Dough, the monitor model previously often known as Eve, has skilled a little bit of a redemption arc over the course of the final 12 months. Regardless of a run of controversy that noticed it fail to ship merchandise to backers and a interval of poor communication for these trying to be refunded, it proceeded to proper its wrongs, get inventory into prospects’ palms and, within the form of its Dough Spectrum One vary, ship among the best 4K gaming-oriented screens available on the market.
It entered 2024 with the promise of much more luxurious shows focussed round premium OLED panel tech, with the Dough Spectrum Black line. Set to launch in 27-inch / 1440p and 32-inch / 4K configurations, it’s the smaller of the 2 that we’re right this moment.
And whereas the monitor enjoys most of the high-end options that made the Spectrum One line a pleasure, some drawbacks in the way in which OLED is deployed right here — together with a steeper-than-is-competitive price ticket — make it more durable to suggest than its stablemates, and never among the many ranks of the greatest screens for Mac.
Dough Spectrum Black 27-inch 1440p OLED monitor: Worth and availability
The Dough Spectrum Black 27-inch 1440p OLED monitor may be ordered now. A model with the Gorilla Glass shiny end that we’ve cherished from Dough up to now will set you again $1,099, whereas the matte end prices $899. An non-compulsory stand is a further $99, however the screens assist commonplace VESA mounts for those who’ve already acquired an arm in your desk.
OLED or not, that is costly for a 1440p display screen, even for those who’re wanting on the $899 matte possibility. As you’ll see as we undergo the assessment right here, the cheaper 4K Dough possibility will doubtless make extra sense for a lot of.
Dough Spectrum Black 27-inch 1440p OLED monitor: Design and connectivity
The general look and have set of the Dough Spectrum Black 27-inch is its strongest level. As with earlier Dough screens, it strips again any of the flashy ‘gamer’ aesthetic that you simply would possibly discover on similarly-spec’d screens, and retains it easy with a black-and-metal-only design. Skinny borders and a good thinner panel make for a svelte display screen and, for those who go for the non-compulsory stand, it retains issues easy too with a brushed-aluminium end and a sensible cable guiding system. It’s a really good stand really – easily rising, rotating and tilting, with one of many easiest-to-guide snap-on mounts of any stand I’ve tried.
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It’s a equally glorious array of enter ports on supply. The Dough Spectrum Black 27-inch serves up 2x HDMI 2.1a ports, a DisplayPort 1.4, 1x USB Sort-C DisplayPort, and 1x USB Sort-C upstream connection. Going within the different course, it’s additionally supporting output for 2x USB Sort-C 3.1 Gen2, 2x USB Sort-A 3.1 Gen2, and three.5mm audio. Consider a KVM change for controlling a keyboard and mouse throughout a number of units related to the monitor, and 100W energy supply over USB-C for preserving your MacBook charged, and it’s able to be the focus in your entire desk.
From a design perspective, the one downside is the rear-mounted management joystick, used to navigate the OSD. Sitting simply above the KVM and energy buttons, joysticks on screens are a chore at one of the best of occasions, however the nature of OLED monitor settings means you’re doubtless going to be diving into the OSD extra typically than you often would. The inclusion of a distant right here would go a great distance.
Dough Spectrum Black 27-inch 1440p OLED monitor: Efficiency
Let’s begin with what the monitor will get proper. Off the bat, the very nature of OLED implies that response time and latency are near zero (0.03 milliseconds grey-to-grey). With a refresh charge of as much as 240Hz, black body insertion, and each Nvidia G-Sync and FreeSynch Premium Professional VRR strategies supported, it’s responsive sufficient to cater to even pro-level players.
However the alternative within the panel itself is the place the issues begin to rear their heads. The Dough Spectrum Black 27-inch OLED makes use of a first-gen LG OLED. That makes it fairly a dim show by right this moment’s requirements, reaching a typical 150 cd/m² brightness, and hitting a peak of 450 cd/m². That pushes as much as 1,000 cd/m² of peak luminance while you’re working HDR video games and content material, however solely throughout a tiny share of the display screen. If it’s not a scene of stars throughout an ink-black sky, it’s going to look surprisingly uninteresting. Coloration and distinction are wealthy and vivid, however for those who’re searching for an eye-popping HDR expertise, this isn’t the one.
That would nonetheless be satisfactory throughout day-to-day workplace utilization the place blinding brightness would really be a bit off-putting. However the readability of this OLED panel at 1440p turns into a problem too. LG’s panel makes use of what’s referred to as a W-OLED sub-pixel construction — including a white subpixel to the usual crimson, inexperienced, and blue that makes up the same old RGB array. This isn’t an issue in, say, OLED TVs the place textual content isn’t below near-constant close-up scrutiny, however when utilized in a desktop working system it wreaks havoc on fonts, giving a ghostly fringe to the sting of textual content. This was obvious when utilizing the monitor with each macOS and Home windows and is exacerbated by the lower-pixel density of a 1440p show, whereas a 4K panel utilizing the identical array can conceal it a bit higher by the sheer pressure of pixel numbers behind it.
