Monitors for esports players are not uncommon. Therefore, it is not surprising that in the spring of 2023 the company Lenovo presented a monitor in Russia Y25-25 series Legion with a diagonal of 24.5 ”. This device was received by the editor. GameMAG.ru, and today we will take a closer look at it.
PACKAGING, APPEARANCE AND CONNECTORS
Outwardly, the box looks unremarkable: without color printing or bright slogans, as if it were not a gaming product. It opens like a chest, and inside you will find the following set: the monitor itself; leg, consisting of two parts; power cable; Display Port cable; USB Type-B cable version 3.0; instructions and warranty card. Particular attention should be paid to the design features of the fully convertible monitor stand. It consists of two parts that can be easily mated to each other without the use of additional tools. When assembled, the stand looks very stylish and has a number of features in its design that allow you to install the monitor screen in various positions that are convenient for the user at a particular time.
At the lowest point, the screen has a distance of 50 mm from the table surface. Using the soft lift mechanism of the stand, it can be raised above the surface to a height of 180 mm. The vertical travel is 130 mm. Horizontally, the monitor panel can be rotated about the center point to the right and left by 30 degrees. To guide such a turn, movement sectors are marked on the lower part of the leg. You can also adjust the vertical tilt angle of the display. The bottom edge of the monitor can be tilted 5 degrees back and 22 degrees forward. In addition, the screen itself can be set in vertical mode by rotating it 90 degrees. Structurally, the stand is made perfectly, both from the point of view of functionality and from the point of view of design solutions. It is fastened using a latching mechanism, without the use of fastening confirmations. It is very convenient for assembling and disassembling the monitor. At the bottom of the vertical part of the stand there is a ring-clip for compact arrangement of connecting cables. Also, for convenience, a folding mount is located on the left side, where you can hang a headset or headphones.
The 24.5-inch display itself has very thin bezels on the top and sides – only 8 mm. On the bottom frame, 25 mm thick, there are external control elements in the form of buttons and a power-on LED.
Connectors for external connection are located at the bottom end of the back side of the screen. There is one HDMI v2.0 input, one Display Port v1.2, one USB Type-B 3.0 for connecting the built-in USB hub to a PC, and two USB v3.0 outputs. Also on the left side on the back of the monitor is a 3.5 mm slot for connecting headphones or an external speaker system, since the device does not have its own speakers, and two more USB outputs. You can recharge external gadgets from each USB connector, but, unfortunately, this is only possible when the monitor itself is in active mode. The mains connector is also located at the bottom end of the panel and is standard. The Y25-25 power supply is contained inside the case and does not take up space on the desktop. In this case, the total weight of the monitor assembly is 5.3 kg.
TECHNICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND SETTINGS
The first thing I want to mention is the declared refresh rate of 240 Hz and the response time of 1 ms. The fact is that to achieve such values, this monitor uses an LCD panel with an IPS-matrix. This gives a significant advantage in the perception of brightness, contrast and saturation of the picture. This model supports 99% sRGB color space. A WLED panel is used to illuminate the matrix. The screen resolution is Full HD and the aspect ratio is 16: 9. Brightness – 400 cd / m2, thanks to which this monitor supports the DisplayHDR400 standard. Static contrast is 1000: 1 and dynamic contrast is 3,000,000: 1. Viewing angles – 178 horizontally and 178 vertically. In addition, the Legion Y25-25 supports AMD FreeSync Premium technology.
As for the controls of this monitor, the settings control unit and the power button are located at the bottom of the frame. There are 6 buttons in total.
The first button on the right is responsible for turning the monitor power on and off, and the first button on the left is used to quickly switch game modes.
The second button on the left opens the menu of the signal source, the third one opens the menu with settings for various operating modes. By clicking on the fourth button, you launch the menu with color settings (available only when HDR is off), and on the fifth you will get a screen with general information about the current monitor settings.
In addition, the four buttons in the middle are also responsible for navigating within the monitor settings menu. The first section contains general information about the current settings such as device model, firmware version, resolution, refresh rate, color mode and signal source. The next section is devoted to the brightness and contrast settings. In the third section, you will find the color setting. Next, you will be taken to setting up various modes, including game, HDR, FreeSync.
It should be noted that when HDR is enabled, game modes, as well as sections with brightness, contrast and color settings, become unavailable.
The penultimate tab provides a source switching menu where you can choose between HDMI or Display Port, and enable or disable the auto source function. Finally, in the last menu there is a choice of menu language, enabling the charging function via USB connectors, setting the display time and transparency of the menu, as well as a complete reset of the options to the factory settings.
TESTS AND GAMES
According to the official data declared by the manufacturer, the display brightness is 400 cd / m2, and the contrast ratio is 1000: 1. In the DisplayHDR Test program, we were able to see the maximum effective value at 669 (407.875854 nits) and the minimum at 52 (0.064262 nits). The developers claim that the monitor supports the DisplayHDR 400 standard, and you will find an HDR option in the settings. It should be noted that this standard is basic for LED-backlit displays, for it a matrix with 8 bits and a brightness of 400 cd / m2 is sufficient. HDR was tested not only on PC, but also on PS4 Pro and Xbox One X. Contrast and brightness improvements were noticed everywhere.
In terms of performance, the monitor is capable of delivering a refresh rate of 240 Hz via both Display Port and HDMI. The minimum response time for this matrix, when it switches the brightness on gray from the minimum to the maximum value, is 1 ms. The average response time is 3ms from black to white and vice versa.
We tested the monitor on PC, Xbox One X and PS4 Pro on projects such as Forza Horizon 4 (PC), Gears 5 (PC), Ghost of Tsushima (PS4), The Last of Us Part II (PS4), and Forza Motorsport 7 (Xbox One). Despite the monitor resolution (1920 x 1080), the PS4 Pro allowed 4K resolution, which made games a little sharper and added anti-aliasing. On Xbox One X, the monitor resolution can be set to 4K, which also results in sharper images. Even on Xbox One X, AMD FreeSync 2 could be enabled to prevent screen tearing.
On a PC, this monitor felt the best and was able to show very smooth images in both racing and shooters. It is worth noting that the device offers a high-quality 2023 IPS-matrix with excellent viewing angles, so it is very comfortable to play on it, even without sitting directly in front of it.
At the same time, this monitor has small defects – small highlights on the lower edge of the display, as well as a little more near the lower right corner. A traditional problem with LED-backlit displays, but this is not very pronounced here. Highlights are seen in dark scenes in games and 21: 9 screensavers with black bars at the top and bottom.
RESULTS
Legion Y25-25 is the ultimate device, which is suitable not only for professional e-sportsmen, but also for ordinary players who are not ready to limit themselves to one platform. You will find everything you need in this model – a good sensor, fast response, high refresh rate and even HDR support. The only drawback is the non-intuitive control unit on the front panel. A bunch of buttons in 2023 instead of one convenient joystick is not a great idea. Even so, the monitor is really great.
Author: Sergey Dyakonenko (Madnfs)
A photo: Sergey Dyakonenko (Madnfs) and Alexey Olkin…
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