BenQ EW3270U 4K Monitor | 32 inch HDR USB-C | Compatible
BenQ EW3270U 4K Monitor | 32 inch HDR USB-C | Compatible for MacBook Pro M1
Smart Focus to bring details to life
Smart Focus highlights the selected window or area, helping users concentrate on the main viewing content by reducing distractions in the background.
AMD FreeSync for intense gaming
AMD FreeSync technology eliminates image tearing, broken frames, and choppy gameplay for incredibly fluid gaming experiences. With an improved refresh rate to bring out an ultra-smooth gaming experience, EW3270U is gamer’s dream monitor.
Eye-care technology
BenQ’s exclusive eye-care technologies, which consist of Brightness Intelligence Plus, Low Blue Light, and Flicker-Free technologies, reduce eye fatigue while ensuring greater user comfort after a long period of use.
TÜV Rheinland certification
Global safety authority TÜV Rheinland certifies EW3270U’s Flicker-Free, Low Blue Light, and Brightness Intelligence Plus as truly friendly to the human eye.
 |  |  |  |  |  | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Screen Size | 24″ | 27″ | 27″ | 27″ | 32″ | 32″ |
| Resolution | 1080p | 1080p | 2K QHD | 4K UHD | 4K UHD | 4K UHD |
| Refresh Rate | 75Hz | 75Hz | 60Hz | 60Hz | 60Hz | 60Hz |
| Colour Gamut | 72% NTSC | 72% NTSC | 99% sRGB | 99% sRGB | 95% DCI-P3 | 95% DCI-P3 |
| Built-in Speaker | 2.5Wx2 | 2.5Wx2 | 5Wx2 | 5Wx2 | 2Wx2 | 2.1 Channel (2Wx2 + 5W woofer) |
| Panel Type | IPS | IPS | IPS | IPS | VA | IPS |
| Connectivity | HDMI x3 | HDMI x3 | HDMI x2 / DP x1 | HDMI x2 / DP x1 / USB C x1 | HDMI x2 / DP x1 / USB C x1 | HDMI x2 / DP x1 / USB C x1 |
| Remote Control | ✓ | |||||
| FreeSync | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| B.I.+ Sensor | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Weight: | 7.5 kg |
| Dimensions: | 20.47 x 28.35 x 8.27 cm; 7.5 Kilograms |
| Brand: | BenQ |
| Model: | EW3270-T |
| Colour: | 32 Inch HDR (UHD) |
| Batteries Included: | No |
| Manufacture: | BenQ |
| Dimensions: | 20.47 x 28.35 x 8.27 cm; 7.5 Kilograms |
Old but gold. Cliche but after almost one year since I’ve purchased it, costs the same and it is still a great pro tool
This is a brilliant monitor but it’s a great shame that it doesn’t have a remote control like the EX2780Q has, hence why I can’t give it 5 stars. I think they have stopped making the EX2780Q which was my reason for buying this one.
Non existing HDR, picture quality is good, using it on my ps5, brightness is only ok, overall 7/10 monitor for the price I paid with discount. For my use more than enough, but I can understand some people will be unhappy with this item.
Bought for working from home to replace my favourite monitor of all time, the 25″ Dell QHD. Outstanding picture, easy to set up and the BI / blue light management is superb. Only niggle is that the supplied stand doesn’t adjust for height, which is surprising given the quality of the stand mechanism. Doesn’t make any difference to me as I use it on a VESA mount on a gas arm, but if you’re tall or have a low desk you may need a riser.
My son’s a wedding photographer; he bought the colour accurate version of this which is almost double the price and loves it, but for everyday use I’ve not noticed any issues with it.
Wholeheartedly recommended, just an amazing piece of kit.
Previously I’d been using another brand of monitor, which didn’t have enough inputs, and having seen this one I decided to buy it.
The quality of the monitor is excellent overall, and I think the only minor point (if at all) is that it’s not curved, which took a while to get used to after my last monitor.
