China’s TCL has made its very first foray into the PC monitor industry in a move that’s sure to make other manufacturers worried, launching its 27-inch 27R83U and 34-inch 34R83Q displays that sport an impressive 1,152 Mini-LED local dimming zones. 

The company, which has in recent years emerged as the primary contender to South Korean TV makers Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics, first revealed it’s setting its sights on the monitor market in January at the 2024 Consumer Electronics Show, when it spoke of its plans. 

TCL didn’t showcase any products back then so anyone who thought its first monitors might still be some way off could be forgiven, but the company has proven to be quick off the mark. By entering the Mini-LED LCD monitor business, it’s once again setting its sights on Samsung and LG, as well as other leading players like Asus. 

TCL says it’s first two monitors are “professional” displays that can double as gaming monitors. As well as the Mini-LED dimming zones, they also boast 1,600 nits peak brightness. 

In terms of differences, what really sets the two monitors apart is their size and shape. The 34-inch TCL 34R83Q is not just larger, but features a 21:9 curved aspect ratio with a VA LCD panel and 3440x1440 resolution. Meanwhile the 27-inch TCL 27R83U is obviously smaller, with a flat 16:9 VA LCD panel with 3840x2160 resolution. 

Connectivity-wise, the monitors both come with a pair of HDMI 2.1 ports plus a single DisplayPort 1.4 slot. They both support HDR10 but not Dolby Vision. And they’re both pre-calibrated to dE < 2, which the company said will ensure high colour accuracy for people who wish to use them for video and graphics editing tasks. 

As for the sound capabilities, they come with built-in speakers and feature a 90-watt Type-C interface for external audio devices. They also support KVM functionality which makes it possible to use several PCs on the same monitor via a single mouse and keyboard setup, which is the perfect setup for multitasking with several demanding workloads at once. 

They’re also quite capable gaming monitors, by the sounds of it. According to TCL, the TCL 34R83Q can support refresh rates of up to 170Hz, while the TCL 27R83U goes up to 160Hz. This is not bad, exceeding the refresh rates of most monitors on the market, though they still fall short of the most advanced OLED monitors, which can hit up to 480Hz.

TCL didn’t say anything about prices, but the 34R83Q is currently on sale for about 1,100 euros in a number of online stores. We haven't spotted the 27R83U on sale anywhere just yet.

Although TCL itself didn’t showcase any monitors at CES 2024, its panel making subsidiary TCL CSOT did display a couple of RGB OLED panels for PC monitors and laptops. The implication is that TCL may well launch its own OLED-based monitors in the not too distant future, in which case it should be able to step things up and challenge for market share in the premium gaming display segment.