What should you look for when choosing the best monitor for your needs? One that’s bright and lets you see colors accurately, has enough ports, low latency, and a good refresh rate — and the Lenovo L27i-4B is just that.
Geared towards productivity and for use in an office, the L27i-4B sports a minimalist 27-inch design and is bright enough in most lighting conditions. It comes with two HDMI 1.4 ports and a legacy VGA port, and has a 100Hz refresh rate for casual gaming too. However, befitting its $109 price tag, there’s no HDR support and the height can’t be adjusted.
For the complete breakdown, read my full Lenovo L27i-4B review.
Lenovo L27i-4B review: Cheat sheet
- What is it? A 27-inch 1080p monitor featuring a 100Hz refresh rate and 4ms response time
- Who is it for? Anyone looking for a monitor to use at work or at home that’s geared towards productivity
- How much does it cost? The Lenovo L27i-4B is available for $109 / £159
- What do we like? The 100Hz refresh rate, legacy VGA port, minimalist design and that it’s great for both productivity and casual gaming
- What don’t we like? Its height can’t be adjusted and there’s no HDR support
Lenovo L27i-4B review: Specs
Lenovo L27i-4B review: The ups
From its minimalist design and multiple ports to its performance in the office and in casual gaming, the Lenovo L27i-4B is a fantastic budget monitor.
Minimalist design
The Lenovo L27i-4B sports a nondescript, all-gray design which fits right into your office space. There’s no flashy RGB like on the best gaming monitors. Measuring 24.07 x 7.15 x 18.69 inches, it can work as a solo monitor or alongside a second display. It also weighs 13.71lbs so it’s heavy enough to stay put in place but light enough for you to easily move it around.
Adding to the monitor’s minimalism is its user-friendly interface. A navigation joystick, connection and power buttons are located behind the right-hand side of the monitor, and they’re easy to reach and use.
The no-frills menu lets you adjust brightness and contrast and swap between color modes (Warm, Cool, sRGB, etc.). There’s no lag between you using the buttons and the commands being executed on screen.
Overall, the L27i-4B is extremely intuitive to use, and I really appreciate its low-key design. Not once did I think it looked out of place on my work desk.
Ports galore
On the Lenovo L27i-4B’s back, you’ll find all the ports: a power socket, two HDMI 1.4 ports, a 3.5mm audio out jack, and an anti-theft Kensington Security Slot in case you’re worried your coworkers are going to run off with it.
However, the HDMI 1.4 connectivity means you won’t be able to plug the best gaming consoles into the monitor — but it would be unfair to knock down a point for that as this is more of an office monitor.
You also get a Legacy VGA port which you don’t always see on modern monitors. It’s used to connect a video source, like a computer. VGA ports were more common back in the day but it’s nice to see that Lenovo provides connectivity options for people with older PCs too.
Great for productivity
If, like me, you have multiple windows, tabs and applications open all the time, then you need a monitor that’s wide enough to display everything properly — and the Lenovo L27i-4B does just that with its 27-inch screen. I used this monitor alongside my company-issued 24-inch monitor, so I had three screens at my disposal (including my MacBook Air M2).
I used the 24-inch monitor to display two spreadsheets, my MacBook to display tabs with reference articles open, and the L27i-4B as the one I typed on, sitting directly in front of me. Not having to navigate the vast array of tabs I had open on just one screen resulted in a huge productivity boost.
I also test some of the best drones and best mirrorless cameras, so I appreciated having a bigger screen not just to analyze footage and stills, but also to access all of the controls in Adobe Photoshop during post-production.
Our lab tests showed the L27i-4B excels when it comes to its color coverage, especially for a monitor that costs just $109 / £159. It delivers 126% of the sRGB color gamut and 89.3% of the DCI-P3 color gamut (closer to 100% is generally seen as better/more accurate).
The sRGB coverage is great, and to me, colors appeared bright yet not oversaturated — and viewing photos I’d taken on cameras became easier. For instance, the shades of orange in a robin’s fur appeared true to life and very bright, and I was able to edit the photo’s contrast and saturation with accuracy. 8-bit color depth also means that the monitor can display up to 16 million individual hues.