4 inputs (2 HDMI, 1 DP, 1 USB-C) is more than adequate for my own use, and allows two desktops, a laptop and a Nintendo Switch to be connected. The remote control is also incredibly useful for switching between inputs when checking one of the others, rather than have to fiddle with menus and buttons.
Whilst not amazing, the HDRi function does the job nicely in gaming, and overall the screen quality is really good.
Would I purchase again? Absolutely! I’d actually like a second one for another room.
Wanted a 32″ monitor to replace a 27″ after installing an uprated PC. Used as a single monitor with the Display Port connected to the PC. Wall mounted on a bracket. All settings are as they came out of the box apart from reducing the brightness. The multiple input connection were a big help in getting my new PC set up whilst still having my old PC connected to this monitor and it was easy to switch between the video inputs when both PCs were up and running.
Easy to follow (and use) menu system. I found the sound output from the 3 speaker system to be better than I expected and the rotary volume control (below bottom left edge of screen) is an advantage . Certainly good enough for general use but not HiFi. I have a three speaker system pugged into the PC and I can easily switch between if/when required.
The control buttons on the back of the monitor are easy to reach and use from below the front when needed.
I have found no negative points after 6 weeks use.
First, this monitor is big. Really big. I went to this from an ultrawide and was expecting it to be a compromise for screen real estate but I was mistaken. You get a lot of room for multiple windows.
It looks great. It’s not quite as pin-sharp as a 4K laptop screen but it’s still a very impressive image. Colour accuracy is great too.
The sound is way better than I was expecting. It’s almost good enough to use as a primary movie watching screen, almost.
On the negative side, the stand isn’t great. You don’t get any vertical adjustment so you might need to splash out on an alternative stand or find a big book. Its power output for charging a laptop via USB-C is a bit weak. It charges my Dell XPS 15 very slowly and I’m barraged by warning notifications. The HDR is unconvincing so I rarely use it.
But overall it’s great. I recommend it.
I was looking to downgrade from my 2K 32″ monitor as it was giving me neck ache moving my head around to view the corners, so I was looking for a 27″ 4K IPS monitor mainly for work and occasional gaming (FPS). Apparently 27″ is the optimum for us humans??
I initially purchased a 4k BenQ TN panel for about 250 but returned it within about 5 minutes as the quality was shocking. IPS is the way to go for clarity if you feel you can take the hit on the Hz for under the 600 mark.
tl:dr: For the money, this is a fantastic panel, extremely crisp and clear, plays games pretty well unless you feel you have the reflexes to keep up with 144hz+ gamers. Perfect size to go on my desk, looks very professional and is solidly built. Ideal for working from home with my laptop hooked up to it for a second screen. I have MS Teams and OneNote on the laptop and all my project plans, spreadsheets on the 4k. The colours are really nice out of the box.
Detailed Review:
Build Quality:
Solid and understated would be my view on this. It just looks smart on my desk. The stand is great (small footprint), and the screen doesn’t bounce around when I type.
I would have preferred the base to be height adjustable rather than just tilt but at 5’11 and my desk and seat set correctly my eyes are only an inch above the top of the screen which is ok for ergonomics.
Buttons on the back are a little annoying to get used to but after a few days I know where each one is. Solid clicks and the jog stick feel substantial.
Panel:
The 4K is crisp and clear, and when using HDR (not the HDRi cinema or Game) the colours are really bold. Blacks are so dark now that when looking at black clothes etc it’s actually hard to make out the details on the product.
Text is where this screen really shines, I sit my arm’s length away and with the scale set at 175% it’s just perfect to not cause me to squint or have to move my head in to look at smaller text which I was doing a lot before. I can easily fit two documents side by side with them both zoomed out.
The BI (HDRi) I personally found irritating as it kept adjusting the screen brightness as the clouds were passing overhead. Yes, I could turn the sensitivity down, but I found just using the inbuilt Windows Night mode to be better and that kicks in at 9pm. Just leave it on regular HDR emulation if your graphics card can’t toggle it from Windows.
No blurring when scrolling on documents or web pages.
No bleeding at the edges even on blacks and the viewing angle is extremely good.
OOB the colours/ brightness etc are pretty good for the average user but I’m sure if you played around with them then it would look even better.
