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Tuesday, December 17, 2013

[Gadget] Qnix QX2710 Evolution II display (Part1- Setting up and powering up)

I’ll be splitting this article into three because it is going to be a long article.

Last Friday I got my new monitor – the Qnix QX2710 Evolution II. 2560x1440 pixels of glory, imported from South Korea, purchased through eBay.

QX2710_Package

It was shipped quite quickly. I ordered it on 30th of November and got it on 6th of December. A week. And they were not operating in the weekend, so it actually took only 5 days. It was delivered through DHL. The delivery within the country was handled by Sagawa.

Since I wasn’t sure if they would tax me for the display, I told the seller to devaluate it. AFAIK, you only get taxed if the value of the item was over JPY16,666. Of course there are some exceptions. Anyway, I didn’t have to pay duty for the display. So basically, it cost me $319 in total. Steep, but for a 1440p IPS (actually PLS) display that can be overclocked to around 100Hz refresh rate, that is well worth it. The only issue would be RMAing because I have to send it back to Korea – which costs shipping.

There weren’t many accessories in the box. It had a dual link DVI cable (the only input type this monitor supports), a power brick just like a laptop charger (as the power supply is not inside the display), a 3.5mm audio cable (which I don’t need) and a power adapter to convert the pins to whatever kind of wall socket you have in the house (which I won’t be using as I have an old cable that plugs directly to the wall as it is).

I started by installing the monitor stand. It had a very simple construction. Just had to use one screw to fix it to the display. It didn’t even need any tools. The base of the stand is rectangular in shape so it doesn’t use a lot of space unnecessarily. However the stand doesn’t feel THAT sturdy. I hope it won’t break in an event of an earthquake for example.

This is a matt display. You can get the glossy display if you like but I hate them. I just get distracted when I see stuff that aren't supposed to be on the display. They say that the matt coat on this display is thin and doesn't take away the crisp of the picture as traditional matt coatings do. That's good. But that also means it is still a bit reflective. Now that I have the display, I should say that it looks just fine to me.

Matt finish on Qnix QX2710_small

Even though the panel is not glossy, the bezel is. I wish it wanted that reflective though. It's a fingerprint magnet. And the bezel is quite thick. Well, it is not thin. The bottom part is wider, which means that you cannot use it in a 3 display configuration in portrait orientation. (You have to use a monitor arm to use it in portrait orientation and to remove the stand completely, you have to take the display apart.)

Since this display supports only dual link DVI as the input from the graphics card, I had no choice but to use the cable provided the display. I had been using HDMI with the previous display. I didn't have a particular reason for that. So what was the big issue? I had to redo the external cable management under the desk. Plus, the DVI cable was a bit stuff and it would not bend easily. You know, I have a Silverstone RV03-B case and you have to install a "cover" on the top of the case. I cover pushes and bends the cable a bit. I don't care as long as the cable doesn't break. I wonder if there are HDMI to Dual DVI or Display Port to Dual DVI converters available to be purchased separately - you never know when one might come in handy.

ports

This display doesn't have an OSD for display settings. You get a very few adjustments. There are only 5 buttons – a power button, two buttons for adjusting the volume of the speakers and two buttons for adjusting the brightness. They are actual physical buttons and are located in the bottom edge of the screen. You cannot see them when you normally look at the display.

control buttons

The display comes with integrated speakers, which of course I won't be using. I won't be even testing them to check whether they work. I just don't want to know anything that I don't need to know. What if they don't work? I would feel bad. I don't want to RMA it just for that but I don't like the idea of keeping something that is broken. Anyways, since they are not intrusive, it's OK to have the speakers in there. What if you have to RMA your speakers one day?

Next step was to power up the display. I connected the existing cable to the power brick and the power brick to the display. It looks just like a laptop power brick - not a modern looking one like what they ship with Ultra-books. Still, I wish it was smaller. Anyways, when I powered up the display, the power LED lit up orange and the display flashed white and went away. I was a bit scared about the flash though. But when I pressed the power button, it came on just fine. Then the LED turned bright blue.

LED

OK, so that's about the preliminary setup. Now it is time to check the monitor in operation.

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