Any time you can find a quality gaming monitor for under $200, it's exciting. That's exactly what the Lenovo Legion 27-inch curved gaming monitor is. With a 1080p resolution and color accuracy that's just fine, this monitor isn't up to the task of competing with the best gaming monitors in terms of picture quality. However, I think most budget gamers would pick the quick and responsive display over the one with the higher resolution.

Lenovo has its priorities straight with the Legion 27-inch curved gaming monitor. This display has a 1500R curvature that'll help games feel more immersive, and the 240Hz refresh rate paired with a 0.5ms response time will help you stay competitive. Supporting HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 1.4, this screen has the specs that matter for gamers. And while playing my favorite titles with the Lenovo Legion monitor, I quickly forgot I wasn't using a 4K display.

About this review: Lenovo loaned us a Legion 27-inch gaming monitor for the purposes of this review. The company had no input in this article and did not see its contents before publishing.

Pricing, specs, and availability

The Lenovo Legion 27-inch curved gaming monitor retails for $230, but is regularly available at a sale price of $175. This makes it one of the cheapest curved gaming monitors that still has key specs like HDMI 2.1 support and 240Hz refresh rates. It's available directly from Lenovo, as well as from third-party retailers like Amazon and Newegg. It'll work best with PCs running Windows 10 or Windows 11.

What I like

Games look and feel great, thanks to the 240Hz panel

For a budget gaming monitor, I was quickly impressed by how complete the entire package felt. Aside from the large, 27-inch VA panel with a 1500R curve, there's also a versatile stand and a DisplayPort cable in the box. The stand has a neat, V-shaped base with triangular cutouts that add some style to what would be an otherwise-boring monitor. A channel in the back of the stand helps with cable management, and the stand itself supports tilt, swivel, height, and pivot adjustments.

Usually, with a monitor in this price range, it's a good idea to replace the stand with a new one or a VESA mount. While this gaming monitor does support 100mm x 100mm VESA connections, there's no need for that here because Lenovo's stand is so great.

At the heart of the Lenovo Legion 27-inch curved gaming monitor is a VA panel with a WLED backlight. It's plenty bright, at 350 nits, even if the 1920 x 1080p resolution leaves a bit to be desired. That makes for a 16:9 aspect ratio. More importantly for gamers, this panel supports 240Hz refresh rates and a 280Hz overclock. I've used 480Hz monitors before, and I can safely say that 240Hz is enough for all but the most talented competitive gamers on the planet.

In terms of color accuracy, I'd say that the Lenovo Legion monitor's performance is passable for gaming at this price point. Lenovo claims 99% coverage of the sRGB color gamut and 90% coverage of the DCI-P3 color gamut. My tests returned slightly different results; I tested the Lenovo Legion curved gaming monitor and returned full coverage of the sRGB color gamut (slightly better than claimed) and 85% of the DCI-P3 color gamut (slightly worse than claimed).

In all, this monitor looks to be the Lenovo Legion R25-30f's bigger (and curved) sibling. That's good news, because we reviewed the R25-30f to be one of the best value gaming monitors at the sub-$200 price point.

What I don't like

The speakers aren't great, and the 1080p resolution is the bare minimum in 2024

This monitor is a pretty solid one for the price, but one downside I noticed during my testing was the speaker quality. Despite having stereo 3W built-in speakers, the monitor's audio is atrocious. It doesn't have volume or fullness, and using the speakers on my gaming laptop probably would've provided a better experience. This is an easy problem to solve — just grab a headset or a set of computer speakers — but it's something you note if you're looking for a monitor with good audio.

Aside from that, my only nitpick is the resolution. It's true that 1080p is a fine resolution, but it's fairly easy to spot pixels when that resolution is blown up on a 27-inch screen. If you can afford it, the jump to a 1440p or a 4K panel could make for a huge upgrade.

Should you buy the Lenovo Legion 27-inch curved gaming monitor?

You should buy the Lenovo Legion 27-inch curved gaming monitor if:

• You want a curved monitor for gaming
• You care about having high refresh rates and low response times
• You don't need a higher resolution or an OLED panel

You should NOT buy the Lenovo Legion 27-inch curved gaming monitor if:

• You want a 1440p or 4K gaming monitor
• You want a non-curved gaming monitor
• You have a bit more money to spend

I'll admit that, in 2024, I'd like to use a monitor with a higher resolution than 1080p — especially on a monitor of this size. However, it's hard to disagree with the price-to-performance ratio here, and the value proposition. With this gaming monitor, you get a 1500R curved VA panel supporting 240Hz refresh rates (280Hz with overclock) and a 0.5ms response time. If you can tolerate 1080p, this 27-inch Lenovo Legion curved gaming monitor is a steal at under $200.