Newskill Icarus, comparative: high-level gaming at a reasonable price

Any tech marketer loves a passionate audience for video games (what we all know as gamers). Not surprisingly, it is one of the niches that you don’t just spend more money on products, Rather, he is willing to renew them frequently if they represent a significant improvement in the experience.

However, it is also about a demanding public, who has a good level of knowledge and is not easy to confuse by adding garish designs and little lights. For this reason, manufacturers such as Newskill have established their growth in recent years with the combination that works: state-of-the-art technology, quality and care in products and a reasonable quality / price.

We have had the opportunity to test three of the latest additions of your Newskill Icarus gaming monitor series, with crossover monitors that share a 27-inch diagonal design and VA panel technology, in a range that goes from 249.95 euros to 329.95 euros. Before we continue, let’s review the official spec sheets:

Specifications Newskill Icarus

Newskill presents the Icarus in compact packaging, accompanied by the necessary accessories for assembly, a user manual and a small detail from the manufacturer in the form of stickers and a thank you card.

The installation process is very simple and will not take you more than five minutes. You just have to mount the stand with the three included screws and then attach it to the monitor. If you have a certain quality screwdriver on hand, it is advisable to use it instead of the “mini” tool included.

At the construction level, Newskill is committed to good quality plastics and a practically clean front, with bezels of only 3 millimeters (although when the monitor is turned on, 2 millimeters of black frame are added to the image) and a lower part with the manufacturer’s logo. The keypad is located in the lower right and consists of the classic combination of buttons that are not very intuitive but sufficient for a configuration process that, under normal conditions, you will only have to perform once.

The base provides sufficient stability and is adjustable in depth, although not in height. The alternative is to acquire an adjustable support for the monitor (easily installed thanks to the VESA standard support) or to resort to the classic “fat book” to place it at eye level. Nothing unusual in any case in this price range.

The monitors have a slight curvature, with a standard R1500, that promises to improve the immersion in the game. A detail that, although we leave it to a matter of taste, perhaps makes more sense on larger diagonal screens. However, the construction is solid and the panel offers a really remarkable consistency, brightness and color fidelity throughout the available surface, with a naturalness and a very well-managed field of vision.

On the back we find a connection panel mounted on the metal chassis and with more than enough distance to manage the wiring comfortably. The number of ports depends on the specific model but, in general, they are more than enough for the target audience of this product, more than meeting the needs of the average user.

On the other hand, the whole family of Newskill Icarus monitors includes inside a pair of 3W speakers that can save us from trouble but, obviously, they are not the ideal option for a gaming device, recommending the use of an external audio system or gaming headphones.

The three monitors are committed to VA technology for your panel. As we already have in one of our specials, the main advantages of this technology are its remarkable viewing angles, the high contrast it can achieve and, above all, its minimum response time, something key in titles such as FPS.

As you can see by consulting the table at the top of this article, the technical specifications of the three monitors are practically identical, with the exception of two important variables: the resolution (from fullHD to 4K) and refresh rate (165 to 240 Hz). These are the two keys that will help you determine which monitor you need.

Clearly, under ideal conditions, the best is the maximum possible refresh rate at the highest resolution and with the minimum response time that we can. Nevertheless, in practice, few are the lucky ones who can have hardware capable of offering extreme performance and, in that case, touch choose.

A) Yes, What is the point of buying a 4K screen if our equipment is not capable of reaching 60 fps at that resolution? Are you willing to sacrifice graphic detail for a brutal refresh rate? Do you play titles where response time is key or are you more of a single player titles where it is worth around 60 fps?

In this sense, the Newskill Icarus range offers options with a full HD resolution panel (remember, four times fewer pixels than a 4K monitor) with refresh rates of up to 240 Hz, accessible for high-mid-range equipment. In addition, the support for G-Sync and FreeSync technologies ensures that we will take full advantage of the power of our GPUs, without losing frames along the way.

At the level of Image quality is practically identical on all three computers, leaving aside the jump from FullHD to QuadHD. The manufacturer ensures that they comply with 99% of the sRGB space, correct for the type of product we are talking about. With the calibrator, we measure about 270-280 cd / m2, lower than the 300 cd / m2 declared by the manufacturer but more or less in the average of this price range.

The top of the range, the Newskill Icarus IC27Q4-V2P reaches up to reasonable 2K (2560 × 1440), an ideal resolution for the 27-inch diagonal and that allows, with a mid-range computer, to play everything in spectacular conditions. From my point of view and leaving aside extreme users who prefer to play with a very low level of detail and prioritize the frame rate over any other value, It is the best option of the three teams tested. The extra resolution is not only noticeable in games, but it also provides us with a much more satisfactory experience when it comes to working, enjoying multimedia content or simply browsing the web.

In terms of price quality, the new Newskill series is absolutely recommended. It is difficult to find more for less within the immense number of current options, and the three teams represent a significant leap in gaming experience for a more than reasonable investment. Deciding the model that best suits you, as we have commented throughout the article, is already a matter of the needs and priorities of each user.

Currently we can already find the three models available on the official website of the brand, with prices that will go from 249.95 euros of the Newskill Icarus IC27F6-V2P, up to 329.95 euros in the case of both Newskill Icarus IC27F2-V2P and Newskill Icarus IC27Q4-V2P.