You can see how the monitor compares to other 1080P monitors. Both the Dell 24 S2421HGF ($250) and the Gigabyte G27FC ($229) are pricier than the L27i-4B, and the monitor still holds its own. Its color coverage is better than the S2421HGF, and its Delta-E score is better than both too — the closer the Delta-E score to 0 the better, and the more color-accurate the images.
Good for (casual) gaming
Want a monitor with a screen bigger than your laptop’s for some rounds of casual gaming? The Lenovo L27i-4B supports refresh rates up to 100Hz which means movements are smoother, even in games running on less-powerful machines. The monitor has three response times in different modes: 4ms (Extreme) / 6ms (Normal) / 14ms (Off).
I usually play on my PS5 Slim but I’m no stranger to testing gaming keyboards and mice by playing games on our shared office Windows 11 laptop. I played Baldur’s Gate 3, Rise of the Tomb Raider and Hitman to test the L27i-4B’s performance. All three games appeared bright, even with the sunlight creeping in through the blinds behind me, and I was able to clearly see nighttime gameplay too.
Not just that, but I didn’t experience any latency issues or input lag either, in any of the modes. The 100Hz refresh rate and variable 4-14ms response time is just fine for casual gaming, but you’re looking at a bigger expenditure if you want a 144Hz-200Hz, 1ms gaming-specific monitor — like the Arzopa M3RC ($399) or the Asus TUF Gaming VG28UQL1A ($800).
Lenovo L27i-4B review: The downs
Unfortunately, the Lenovo L27i-4B’s height can’t be adjusted and, at this price, you don’t get a dedicated High Dynamic Range (HDR) mode.
Can’t adjust height
Unfortunately, the Lenovo L27i-4B’s height can’t be adjusted. It remains at eye-level but if you’re using the monitor while, say, standing and without a standing desk, you’ll need to bend your neck downwards which isn’t ergonomic. It can be tilted, though, at a -5~22° angle but that’s about it.
I wish there was an option to adjust the height. My work-sanctioned monitor’s height is adjustable and I usually have it at max height so my neck and back are always upright. However, to offset that, the L27i-4B has 100 x 100 VESA holes, which means you can use it with one of the best monitor arms for a more ergonomic setup.
No HDR
While the Lenovo L27i-4B delivers sharp images with vivid colors and faithful color reproduction, there’s no dedicated HDR mode to increase the brightness even further. This is to be expected at this price point, but it’s still something you’ll want to consider before buying.
However, there is a DCR mode — Dynamic Contrast Ratio — which adjusts the contrast levels for better color accuracy, and delivers deeper blacks and more vivid colors, which provides a more immersive viewing experience when you’re watching a movie or a YouTube video.
But there isn’t a massive difference in the SDR and DCR modes, as you can see in the table above. The monitor is bright enough for you to clearly see everything happening on the screen, and I had no issues with it while working and gaming, but you’ll need to spend more if you want brightness closer to 250 nits. For instance, the HP Omen Transcend 32 has a native 245-nits brightness but costs a whopping $1,299.
Lenovo L27i-4B review: Verdict
As office monitors go, the Lenovo L27i-4B is a great choice if you’re buying one for the first time, thanks to its low price point. This 27-inch monitor also works fantastically alongside another screen.
It’s bright enough for most lighting conditions and I’ve found it very useful for editing photos and videos. It’s also equipped with two HDMI 1.4 and legacy VGA ports for versatile connectivity. If you like to play games casually in your downtime, the L27i-4B has a 100Hz refresh rate and 4ms response time which should be sufficient for non-competitive players.
There’s no HDR setting, however, and the monitor’s height can’t be adjusted. Regardless, it’s an inexpensive stepping stone into the vast world of monitors. It’s helped me upgrade my setup and I don’t want to go back to using just my laptop or a single screen now.
