UColor Apex 19″ 4K UHD QLED Monitor Review: PhilsComputerLab

Introduction & Key Highlight

With portable monitors in the past, you either had to choose between 4K resolution or a panel with high refresh rate. Well, now we have a monitor that can do both. It is from UPERFECT Apex 19, and this one is a 4K monitor, but it can also do 144 Hz. It has quantum. QLED technology and variable refresh rate. 4K. Resolution in combination with high refresh rate is also awesome for retro gaming.

Retro Gaming Demonstration

Here we have some footage of a Pentium II retro gaming PC connected to this monitor, and yeah, it's looking pretty nice. So, even if you don't have an expensive scaler, like the Retro Team 4K, well, you can just use a GForce FX card with a DVI to HDMI dongle. And the monitor has an option for the aspect ratio, so everything looks pretty well.

Disclosure & Purpose

Disclosure, UPERFECT sent me this monitor for free, and I do get to keep it. The idea is to investigate this monitor in detail, and also check out the suitability with retro gaming, because the high resolution and the high refresh rate makes it especially. Suitable for that purpose.

Unboxing & Accessories

Unboxing & Included Accessories

Let's have a look what is inside the box. Of course, here we have the monitor. Now, at 19 inch, this is definitely one of the larger portable monitors, but it still fits into a larger backpack, so definitely still portable. We have some Vesa mounting screws. There are 2 USB-C cables in the box, as well as a H. HDMI to mini HDMI cable. Here we can see the user manual, and it also comes with a power supply. This one is rated at 30 watts.

Additional Accessories

UPERFECT also sent me a few additional add-ons. These are not included with the monitor, these are additional purchases. We will look at the prices later in the video. For example, there is a Vesa stand that Suitable for this monitor. There is a 19-inch back that you can use for the monitor, and also, you can purchase some U-shaped adapters for both USB-C and mini HDMI.

Design & Hardware Overview

Ports & Physical Layout

On the left side of the monitor, we can see the two USB-C ports and a mini HDMI port. The USB-C ports, they're basically display ports over USB-C, and the mini HDI. is compatible with the 2.1 standard. On the right-hand side, we've got the headphone port, there's a large power button, and then we've got all the buttons to control the on-screen menu. There's also a power LED and very nifty, a USB on the go port, so you can connect a mouse or keyboard. At the bottom are two speakers for stereo sound, they're OK. Better than nothing, but don't expect anything too high-end, and also there's an integrated kick stand that you can fold out, And use the monitor without the Vesa mount.

Display Technology & Specifications

Apart from 4K and 144 Hz support, it also has QLED. Now this is not a new panel type, it uses quantum dots to sort of improve the colors a little bit. Improve the balance, the black levels, and so on. Let's have a look at these specifications on the website, 19 inch, 144 Hz, a 9 millisecond response time, 4K resolution, 16 by 9 aspect ratio. The viewing angles and the contrast ratio really point to an IPS panel, quantum dot technology, we can see here, the color space, it supports 8-bit colors, and has support for HDR but with a brightness of around 400 nits, well, HDR is not gonna be as good as on a monitor that's specifically built for it. It supports FreeSync and, On my mini PC which has Intel graphics, also VRR works fine, and I've seen someone on Reddit use it with an Nvidia card successfully.

Pixel Structure & Text Clarity

Here I'm using a USB microscope to have a look at the pixel structure, and those of you who are reading and writing with a lot of tech. Well, you will love this monitor, it's got the traditional RGB pixel layout, so no color fringing or any distortion going on with text. It's really easy on the eyes in that regard.

Performance & Features

Variable Refresh Rate & Emulation Benefits

With the variable refresh rate support, we can see here, it supports 4K resolution and VRR from 48 to 144 Hz. If you are into emulating consoles or home computers, you might have heard of NTC and PA running at 60Hz and 50 Hz. Well, many emulators support a variable refresh rate, and then you Old classic games will run silky smooth.

DOS & Emulator Performance

With MS DOS games, they run typically at 70 Hz, and there's great support with emulators like DOSbox staging. So here, it talks to the driver and to the display, and then everything runs silky smooth at 70 Hz. And we have one more example. This is 86 Box emulating a Windows 98 retro gaming PC. You can also take advantage of high refresh rates, running at 120 Hz, and we can immediately tell that the mouse is a lot smoother, and if your game also supports a higher refresh rate, then you can enjoy a smoother experience.

