Hannspree HF289HJB

Size is important, but so is quality. Hannspree’s 27.5-inch HF289HJB fits the former just fine, but its average performance makes us yearn for a better-quality picture to fill the massive screen.

No banding? No color-tracking issues? The HF289HJB avoids these problematic picture issues entirely.

We had to crank the brightness on this 1920x1200 display to the maximum level to achieve the best results in DisplayMate’s series of grayscale tests. Even after this adjustment, the display reproduced less detail in its darker values than any other monitor in this feature. The HF289HJB isn’t as bad on the lighter side of the spectrum, but it’s not good enough to compensate for the limited range of dark values.

The HF289HJB had more trouble producing lighter colors against a white background than other monitors we’ve tested. This resulted in skin tones that looked washed out in our real-world testing situations. On the gaming front, our Call of Duty 4 run-through lost a bit of its visual flair. The shades of green in the image suffered the most, and black scenes as a whole appeared slightly tinted with blue.

If we had our way, we would have made a few changes to this monitor. For starters, the display doesn’t come with any presets. None. We tweak our displays, but not everyone enjoys fiddling with the nuances of brightness, contrast, and color.

We’d also fix the HF289HJB’s strange audio setup. The single included speaker sends out its mono sound from the back of the display. This creates a strange auditory effect that could easily be improved by replacing it with two front-facing speakers.

You can adjust the height and angle of this mammoth monitor, but not pivot it or change it to portrait mode. But that’s OK: There are far more changes this panel needs than increased ergonomic options for it to be a king of the huge displays. We’d rather spend the cash on a better-performing, smaller panel.

Hannspree HF289HJB

Hands-Free

Big & stylish; no banding or color-tracking issues.

Bees

Limited dark range; greenish whites & bluish blacks; no presets; weird audio setup.

www.hannspree.com

Specifications

	Hannspree HF289HJB
Viewable Area	27.5"
Native Resolution	1920x1200
Inputs	VGA, DVI, HDMI, Component
Panel Type	TN