To present it its truthful due, the display screen is primarily geared toward players, and this challenge would not often come into play when fragging dangerous dudes or hitting up your favourite console platformers over that HDMI 2.1 connection. However a part of the attraction of Dough screens up to now for me has been their means to put on two hats directly — reserved sufficient and with smart options to make them workplace-friendly whereas having sufficient gaming grunt to tug out all of the stops for an intense play session. That’s not the case with this mannequin.
It’s a problem additional exacerbated by the inherent quirks of OLED. Burn-in stays a problem with OLED, and Dough sensibly contains a number of choices to mitigate this. However they too change into annoyances. Common pixel shifting performs along with your eyes, however probably the most offensive to me was the aggressive dimming used to guard the show. Shifting a light-weight and vibrant browser window round as an example would trigger the brightness of various areas of the show to fluctuate noticeably to accommodate it, and the one approach to get round that is to activate probably the most aggressive brightness-throttling controls within the OSD.
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Dough, in some ways, is taking the fitting strategy right here — the very last thing you need is your Safari toolbar seared into your panel for all eternity. However you then’re left micro-managing these protecting settings each time you need to do one thing leisurely like play a sport on the display screen, which then leaves you fumbling across the again for that awkward management stick greater than you’d often do with an LCD display screen. You begin to really feel just like the concessions outweigh the advantages.
Dough Spectrum Black 27-inch 1440p OLED monitor: Competitors
If OLED is your one-and-only monitor want, and also you’re the type of gaming-focused laptop consumer that these types of screens are primarily geared toward, have a take into consideration one thing just like the Philips Envia 42M2N8900/01. At 42 inches and with a 4K decision, you’re getting much more display screen for not very rather more cash, with the monitor often on sale across the $1,400 / £1,400. It’s not fairly pretty much as good when it comes to refresh charge, maxing out at a (barely odd) 138Hz — however that’s nonetheless silky clean sufficient for the frames you’re doubtless going to have the ability to push at that display screen dimension. Plus, you’ve acquired far more display screen to immerse your self in.
Personally although, I’d simply return to Dough’s personal LCD IPS Spectrum One vary. Its 4K / 144Hz screens are very good and endure from not one of the OLED-specific issues talked about above. They’re priced at $599.99 for the matte end, $699.99 for shiny, and $799.99 for the shiny Gorilla Glass model. I believe they’re genuinely nice, and that matte one particularly is a good deal at that worth.
Dough Spectrum Black 27-inch 1440p OLED monitor: Do you have to purchase it?
Purchase the Dough Spectrum Black 27-inch 1440p OLED monitor if…
Having OLED’s wealthy distinction and inky blacks is vital to you
OLED continues to be the premier show tech if you need the darkest blacks and brightest distinction highlights.
You sport extra in your laptop than you do work
Most of the greatest drawbacks of the show disappear for those who’re simply utilizing it purely for gaming.
The Dough fashion appeals to you, regardless of the value
I am nonetheless in love with the reserved aesthetic of Dough’s show, preserving issues easy in a world of garish gaming screens.
Don’t purchase the Dough Spectrum Black 27-inch 1440p OLED monitor if…
You want a monitor as adept at work as it’s for gaming
A 1440p first-gen OLED panel from LG simply is not an ideal match for day-to-day productiveness.
You need worth for cash
You will get similarly-spec’d — if not higher — screens at a greater worth level than is obtainable right here.
You don’t need to micro-manage display screen settings
To make the display screen comfy to make use of when switching between gaming and productiveness periods, you are going to must get used to diving into its settings menu commonly.
Verdict
Dough nonetheless will get so much proper with the Dough Spectrum Black. I’m nonetheless an enormous fan of its laid-back exterior design and its port choice, for starters. Although the stand is dear, its sold-separately nature is nice for these with a longtime desk-and-monitor-arm setup, too. And in motion, particularly when gaming, it’s not half dangerous, with a excessive refresh charge and deep blacks.
However there are points right here. It’s out of step with the pricing of comparable screens. Font edging is poor. Peak brightness isn’t nice. And the quantity of concessions made to forestall dreaded OLED burn-in make it an ungainly monitor for daily-driver workloads — which, as a Mac-focussed web site, is all the time the first use case for us.
Players will nonetheless discover heaps to take pleasure in then as soon as they acclimatise to the quirks of residing with an OLED monitor. Nevertheless it’s not an ideal pairing in your Mac.
As for the 32-inch mannequin, we’ve but to get our palms on that. However there’s heaps to counsel it might iron out most of the creases the 27-inch model has to take care of, notably round its pixel make-up and related readability. Right here’s hoping Dough delivers, and that it will probably restart its latest run of nice gear.
Dough Spectrum Black 27-inch OLED monitor
Backside line: An excellent-looking monitor held again by a high-price tag and the fiddly nature of a 1440p OLED show.
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