Audio:
Speakers are ok for general use but if you have music playing or gaming then they are quite tinny, but what would you expect for monitor speakers. They are an afterthought, a tick box and are ok if you are severely limited on desk space.
Gaming:
Gaming is pretty good with this and if your PC is up to it then the 4K resolution is stunning. It keeps up with motion fine on FPS with V-Sync enabled and I don’t get motion sickness when using it.
I am yet to see any tearing or ghosting but it might be because my PC is high spec and runs most games on High > Ultra settings without breaking a sweat.
If, however you need a higher refresh then this isn’t the one for you as it’s only 60Hz.
Overall:
All in all it is a great entry/ mid-tier 4K screen that does everything I need extremely well. Yes, it could be better and yes it could have more Hz but it’s a sub 600 IPS 4k monitor.
If you are working from home for the foreseeable future, this would be an excellent investment if you are like me and you will be using it mainly for work functions and the occasional evening gaming.
I bought this for my Xbox One X for gaming after going through many reviews & research, and after going through the various tech and use, waying the pro’s and cons I decided on this. There was a delay in the order being delivered, it took Amazon 11 days to deliver with extra postage paid for next business day, however this has been rectified. Above all it has amazing picture quality and with the Ivankey 2.0b HDMI cable the games are a little smoother then the xbox one x bog standard 2.0 with the sound being deep and rich. The reviews are spot on in Youtube so view them before buying this for Pro’s and Con’s as many monitors might better meet your specific needs but for me this monitor delivers exactly what I was looking for. A Superb 4k monitor.
Its a 4k, HDR monitor for less than 400. Certainly not to be sneezed at! The black levels are poor and I had to have a good tinker with the settings to fix that to an acceptable levels, screen tearing is an issue at times, and the inputs are a bit stingy (which seems common on many similar models which only have 2 x HDMI and a Display Port), but hey, its a 4k HDR monitor for less than 400.
I have it hooked into a gaming PC, a PS4 Pro, XBox One X, some other non 4k consoles, and a Sky Q remote box (1080p) and it makes a very decent all-rounder. You’d have to spend twice as much to do better.
I did find the stand it shipped with was a little low for use on a desktop so I replaced it with the product “Eono by Amazon Table Pedestal TV Stand for 19″ – 39″ TV with 90 Swivel 3 Adjustable with Cable Management” and would recommend anyone planning to use this as a desktop monitor to do the same.
So, I like Benq monitors a lot so decided to spend more and get the IPS version, which has much better colour and zero dirty screen effect. Its the most uniform panel I’ve seen (had dozens of monitors) grey or black.
The HDR is ok but I found customised User mode with HDR off to have a better image for gaming etc. Its IPS so you get great contrast and colour anyway without.
I bought it to go with Ps5 and its great paired with that, low response time and set the AMA to premium for great motion effects. Really good for console where on PC I prefer 1440p 144hz Asus Rogers but I’d imagine this Benq would be great for Pc too, and photo editing.
It does what it suggests, an all round entertainment monitor and even comes with a remote and way above average built in speakers. Was surprised how high end it feels and unlike other manufacturers, Benq have very high standards for their expensive monitors like this and it shows.
Get one while it’s black Friday sale and for your Ps5!
I upgraded from an IPS 4K 28″ ASUS monitor, mostly for the HDR and larger screen. It’s been worth it. The HDR isn’t true HDR but it definitely does a good job. If your Xbox game or PS game supports HDR content it turns it on automatically when starting the game up. There’s a difference between the monitor emulating the HDR and it switching itself on when it detects an HDR signal, so bear that in mind. I’ve had no issues with poor viewing angles, any dead pixels, cloudiness etc and if I had to guess looking at the monitor for the first time, would say it looks like an IPS panel, although it’s not.
In terms of my set up: I have my Xbox Series X plugged into one of the two HDMI ports, my work laptop plugged into the other HDMI port, and my gaming laptop plugged in via DisplayPort to USBC. I then have a speaker system plugged in via the aux port. It all works great.
