AMD announced on Friday that Lenovo finally joined its FreeSync collective with the launch of the new Lenovo Y27f Curved Gaming Monitor. While the 27-inch panel costs $400, it only has a maximum resolution of 1,910 by 1,080, so gamers looking for Ultra HD PC gaming will need to look elsewhere. However, it does provide a curved experience, promising a wider view and better, more immersive gaming.
Of course, there’s the FreeSync aspect, too. This is AMD’s technology, hence the reason why the chip company is promoting this specific panel. Lenovo is no stranger when it comes to gaming monitors, but this is its first packing FreeSync tech that plays nice with AMD’s graphics chips. That said, if you root for Team Nvidia, you may want to check out Lenovo’s $600 27-inch Y27g Curved Gaming Monitor packing G-Sync technology and a FHD resolution.
Both FreeSync and G-Sync are similar in nature. They control the refresh rate of the monitor while gaming, which is essentially the panel flashing an image multiple times a second. If the panel is set at 60Hz, then the image is flashed 60 times a second. If the graphics chip in the desktop or laptop is pumping out images at a different rate, then the viewer may see screen tearing and stuttering. FreeSync and G-Sync matches the screen refresh rate with imagery output of the supported Radeon or GeForce graphics card, respectively, providing clean, fluid imagery.
“Since March of 2015, Radeon graphics and AMD FreeSync technology have used DisplayPort to enable smooth gaming on over 40 compatible monitors,” AMD states. “In 2016, AMD aims to make smooth PC gaming even more accessible with a unique extension that enables AMD FreeSync over HDMI.”
Most of AMD’s graphics cards support its FreeSync technology, which are listed here. As for Lenovo’s monitor, it has a maximum refresh rate of 144Hz, meaning its capable of flashing 144 images a second. That’s really high, enabling the Radeon card to offer near-flawless gameplay at a 1,920-by-1,080 resolution (depending on the game’s quality settings, of course).
On a more technical note, the new panel has a four millisecond response time, a contrast ratio of 3,000:1, and 178-degree viewing angles. It includes one HDMI 1.4 port, one DisplayPort 1.2 connector, and a USB 3.0 hub, with one port used to connect to the desktop or laptop, and one that can be used to charge a mobile device. The panel sits on a lift tilt swivel stand with a swivel of -30 to 30 degrees, and a tilt of -5 to 30 degrees.
Lenovo’s new panel comes packed with the stand and base, an HDMI cable, a DisplayPort cable, a USB cable, a power cord, and the setup guide. The company also offers a free utility here called Lenovo Artery for managing the monitor’s settings from the desktop or laptop. It’s compatible with Windows 7 (32-bit) all the way up to Windows 10 (64-bit).
Other curved panels provided by Lenovo are rather hidden on its website. There seems to be only three, which includes the two we listed above. The third model is the Lenovo Y27g RE Curved Gaming Monitor for $650, another 27-inch G-Sync panel with customizable Razer Chroma lighting. Its maximum resolution is 1,920 by 1,080 as well.
