HP Sequence 7 Professional assessment: A monitor with tons of connectivity…and shade

Greatest Costs At present: HP Sequence 7 Professional 732pk

A brand new kind of monitor has emerged on this decade—the hub monitor. This sort of monitor is full of connectivity, usually together with Thunderbolt, that may drastically develop the choices for a linked Home windows laptop computer. The HP Sequence 7 Professional is a compelling new entry into this area that has Thunderbolt 4, Ethernet, and 4 USB-A ports, amongst different options.

HP Sequence 7 Professional 4K Thunderbolt 4 (732pk) specs and options

The HP Sequence 7 Professional is a 32-inch 4K monitor with an IPS Black panel. This sort of panel is a well-liked possibility for high-end skilled displays as a result of it offers a lift to distinction whereas retaining the brightness and sharpness that IPS panels are recognized for.

• Show measurement: 32-inch 16:9 facet ratio
• Native decision: 3840×2160
• Panel kind: IPS Black
• Refresh charge: 120Hz
• Adaptive sync: Sure, VESA MediaSync
• HDR: Sure, VESA DisplayHDR 400
• Ports: 1x Thunderbolt 4 / USB-C 40Gbps with as much as 100 watts of Energy Supply and DisplayPort 1.4, 1x DisplayPort 1.4-in, 1x DisplayPort 1.4-out, 1x HDMI 2.0-in, 1x USB-C 5Gbps upstream with 15 watts of Energy Supply, 1x USB-B upstream, 4x USB-A 5Gbps downstream, 1x RJ-45 (Gigabit Ethernet)
• Audio: None
• Further options: Ambient mild sensor
• Worth: $1,029 MSRP, $829 typical retail

Nonetheless, the actual story is the monitor’s connectivity. The Sequence 7 Professional has a Thunderbolt 4 port that features 100 watts of Energy Supply and DisplayPort 1.4. That makes the monitor a hub which features a wealth of downstream connectivity together with one USB-C, 4 USB-A, Ethernet, and DisplayPort-out.

The HP Sequence 7 Professional 732pk has a retail MSRP of $1,029. That’s an identical to the Dell U3225QE and arguably a bit costly for what HP gives. Nonetheless, precise retail pricing tends to place the Sequence 7 Professional 732pk round $800 to $830, which is extra aggressive.

HP Sequence 7 Professional 732pk monitor design

The HP Sequence 7 Professional 732pk is a monitor constructed for professionals, however it defies the class’s design tendencies.

Whereas the monitor is clad within the mundane silver plastics and metals frequent for the sort of show, the Sequence 7 Professional 732pk spices up its look with an angular rear to the chassis and a smooth, slim stand with a good-looking black strip down the center. It’s extra distinctive and thrilling than a typical Dell Ultrasharp or BenQ P-Sequence show.

HP’s extra distinctive design doesn’t cut back its performance. The monitor has a large, secure, but flat stand base that doesn’t take up an excessive amount of area on a desk. It additionally has a skinny stand neck positioned in direction of the far finish of the stand base. That makes the show simpler to place on a slender desk, because it prevents the show from being too near you.

Matthew Smith / Foundry

The monitor offers intensive ergonomic adjustment, as nicely. It contains roughly 6 inches (150mm) of peak and 90 levels of swivel. It could tilt 26 levels and rotate 90 levels into portrait orientation. It is a wide selection of adjustment, and it makes the 732pk an ideal choose for those who usually view your show from totally different angles.

A 100x100mm VESA mount is included to be used with third-party monitor arms and stands, however it’s a bit totally different from traditional. The default stand mount isn’t VESA appropriate, so a bracket is included to supply it. That makes VESA mounting only a hair extra difficult, although it’s nonetheless easy sufficient that attaching the monitor to a appropriate mount ought to take not more than 5 minutes.

HP Sequence 7 Professional 732pk connectivity

The HP Sequence 7 Professional 732pk is a Thunderbolt 4 monitor, and its connectivity is undoubtedly the monitor’s most necessary single function.

To that finish, the monitor features a Thunderbolt 4 port with USB-C, 40Gbps of information, 100 watts of Energy Supply, and DisplayPort 1.4. This single upstream port can feed all of the downstream ports and expands the connectivity of a linked laptop computer whereas on the identical time delivering sufficient energy to cost most laptop computer PCs that lack discrete graphics.

Extra video enter contains one DisplayPort 1.4 and one HDMI 2.0, for a complete of three video inputs. The monitor additionally has a DisplayPort 1.4-out for daisy-chain connections. You possibly can connect with the Sequence 7 Professional 732pk after which bridge that connection to a second DisplayPort monitor, which makes it doable to drive a number of DisplayPort shows with a single DisplayPort or Thunderbolt 4-out in your PC.

