Connectivity

In terms of video inputs, the Gigabyte M32U is equipped with a pair of HDMI 2.1 ports, DisplayPort 1.4, and USB Type-C port. The HDMI 2.1 ports are a very welcome addition to a 4K gaming monitor as they enable 4K@120 Hz gameplay on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X due to their increased bandwidth compared to older/lesser iterations of the HDMI standard. The HDMI 2.1 interface on the Gigabyte M32U is limited to 24 Gbps, which in turn limits you to 4:2:0 chroma subsampling on PS5 and Xbox Series X. While I didn't notice any noteworthy compression while gaming on a PS5, this is something worth mentioning regardless.


The aforementioned USB Type-C port is more than just an ordinary video input. It is also used for data transfer between your PC and whichever devices you plugged into the three USB 3.0 Type-A ports next to it, as well as power delivery for USB-C-equipped laptops. Unfortunately, its power delivery is limited to a mere 18 watts, which isn't sufficient to keep up with the power draw of a higher-end laptop, at least not while it's doing anything more demanding. With that being said, the Gigabyte M32U can in a way still act as a laptop docking station. Combining it with a laptop boils down to connecting a single cable, which will extend your desktop, enable the use of any peripherals and external drives connected to the monitor, and charge the laptop's battery.


Should your computer not have a USB-C port, you can still use the monitor's integrated 3-port USB 3.0 hub by utilizing its USB 3.0 Type-B upstream port and connecting it to a regular USB Type-A port on your PC. These two upstream ports (USB Type-C and USB Type-B) also let you connect the monitor to two computers at once and seamlessly switch between them with a single set of peripherals. Let's say your work machine is a USB-C laptop and you're also using a standard desktop PC for entertainment. You'll connect your laptop to the Gigabyte M32U with a USB Type-C cable and your home PC with a regular USB Type-B to USB Type-A cable, and a DisplayPort or HDMI video cable. Finally, you'll connect your keyboard and mouse to the USB 3.0 ports on the monitor. After doing so, just press the KVM button on the back of the monitor to switch the video input and connected peripherals between the two connected computers.


Last in line is a 3.5-millimeter audio output you can use to route the sound to your headphones.

Power Consumption

The power supply unit is integrated, so there's no external power brick we need to deal with. A simple IEC power cable will be enough to power the Gigabyte M32U.

I've used the Brennenstuhl PM 231 E power meter to determine the power consumption of the monitor at various brightness levels, as well as in Power Saving mode, which it enters as soon as the PC goes to sleep. My power consumption measurements are summed up in the chart below. They've been made after resetting the monitor to factory defaults.



Power consumption is a bit high at 0% brightness simply because the backlight keeps the measured brightness at almost 50 nits. At the backlight levels most users will keep this monitor on, power consumption is as expected for a 32-inch 4K panel.