CRT Shader & Visual Quality

For retro gaming, the 4K resolution is also excellent if you want to use a CRT shader. Here we're having DOS box staging, which has an automatic CAT shader integrated, and it looks absolutely stunning on a 1080p panel, you don't get that level of resolution to see that fine detail, so if you are into using CAT shaders, you will also love this aspect.

Integer Scaling Benefits

And finally, for retro gaming, you can go into the driver and enable integer. Nearest neighbor scaling to scale lower resolutions with more sharpness. Also, running games at 720p or 1080p, well, it integers scales into 4K.

Gaming Performance Example

So here we have an example. This is Dirt 3, and at 4K resolution, we're getting around 70 FPS. If you want more, we can drop the resolution to 1080p. We're getting much higher FPS now, but because of integer scaling, The scaling looks close to having a native 1080p panel without that scaling softness that you usually get with a monitor.

Setup & Connectivity

Setup & Power Requirements

Let's set up this monitor. At the moment, I'm using a 16 inch UPERFECT OLED screen, but it's not 4K, so I will later install this monitor. On the Vessel mount. First, I'm using a single USB-C cable. We can see the screen is turning on, but the brightness is limited, so you need to use the supplied power supply to get the full brightness.

Power Consumption Testing

I used my power meter to measure how much power it draws at 100% brightness, 21 watts, at 75% brightness, we're getting 18%. 4, at 50% brightness, 16.8 watt power draw at 25% brightness, 12 watts, and at zero brightness, 7.2 watts.

Connectivity Testing

I'm using a mini PC and it's got all the display options, USB-C HDMI 2.1, and also, Display port. So the USB-C cable, I've already tested, no issues. Now, I wanted to use the display port on the mini PC to free up the USB 4 port. So I bought a special cable which converts from display port to USB-C. I bought it online, I put a photo on the screen, and that also worked just fine.

HDMI Issue & Fix

With the HDMI cable, I ran into an issue. The screen would randomly blank out. Now I watched a few other YouTube reviews and they ran into a similar issue. It turns out that the supplied HDMI cable is not compatible with version 2.1, so, yeah, that's an area for improvement. So I went out and I bought another cable from Ure, this is a HDMI to mini HDMI cable rated at 8K. And now everything is working just fine.

Pricing & Value

Pricing Overview

Let's talk about prices. $480 USD for the monitor. This is a little bit higher than the portable monitors that we checked out in the past. This is because 4K and high refresh rate. Is still a premium feature. To soften the blow a little bit, you will find some discount coupons down below in the video description, I believe you can get $50 off from this price.

Accessory Pricing

If you're interested in a bag for the monitor, there are a couple of sizes available. The one that we need is 18 to 19 inch, you're looking at $41 USD. UPERFECT sell a less mount for this monitor, you're looking at $70 USD, so again, this is an item they included in the review kit, but it is an additional purchase. And they're also selling these U-shaped adapters to change the direction of plugging in the cable, you're looking at $18 for the HDMI 2.1. , mini HDMI adapter, or for the USB-C U-shaped adapter, you're looking at $20.

Real-World Usage

Real-World Usage Experience

The way I use monitors is mostly to create content for the YouTube channel, and in the past, I had to choose between, do I want 4K or do I want high ref. And I chose high refresh because even editing videos, even creating thumbnails, everything is just smoother and flows, and you can edit things a little bit faster. But now, thanks to this monitor, well, it's got both, 4K and high refresh, the best of both worlds. And yeah. Everything is silky smooth, editing videos in the timeline, and of course I also play games, but it's mostly older ones.

Performance on Different Games

This mini PC has only got Intel integrated graphics, and the old games run perfectly fine. Newer games, well, you can play them at 720p or 1080p and use integer scaling, and it will look very similar to having a native 720p or 1080p monitor.

Conclusion

The price is definitely a little bit on the higher side, 4K and high refresh rate, those two combined with HDMI 2.1, well, it's gonna attract the premium. The coupons help out a little bit. The only negative is really that the HDMI cable is not up to spec with the 2.1 standard, so here I hope UPERFECT can improve in the future, but I've reviewed many monitors from them. And really happy with their products. So, yeah, if you've got any questions, this is now my new daily driver, so if it's a simple test, just tell me down below in the comment sections. I'll do some testing and I'll let you know. So there you go, that was my take on the UPERFECT Apex 19. We checked out all the features, but also showcasing how 4K and high refresh. Rates can be used for retro gaming, there are quite a few advantages, and if you care about those little details with having smooth scrolling and seeing COT shaders in better clarity, then yeah, consider such a monitor.