The monitor’s downstream connectivity contains 4 USB-A ports (with 5Gbps of information) and a USB-C port (additionally with 5Gbps, but in addition 15 watts of Energy Supply). There’s additionally a Gigabit Ethernet port. A KVM change is included, too.

That’s quite a lot of connectivity. It bests the BenQ PD3225U, which incorporates Thunderbolt 3 and lacks Ethernet. Dell’s Ultrasharp U3225QE nonetheless has an edge, although, because it helps Thunderbolt-out, offers extra knowledge over the USB-A and USB-C connections (10Gbps), and has 2.5Gbps Ethernet. The Dell is usually costlier at retail, nonetheless.

HP Sequence 7 Professional 732pk menus and options

A D-Pad-style management tucked across the HP Sequence 7 Professional 732pk’s proper flank offers entry to the monitor’s on-screen menu system. That is uncommon, as quite a lot of displays have moved to utilizing a joystick-style management, however it works tremendous. The facility button left me scratching my head, although. It’s small and positioned on the lower-right bezel away from the monitor controls, so it takes some effort to search out it.

The menu system is logically organized. Fonts are a bit small however daring, so I discovered them straightforward to learn regardless of their measurement. HP offers a variety of picture modes which embrace Show P3, sRGB, AdobeRGB, and BT.709 presets.

Matthew Smith / Foundry

Nonetheless, shade customization is tough. I couldn’t discover any gamma modes. A pair shade temperature modes are included, however they’re shade modes similar to Show P3 and don’t enable impartial adjustment. RGB shade calibration is included, however that’s about it. I discovered the way in which the colour controls work complicated and a dip into the monitor’s person information didn’t assist, because it’s skinny on particulars, not less than on this respect.

Many of the options discovered within the HP’s on-screen menu may also be managed by HP’s Show Heart software program, which is on the market for each Home windows and MacOS. It’s a good software program utility that, along with options discovered within the on-screen menu, additionally contains software program shade calibration. Nonetheless, the vary of picture high quality adjustment remains to be skinny. RGB shade could be adjusted however shade temperature and gamma changes usually are not accessible.

HP offers an ambient mild sensor, and it labored nicely in my testing. The extent of brightness was usually applicable and I didn’t discover transitions between brightness ranges jarring. Nonetheless, the monitor doesn’t supply any vital management over how the sensor works, apart from the choice to show it off or on. I’d wish to see extra management—however most opponents with an ambient mild sensor even have this limitation.

HP Sequence 7 Professional 732pk audio

The HP Sequence 7 Professional 732pk doesn’t embrace built-in audio system. It is a minor disappointment, as audio system could be helpful for conditions the place a headset or headphones aren’t accessible.

HP Sequence 7 Professional 732pk SDR picture high quality

The HP Sequence 7 Professional 732pk has an IPS Black panel. It is a kind of IPS panel that debuted just a few years in the past, and it’s a preferred choose in high-end skilled displays. Although it’s nonetheless no match for OLED in distinction, it may possibly ship good brightness and sharpness. So, how does the 732pk stack up?

Matthew Smith / Foundry

Nicely, the HP Sequence 7 Professional 732pk is actually vivid. Though not the brightest IPS Black monitor I’ve tried, the show’s most SDR brightness of 442 nits is nothing to scoff at.

This stage of brightness is far more than what’s normally required and retains the monitor viewable even in a room with sunlit home windows or many overhead lights. That’s excellent news if you’ll want to use the monitor in an workplace bullpen.

The monitor additionally has a matte end, which reduces glare. These elements, mixed with the ambient mild sensor, make the HP look vivid and vivid in most situations.

Matthew Smith / Foundry

I measured a distinction ratio of 2390:1 at 50 % of most brightness. That’s not a class-leading consequence, however it’s respectable, and outperforms the monitor’s quoted distinction ratio of 2000:1.

The improved distinction ratio offers a greater sense of depth than most IPS shows. It additionally reduces the “IPS glow” impact which causes a hazy, washed-out look when viewing darkish content material in a darkish room. However that drawback is just mitigated—not eradicated. An OLED or VA panel monitor will nonetheless present a greater viewing expertise in a darkish room.

Matthew Smith / Foundry

The Sequence 7 Professional 732pk has a large shade gamut that spans one hundred pc of sRGB, 99 % of DCI-P3, and one hundred pc of AdobeRGB. That’s a superb vary and it places the Sequence 7 Professional 732pk on the entrance of the pack by way of shade quantity.

