HyperX Armada 25 hands-on: No stand, no problem

Earlier this summer season, Sony launched its first line of gaming displays below the Inzone model, and now HyperX is becoming a member of the fray with two shows of its personal. Nevertheless, with the brand new Armada line HyperX is placing its personal spin on the class, as a result of as a substitute of being bundled with a standard stand, the corporate has created an all-in-one bundle that includes an adjustable monitor arm.

Following HP’s acquisition of HyperX final yr, the model has been slowly branching out into new classes together with wi-fi earbuds and now displays. At launch, the Armada line will include two gaming displays with barely totally different goal audiences: There’s the Armada 25, designed for extra aggressive players, which options 1,920 x 1,080 decision and a 240Hz refresh charge. In the meantime, for many who desire richer, extra detailed graphics, the bigger Armada 27 options 2,560 x 1,440 decision, a 165HZ refresh charge and VESA HDR 400 certification.

Each displays have three inputs (one DisplayPort 1.4 and two HDMI 2.0 ports), however what actually units them other than equally priced rivals is that as a substitute of transport with a typical monitor stand, the Armada was designed from the begin to work with HyperX’s ergonomic arm and desk mount. For HyperX, the aim is to encourage and supply players with a easy answer that frees up desk area for issues like further massive mousepads, wi-fi charging pads or another peripherals you need to preserve shut at hand.

The pivot to watch arms has been choosing up steam amongst PC players and HyperX believes a lot in the advantages of ergonomic arms that it isn’t even promoting an ordinary monitor stand individually. (You’ll, nonetheless, be capable of purchase further arms or monitor attachments individually.) And after testing the Armada 25 for myself, despite the fact that I’ve personally by no means owned a show mounted on an arm (although I’ve at all times needed one), I can form of see why. However regardless of all of the positives, there are some apparent drawbacks too.

The field for the Armada 25 comes with every part it is advisable get began, to not point out a really helpful and easy-to-use setup information. Step one is discovering the bottom and mounting it to an acceptable floor utilizing the built-in clamp. From there, you assemble the remainder of the arm earlier than snapping HyperX’s customized mount to the again of the monitor and dropping every part in place. The entire course of is a breeze, and in complete, it took me lower than 10 minutes to go from begin to end. After that, it’s only a matter of utilizing the included Allen wrench to fine-tune the arm’s tightness and vary of movement.

Assuming you might have your cables tucked away neatly, the change to an ergonomic arm has a surprisingly huge influence. Every part simply feels a bit tidier. Not solely do you immediately have extra freedom to rearrange peripherals like stand mics, webcams and extra, you additionally get further flexibility to put your monitor on the appropriate top and angle to your posture.

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

As somebody who spends approach an excessive amount of time in entrance of a desk, in recent times I’ve discovered myself in search of methods to keep away from the aches and pains brought on by craning your neck to have a look at screens. This usually meant utilizing books or stacks of paper to raise shows so I may look straight forward as a substitute of down, which might be particularly dangerous when utilizing a laptop computer. However with an arm, that’s by no means a difficulty. And may I add, the entire feels extraordinarily secure, not like a number of the cheaper options I’ve thought of previously.

Nevertheless, the draw back is that solely providing an arm can restrict the place you possibly can arrange your monitor. As I’ve written about beforehand, because of the pandemic I’ve needed to create a makeshift distant working station centered round a desk that sacrifices some practicality for attractiveness. And sadly for me, my desk is so thick the two-inch clamp on HyperX’s arm simply doesn’t match. This meant I needed to take a look at the Armada 25 at my eating desk, as a substitute of subsequent to my desktop the place I actually need it.

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

On the brilliant aspect, the show itself seems nice contemplating its worth. You get an IPS panel with 1ms response occasions (grey to grey), a non-reflective matte end and large viewing angles. It isn’t probably the most colourful show, with colours overlaying 99 % of the usual sRGB gamut, however getting a 240Hz refresh charge on a monitor that comes with an arm for $450 is a fairly whole lot. And whereas HyperX is advertising each Armadas as being G-Sync suitable, in addition they help AMD’s FreeSync as properly. Sadly, resulting from solely having HDMI 2.0 as a substitute of two.1, you received’t get full 120Hz help on consoles just like the Xbox Sequence X.

Additionally, maybe probably the most promising factor concerning the Armada line is that HyperX makes it very easy so as to add extra shows to your setup down the road. Along with HyperX’s proprietary bracket, its ergo arm additionally helps normal VESA plates. You too can get add-on mounts (obtainable individually) that allow you to connect extra displays to the identical arm. Every arm helps as much as 20 kilos, which implies every one can maintain as much as 4 Armada 25s or two Armada 27s. And whereas I wasn’t in a position to check it out myself, it’s also possible to wall-mount the arms or set up them on desks with pre-drilled cable holes (as much as 2.4 inches in the event you’re utilizing the included grommets).

So regardless of the difficulties I encountered with my furnishings, the Armada line is relatively versatile. That mentioned, I nonetheless want there have been some type of fallback possibility for folks like me who reside in a spot the place a monitor arm doesn’t fairly match. However in the event you’ve been fascinated by upgrading your work or gaming station with a extra streamlined gadget structure, HyperX’s new monitor line makes it very easy to ditch the standard stand for one thing extra elegant.

The Armada line might be obtainable later this fall someday in September. The Armada 25 and Armada 27 will price $450 and $500, respectively, whereas the Single Gaming Mount and Gaming Mount Addon will even be obtainable individually for $110 and $80.