Dough - Spectrum One 27" LCD 144-Hz Gaming Monitor with USB-C Dock and Spectrum Monitor Stand Kit - Matte

So I'm giving this a 4-star rating but I'd really probably rate it 3.5 stars if I could. Background: Dough, formerly Eve, has a somewhat controversial history if you do your research online. I am not going to go into that, but I would very much recommend that anyone that is thinking of buying this or another one of Dough's monitors, to do their own thorough research into it. That having been said, I felt comfortable ordering this monitor from Best Buy given the excellent return policy in case something was wrong with it, but I am not sure I would buy it from anywhere else. Display Quality: The first thing I want to say is that the display is very nice, and I feel the Gorilla glass helps to give it some "pop". However, it's probably important to note that while it's "Gorilla Glass", it's not a true glossy. It apparently uses the Matte version of the display, though I'm assuming without a final cover/coating over it that would give it full anti-reflectiveness. What this means is that the Gorilla Glass gives it some reflectiveness and glossiness, nearly on-par with the actual Glossy version they sell, but it's still not truly Glossy, and the Display Model # will actually show up as their Matte version. Overall, it's 4K, has high PPI which I like, no issues that I have noticed with VRR/etc., has good colors, and there were no dead or stuck pixels or anything else that I've noticed inherently wrong with it. So why four stars instead of five? There's something quirky about the backlight - when the screen wakes from sleep, it's dimmer than normal for a few seconds and then the backlight fully turns on and brightens to the set point. It's consistently occurring so I don't think there's anything "wrong" with it, but it's a weird behavior and I'd be lying if I said it didn't make me concerned for the longevity of the display for some reason. Ease of Use: This gets three-stars because the OSD is very basic and a bit hard to navigate, with weird setting confirmation method that takes some getting used to. It does what it needs to, but I feel like it could take a good bit more work to really smooth it out. Features: So by-and-large, the monitor's features are top-notch: DisplayPort, HDMI 2.1, USB-C with PD, VRR (G-sync and Freesync), "HDR" (600, and not something that you'd likely want to use). It's about as feature-loaded as could be expected, though it's also more expensive than comparable brands, especially with the stand. I will also mention that the stand allows height adjustment and rotation, but for some reason no pivot. Not a deal breaker, but seems a weird design choice for what is otherwise probably one of the nicest stands you can get with a monitor. General: So why would I give it 3.5 stars instead of 4 or more? It comes down to some of the additional "factors" - the need to basically buy the stand unless you want to use a VESA universal arm or stand, which is still an additional need - the concern I do have over the company's history made me want to buy Best Buy's Geek Squad warranty as a precaution, which added to the total cost - the fact that Best Buy now has it marked as no longer available as new, which makes me wonder if it was a limited-time sale or there's something else going on that is of concern In summary, I have been enjoying the monitor a lot, playing a mix of games, general use, and work on it, and it makes me wish that more companies would invest in both glossy (non-OLED) and gorilla glass-type options. Would I buy it again given the issues above? Yeah, I believe so. Would I recommend it to someone? If they did their research and knew what they're getting into, yeah, I would, as long as it's from Best Buy. If they just wanted a 27" 4K monitor without any desire to learn about this? I'd probably recommend they look else where.

Amazing screen. It’s bright and when playing Xbox it’s smooth with 144hz. It does take a few seconds long to auto input. It works great on Mac mini too. I use usb c thunderbolt connector works nice.

I’m glad this monitor is on Best Buy now. I have 3 on my desk and I’ve been happy. Excellent design and the glossy display is the best.

I absolutely love the glossed screen. I find that monitors that are 2-3x more expensive look far worse with the matte finishes. Sometimes changing between inputs can be fidgety, but turning it on and off fixes that.

I bought this directly from the manufacturer before it was available via Best Buy, and have been using it for several months now as a thunderbolt monitor attached to my laptop. When it is on and working, the image quality is very nice and the overall design looks good. However, with several different laptops, I experience constant freezing and connectivity issues: The first thing I noticed is that this monitor takes longer than others to "link" with laptops, especially on Thunderbolt. It seems to think for a minute, connect and reconnect, and then finally come to life. It also has some sort of weird USB device that shows up in the windows taskbar that other USB hub monitors don't. The biggest issue is when resuming from standby/sleep. It is a total gamble whether the monitor will wake up. Recently it seems like a 50/50 chance. If the monitor does not wake up, the only thing that will get it working again is pulling the power cord from the monitor and plugging it back in. And when I do that, I frequently get "weird" behavior on the laptop like flickering graphics. Often the monitor shows up in the windows Display Properties as a generic monitor with no data/info and what looks like a 640x480 resolution. So something is very off. Other gripes are that the OSD is very poorly designed and clunky to use, and that the downstream USB power never seems to exceed 50 watts, even though the monitor is rated for 90. Finally, I note that in the time I've had this, I have used a Surface Laptop Studio, Dell XPS 15, and HP Spectre, along with multiple different certified USB4 / TB4 cables. These behaviors have been consistent across them, so I strongly believe it is simply that the monitor is not really functioning properly.