Hazro HZ30W review

Paul Monckton ZDNet.co.uk

Published: 05 Nov 2007

A newcomer to the monitor market, Hazro has introduced a range of professional widescreen displays starting at 23in. in size. All use high-quality panels and share almost identical physical design and sturdy aluminium construction.

The biggest of the bunch, the HZ30W, joins a very small number of 30in. displays currently available. With a strong emphasis on high quality at a low price, Hazro has removed all unnecessary frills such as USB ports and audio — along with some we'd rather were included, such as a height-adjustable and swivelling stand. All of these features are available on Dell’s popular UltraSharp 3007WFP, but unlike the Dell product the HZ30W’s metal casing allows it to be completely sealed from the air, preventing problems with dust and or accidental liquid spillages.

In most respects, the HZ30W is very much like the other monitors in the HZ range. The styling is identical, as is the finish and the build quality, but there are two major differences other than size.

Like most 30in. monitors on the market, the HZ30W offers a very basic set of controls. In fact, there’s no on-screen menu system at all. All you get is a pair of touch-sensitive brightness controls mounted discretely beneath the bezel along with a power switch, illuminated with tiny LEDs.

The belief is that users of 30in. monitors are a different breed. These people know how to calibrate their monitors themselves, and unnecessary options such as contrast controls or colour temperature options simply get in the way. For professional users, the only reason for entering the menu system is to verify that nothing has been set up incorrectly — and with the HZ30W you don’t need to do this.

If you want to make adjustments to brightness, contrast and gamma then you can do so directly from the graphics driver on your PC — as long as you have the latest drivers installed and your card supports this feature. Thankfully, most recent graphics cards do.

The HZ30W doesn’t have retina-threatening brightness or an enormous contrast ratio but, thanks to its high-quality S-IPS panel, it does deliver superb colour, which remains consistent at very wide viewing angles. In our tests, we recorded brightness and contrast commensurate with the specification at 300cd/m2 and 400:1 respectively, while the colour gamut was far greater than most monitors we’ve tested.

PC monitors sold as multimedia displays often have much greater brightness, with more expensive models also offering artificially boosted dynamic contrast. Despite its size, the HZ30W isn’t about multimedia. There are no preset 'movie' or 'photo' modes — it’s all about delivering an accurate and consistent display for photo editing or video work, although at this size games do look great and even spreadsheets are almost fun.

The second reason for accessing an on-screen menu is to change inputs. You won’t need to do this on the HZ30W because, unlike the other monitors in the Hazro range, it has only one: a dual-link DVI connector. So you won’t be attaching HD sources to this display — it’s strictly for your PC or your Mac, and you’ll need to make sure you have a graphics card capable of its native 2,560-by-1,600-pixel resolution as it won’t scale to any others.

A 30in. display isn’t for everyone, but if you need a lot of screen space and can do without frills and extras, then the HZ30W represents very good value for money while delivering excellent quality standards.

 

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