This 27-inch HP gaming monitor (and free headset) are yours for £160
A great entry-level 165Hz monitor for PC and console gaming.
Want a solid 27-inch gaming monitor and a free set of headphones to get a nice and affordable setup for PC gaming? HP is offering their Omen 27 1080p 165Hz monitor with their Pavilion Gaming Headset 400 for just £160 at their UK store, a good price for a high refresh rate monitor given that the monitor alone cost £220 when it debuted last year.
Note: To get this deal, scroll down to the heading "recommended bundle offers" and click "add to basket" where it shows the HP Omen 27 monitor and HP Pavilion Gaming Headset 400 together (see screenshot below).
The HP Omen 27 hasn't passed through Digital Foundry's Bristol office for testing, but reviews online paint a familiar picture: a good all-around monitor with good colour reproduction, wide viewing angles, reasonable motion clarity and the responsiveness of a 165Hz refresh rate. FreeSync Premium certification is included, but you'll also find the monitor works with G-Sync as well so you're supported on the full range of laptops and desktop graphics cards.
The IPS panel used here has a rated 1ms GtG response time, which is solid enough if not totally indicative of real-world testing, and suits web browsing, working and watching video in addition to just gaming - something that was somewhat less common for older gaming monitors with fast but generally quite poor-looking TN panels. Note that one thing we don't particularly recommend with this monitor is engaging HDR, as while it is supported, the 400 nits of maximum HDR brightness doesn't result in particularly impactful highlights and you may prefer the standard SDR presentation.
I do appreciate some of the little touches here that differentiate a well-designed and modern display - a joypad-based OSD, rather than harder-to-use buttons, fully recyclable packing materials, 100x100 VESA mounting options, a height-adjustable and rotatable desk stand, and two HDMI 2.0 ports for connecting consoles or laptops in addition to the DisplayPort connection that'll probably be the default choice for desktop PC gaming.
Overall, this is a lot of monitor for £160, and well worth considering while it's discounted. The next meaningful upgrade over this would be a 2560x1440 165Hz model at a similar size, and for that you're looking at around £200 for a brand-name monitor of similar quality. That's not a massive jump in price, but it's not insignificant either, so both are good options.
For more monitor talk, we have complete gaming monitor recommendations available, and of course you're free to leave a comment below or reach out to us @dealsfoundry or @wsjudd to ask questions - we're always keen to talk tech.