Sony Inzone M9 review: Sony’s first gaming monitor: The Sony Inzone M9 gaming monitor ($899) is an outlier. It’s a Sony-made gaming gadget from Inzone, a new hardware business separate from Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony’s games division. And, while Inzone isn’t creating hardware exclusively for the PS5, you’d never know it by looking at the M9, which has the same style as Sony’s latest machine. Sony, on the other hand, is definitely targeting PC gamers (along with PS5 owners) with this device.
Sony Inzone M9 gaming monitor review: Price and release date
- Costs $899
- Releases Summer 2022
The Sony Inzone M9 gaming display will be available for $899 this summer. It has a 27-inch 4K LCD 144Hz display, a 1ms response time, HDMI 2.1 capability, and G-Sync support. It works with PC, PS5, and even the Xbox Series X.
Sony also intends to deliver the Inzone M3 gaming display during the winter of 2022. This Inzone monitor is identical to the Inzone M9, however it has a Full HD (1920 x 1080) 240Hz display with a brightness rating of 400 nits. The Inzone M3 will set you back $529.
Sony Inzone M9 gaming monitor review: Design
- Shares the PS5’s design language
- Doesn’t take up much space on a desk
- Can’t rotate 90 degrees (portrait orientation)
The Inzone M9 is a compact gaming monitor that doesn’t take up much desk space. With its black-and-white chassis, it is evocative of the PS5. The majority of the rear is white, while the bottom section containing the ports is black. The only source of colour is an LED strip running down the back.
Rather than the typical V-shaped stand seen with most monitors, the Inzone M9’s stand is more akin to a tripod, with a central shaft holding the screen and two thinner legs giving support behind the stand.
Because the shaft is positioned at a 45-degree angle, the screen slides toward you when lowered and away when raised. It took some getting used to because I’m used to monitors that glide up and down a vertical shaft. Because you can’t tilt the screen left or right, you’ll have to adjust the complete monitor to achieve your desired viewing angle.
Unlike the Gigabyte Aorus FI32U, the monitor cannot be rotated 90 degrees into portrait mode. This is unlikely to be a problem for folks who prefer to play recent games with 16:9 aspect ratios. This means you won’t be able to play a vertical scrolling shooter like Ikaruga in a more genuine aspect ratio.
There are a good amount of ports on the rear of the monitor. This includes a headphone jack, three USB-A, one USB-B, one USB-C, one Display and two HDMI 2.1 ports. There’s also an OSD (on-screen display) joystick behind the monitor for entering the menu to configure display settings.
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Sony Inzone M9 gaming monitor review: Screen
- 27-inch 4K 144Hz display looks bright and colorful
- Various picture modes make games and movies look good
- PS5-exclusive picture settings
The 27-inch 144Hz 4K (3,840 x 2,160) LCD IPS display of the Inzone M9 boasts a 1ms response time. Standard, FPS game, Cinema, Game1 and Game2 are the preset visual modes.
Standard provides a balanced picture for both games and content in the first two settings. FPS mode improves visibility by adjusting brightness and contrast. Perhaps it’s because I’m not a competitive gamer who frequently plays FPS games, but I didn’t feel like FPS mode gave me an advantage. In Call of Duty: Warzone, I was exactly as awful as I had always been.
Sony Inzone M9 gaming monitor review: Performance
- Can display PC games at up to 144 fps and PS5 games up to 120 fps
- Ultra-fast response time
- Middling speaker quality
The Inzone M9 is primarily a gaming monitor. It can display select PS5 games at a buttery-smooth 120 frames per second because it supports HDMI 2.1. After changing a game’s graphics settings, you can achieve up to 144 frames per second on PC. To summarise, the Inzone M9 is a fantastic monitor for both PCs and contemporary consoles.
Doom Eternal and Cyberpunk 2077 were tested on PC. Both games look and run great, especially Doom Eternal. On this monitor, blowing demons to bloody shards with a shotgun feels amazing. Though Cyberpunk 2077 never exceeded 45 frames per second, game operated pretty smoothly. G-Sync and the Inzone M9’s 1ms response time came in handy.
Sony Inzone M9 review: Interface
- Monitor interface is easy and intuitive to use
- Several gaming assist options exist
The system interface of the Inzone M9 has a clear grey background, white writing, and purple accents from the Inzone line. The snappy OSD joystick made navigating the monitor’s many menus simple and intuitive.
The Inzone PC app, on the other hand, allows you to customise display settings. All of the aforementioned picture settings can be adjusted directly from your desktop using this portal. The app is straightforward and easy to use. When playing on PC, I like to use this programme instead of the OSD joystick.
There are a few gaming assistance alternatives that you may or may not find beneficial. This contains a green crosshair overlay to help with FPS games. This option was more distracting to me than useful, but it’s there if you need it. You can also enable a frame rate counter and display a timer to keep track of how much time has passed in the game.
