white or from one shade of gray to another. One being low doesn't guarantee the other will follow suit. While I'm used to playing with lower input lag on my Acer Nitro XV27U, there is something to be said for gaming at a higher refresh rate in full 4K resolution. If you prefer single-player games or slower-paced MMOs as I do, chances are you won't mind an input lag measure like this at all. But for fast-twitch shooters, monitors with a lower input lag work best, such as the MSI Oculux NXG253R.A Pretty Good Omen, After AllThe HP Omen 27u is a solid 4K monitor, uniquely equipped to serve both PC and console gamers at a price that doesn't break the bank. But while it performed admirably in our color tests, its higher input lag will dissuade competitive players. If you're looking to build a combination console and PC gaming station, the Omen 27u 4K should do just fine, but hardcore enthusiasts might want to settle for a lower resolution with the likes of the Alienware 27 Gaming Monitor or the 360Hz Asus ROG Swift PG259QN, which sacrifice sharpness for higher frame rates and lower input lag. It's all about the platforms and the game types that you tend to play.

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