Mini LED monitor for six thousand? This Xiaomi one significantly dropped in price in Czechia, but it has a few catches

For six thousand Czech crowns today, you can get a lot – an LCD 2K monitor or a basic 4K panel. But on Allegro.cz, you can now get the 27″ Xiaomi Mini LED Gaming Monitor G Pro 27i with technology you wouldn’t expect at this price. The original price was almost nine thousand, now it’s a third less.

Mini LED as a poorer OLED? There’s something to it

The Xiaomi G Pro 27i uses 1152 dimming zones for local dimming. This means it divides the backlight into over a thousand independently controlled areas. The result? Contrast that approaches OLED panels, but without the risk of screen burn-in.

Add to that a Quantum Dot layer for better colors, a 180Hz refresh rate, 1ms response time, and HDR1000 certification with brightness that, according to reviewers, “surpasses OLED by a mile.” For six thousand, it sounds like sci-fi, but it’s reality. Just with catches.

Firmware lottery: win or lose?

The biggest problem with the monitor is firmware version 1.0.07. It contains a bug causing a red tint in the image, which spoils color reproduction. Newer firmware versions solve the problem, but Xiaomi does not allow updates – the monitor has no USB port or other way to upload firmware.

As one reviewer notes: “Service is unable to upload newer firmware; they just replace it with another unit.” So, if you get a monitor with old firmware, you’re out of luck. You either return it or turn off HDR and leave the default color settings.

Petra from České Budějovice summarizes it pragmatically: “If you don’t use HDR and stick to the default color settings, there’s no red tint.” It works for regular work and SDR content, but you lose one of the monitor’s main advantages.

What works and what doesn’t according to owners

Miloslav from Benešov nad Ploučnicí is enthusiastic: “Local dimming is at a very high level. No halo is visible around bright objects.” He compared the monitor to a third-generation QD-OLED and claims that Xiaomi performed excellently.

Branislav from Bratislava, on the other hand, warns about catastrophic colors without calibration: “Gray is green.” At the same time, he praises almost zero blooming compared to professional Mini LED monitors.

Lenka from Kopřivnice had to return the monitor due to PWM flicker, which caused her headaches even at 100% brightness. This is a problem that affects sensitive individuals – the monitor regulates brightness by dimming and brightening the backlight, which bothers some people.

Blooming: the inevitable evil of Mini LED

Several reviewers mention the blooming effect – a halo of light around bright objects on a dark background. This is most noticeable in applications like Discord with dark mode. A solution exists – reduce local dimming from “high” to “low” or turn it off completely.

However, by turning off local dimming, you lose the main advantage of Mini LED. The monitor then functions like an ordinary IPS panel, just for more money.

For six thousand, it still makes sense

The Xiaomi G Pro 27i is not a perfect monitor. It has firmware issues, and some people are bothered by PWM. However, for 6082 CZK, you get Mini LED technology that competitors offer for higher prices.

If you’re looking for a gaming monitor with better contrast than a regular IPS, don’t want to risk OLED burn-in, and are willing to experiment a bit with settings, it’s an interesting choice. Especially when you know what you’re getting into – it might be a firmware lottery, but if you win, you get “a small miracle for a few euros,” as Branislav writes.

For regular office work, it doesn’t make sense – for 4 thousand, you can get a decent IPS without worries. But for HDR movies and games, where you appreciate local dimming and high brightness? At that price, you’d be hard-pressed to find anything better. Just verify the return policy before purchasing, in case you get a bad firmware version.

What do you think about the current price of the Xiaomi monitor?