For the Xbox owners out there who have the Series X or are planing on getting one, this monitor ticks all the boxes besides gaming at 4K 120hz and Dolby vision. It’s a 60hz monitor, but plays really nicely. There aren’t many, if any monitors out at the moment that can run games at 4K 120hz otherwise I would have gotten that! This is worth a buy until you can get your hands on one of them.
The bezels are pretty big even for a screen of its size.
The backlight is on the left edge, this makes the scree hot on the left (I recommend keeping the brightness under 75%).
You an get odd artefacts on pitch-black vertical lines that cause the pixels on either side to become dotted (See photo)
HDR 400 is basically not HDR. It does not have the brightness range to play back HDR content correctly. It will blow out whites and crush darks. You need 1000 nit peak brightness before it’s appreciable.
The monitor is very heavy. You will need a strong monitor arm and a desk with at least 1 inch of solid wood (not composite) if you’re going to put it on an arm. The monitor is thick too, so on an arm it will tilt forward.
The HDR button only servers to emulate HDR and enable low blue light mode. To use actual HDR you need to enable it in software on the sending device.
It’s not a bad monitor. It’s alright.
Extremely easy set up, which took a grand total of maybe 45 seconds.
Great picture quality, no dead pixels, great brightness and no back light bleed.
The HDR function works great, doesn’t throw whites out at all which I believe was a problem with models with older software.
With the 4K it’s absolutely gorgeous picture quality.
I took a while to look at reviews for a new monitor at this size with theses specs, I was skeptical at first but now I have made the purchased and set it up completely happy with it and especially and its low price.
This has changed the way I work.
I bought this once home working arrangements started and previously 13.3″ and 15.4″ laptops. At work I had 2 19″ monitors side by side.
This blows everything out of the water. The screen is big enough to have two full A4 pages side by side. This made a huge difference to the way I work and my productivity soared as a result.
Colour reproduction is good to my eyes and while playing the odd game I noticed that the picture quality far exceeds my laptops even though one of the laptops has an IPS screen.
On a final positive note, the built in speakers are small and not tremendously powerful but they are much better than my laptop speakers and worked very well for meetings and conference calls.
Though around 700 is a lot you’ll struggle to get a 32 inch display with 4K, HDR, good brightness for HDR (400+ nits), no PWM, eye care, Freesync and Gsync compatibility, and ideally IPS panel, USB-C video and power, good speakers, and a remote. I looked around a lot and the monitors were either a lot more or missed some features but weren’t that much cheaper.
32 inch 4K has been really good for working with Unreal Engine and that was one of my main drivers. I also wanted to use it as a TV with a Humax box and this has also been great – the REC.709 setting looks lovely and the remote helps, (and I’ve been able to add the monitor to my Harmony One remote as well). The speakers are good and provide a fair bit of bass – I didn’t find them disappointing like I have with some flatscreens. I can also with a laptop just use the usb-c cable for power and picture and it works great at 4K.
4K HDR gaming has also been great – no stuttering or tearing using the gsync with an Nvidia RTX 2070 super. The pictures look fantastic on games like Shadow of the tombraider, metro exodus – the pictures, especially for the former, often look real. I’m not a competitive gamer but I debated a bit about getting a higher refresh rate monitor – to say this this feels totally smooth with no issues for gameplay at 60Hz eve on racing games like forza horizon 4.
4K HDR from Netflix (note the windows app seems poor – and I use the browser which seems better) and discs has also been great though it has needed a bit of trial and error with settings.
HDR 400 is the one that immediately appeals as the contrast can be altered and this enables you to set the HDR intensity to suit your own equipment and content. This was great but then I started to notice on Netflix HDR content and to a lesser extent in Metro Exodus the whole brightness of the screen would change quite frequently for some programmes. Whether this is Windows or the monitor not sure – though I’m not sure it happened with the Xbox One X but don’t have that connected to the monitor right now. I think it’s reading the HDR singal and implementing global dimming.