In truth, I believe it’s value serious about what we’re taking a look at right here. This monitor comes very near reaching one hundred pc shade quantity throughout sRGB, DCI-P3, and AdobeRGB. 5 years in the past that kind of efficiency wasn’t accessible to shoppers at any value, nevermind underneath $1,000 retail. It’s a outstanding consequence.

Due to this, the HP is nicely suited to a variety of artistic skilled work together with video enhancing, pictures, and digital artwork.

Matthew Smith / Foundry

HP actually delivers in shade accuracy, because the Sequence 7 Professional 732pk had a median shade error of simply 0.61. Because the graph exhibits, that could be a top-notch consequence. The error was largest in cyan, with an error of two.39, and lowest throughout the opposite colours. In observe, I discovered the show regarded exceptionally lifelike and that content material appeared because it ought to.

That’s helped by the monitor’s gamma efficiency. It delivered a gamma curve of two.2, which is the goal, and in addition had a shade error beneath 1 in 5 out of six grayscale colours examined. In observe, this implies content material seems vivid as meant and preserves good element throughout grayscale.

Coloration temperature efficiency was weaker, although, because the monitor had a default shade temperature of 7100K. That’s fairly a bit cooler than the goal of 6500K, and it means the default picture seems a bit sterile. This may be adjusted, however the monitor lacks exact shade temperature values within the monitor settings, so dialing in shade temperature would require some effort.

Sharpness is one other perk. The 32-inch IPS Black panel has a local decision of 3840×2160. That works out to a pixel density of about 137 pixels per inch. Although clearly not as high-resolution as a smaller, 27-inch 4K monitor, the monitor nonetheless seems crisp. Solely probably the most crucial pixel peepers will discover the monitor’s sharpness insufficient.

HP Sequence 7 Professional 732pk HDR picture high quality

The HP Sequence 7 Professional 732pk helps HDR and is VESA DisplayHDR 400 licensed. It’s additionally extraordinarily vivid in HDR with a most sustained brightness of 713 nits.

Nonetheless, the monitor’s lackluster distinction is a matter. The monitor can’t turn into vivid with out additionally elevating the brightness of darkish areas of the display. In consequence, the excessive brightness doesn’t present the added element and depth that you just may count on, and HDR content material usually seems a bit boring and washed out.

The identical is mostly true of the monitor’s competitors, although. Buyers on the lookout for nice HDR want to contemplate an OLED or Mini-LED show, such because the MSI MPG 321URXW QD-OLED. Sadly, going that route additionally means you’ll should abandon many of the Sequence 7 Professional 732pk’s connectivity. MSI’s OLED has a USB-C port with Energy Supply however the downstream connectivity is proscribed to some USB ports.

HP Sequence 7 Professional 732pk movement efficiency

The HP Sequence 7 Professional 732pk isn’t a gaming monitor however it does present a refresh charge of as much as 120Hz and VESA MediaSync assist. The 120Hz refresh charge boosts movement readability and fluidity when in comparison with a 60Hz show.

As talked about, the monitor helps VESA MediaSync for adaptive sync. This isn’t a demanding normal for adaptive sync. Nonetheless, my AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT video card did detect the HP as a variable refresh charge monitor, and adaptive sync appeared to work with out concern.

Whereas these perks are appreciated, it’s necessary to remember that IPS Black panels have a comparatively sluggish pixel response time (HP lists 5 milliseconds gray-to-gray). In contrast, gaming shows usually have a pixel response time of 1 millisecond or much less. The upper pixel response time means you’ll nonetheless discover a good bit of ghosting behind fast-moving objects.

So, I wouldn’t suggest the Sequence 7 Professional 732pk for esports gamers, however I nonetheless respect that it gives some primary options helpful for gaming and leisure. That’s useful for those who’re serious about shopping for the show to be used in a room that serves as your workplace by day and your gaming den by night time. It additionally provides the Sequence 7 Professional 732pk an edge over opponents, lots of which follow 60Hz—although the Dell U3225QE additionally reaches a 120Hz refresh charge.

Do you have to get the HP Sequence 7 Professional 732pk?

The HP Sequence 7 Professional 732pk is a compelling entry into the high-end skilled and workplace show area. It’s comparable in lots of respects to Dell’s U3225QE. The 2 are comparable in design, picture high quality, and total function set, although the Dell has extra connectivity total. HP strikes again in shade gamut with a shade quantity that spans one hundred pc of AdobeRGB and 99 % of DCI-P3. On the entire, Dell’s U3225QE nonetheless earns my default suggestion on account of its higher connectivity, however the HP is a superb various if you would like an extremely broad shade gamut.