However, the HDRi modes don’t do this and I’ve been able to get a really good picture using these modes. I’ve seen reports HDRi varies the brightness a lot but I haven’t found that to be the case at all. The thing is initially compared to HDR400 the whole picture looks dimmer and the HDR effect isn’t so strong. It’s like you’ve put sunglasses on. The contrast can’t be changed for the HDRi modes. What I did is set the RTX 2070 super to use nvidia settings rather than windows settings (which seems to vastly improve the picture anyway) and then and then alter the brightness and contrast there. I’ve then been able to get great pictures across the board.
I realise that in comparison to and HDR600 or 1000 TV this might not be so good but it’s really good in comparison to non HDR video. If the screen shows the sun it makes you squint, torches look very bright, light flashes off metal etc – it all looks more realistic. What HDRi also does is manage the darker scenes better – it seems to keep better contrast and make them less washed out. Game HDRi seems to lift the brightness in the darker scenes a bit more which can be better in some circumstances but can make it look too flat and I generally prefer cinema HDRi. I’m pretty picky about picture quality and have a very good projector for films and I am very happy with the Benq. I would say check the HDRi super resolution and sharpness settings as I found the sharpness was turned right up to 10 and it made things look grainy or slightly odd / unrealistic at times until I turned it down a bit.
I debated a lot on VA or IPS and ultimately it seems they both have pros and cons. VA has better contrast but less realistic colours and brightness and colour temperature can vary across the screen, especially if you’re at an angle or close to the screen. IPS has accurate colours, better viewing angles, but in darker scenes can be more prone to IPS bloom – screen being brighter in one or more corners. I took the view I’d rather have the hit of IPS bloom – which is minimal on this even with HDR on and in the dark with a black screen or dark image – for darker material than issues that potentially occur all the time to varying extents but it’s a personal choice.
The only downside has been some quality issues. The first monitor had terrible bleed as well as a lot of brightness variations across the screen. The main bleed was a spot to right of middle and it looked like someone was always holding a little torch at the top of the screen. This was returned (got a replacement delivery next day after raising the issue, before sending off the faulty one – really impressed) and a new one was much better in terms of overall consistency of brightness across dark scenes, though had a similar bleed issue at the bottom to the right. Less severe but I returned this as well, also prompted by a price reduction.
This latest monitor that I’ve kept had minimal bloom and no bleed. I have noticed an issue whereby the honeycomb material stuck across the bottom bezel is lifting up slightly in a couple of places and I periodically need to push it down. not ideal but given the screen itself is good I’m living with this.
I went for 5 stars but would have probably done 4.5 if possible to account for the returns and the bezel but I am very pleased with the performance and picture quality of this monitor and it looks very nice – it doesn’t shout out computer monitor or look like an office item; it feels more like a nice TV.
Hope this helps – I deliberated a long time about what monitor to get and whether this one would be OK so hopefully this give some good insight to anyone in a similar position.
My previous 21-inch screens always felt sufficient-to-large but instantly looked tiny with this between them (1st illustration). The amount of screen-space and pixel-count at first felt huge but, unfortunately, I got used to it very quickly. The side-screens now feel cramped whenever they’re displaying anything more detailed than thumbnails or YouTube.
My greatest fear is that I really, really, want to buy another two of these now but can’t afford it! It performs perfectly. Although purists might want a higher refresh-rate if they are mainly playing twitch shooters this has not affected my work, watching videos, the slower/builder games I usually play or ARMA/Tomb Raider/Hitman when I have tried those. (2nd illustration ROTTR)
– Picture quality is great both for work and movies (though I’m no expert). HD does make a noticeable difference for movies.
– The remote control is convenient for switching between modes, especially HDR. It’s much easier than grubbing around behind the screen for a small switch.
– On screen menus are easy to navigate (especially with the remote).
Neither good nor bad…
– With my Mac I had to turn on scaling as the native resolution is far too small to see menus.
– I haven’t tried it with a games console so can’t comment here.
– The speakers are better than average but not a patch on external speakers or a sound bar and have limited volume. They may be adequate if you are short on space and only need them for light viewing and office work. However, I wouldn’t expect much from built in speakers so this isn’t a negative.
Less good…
– Parts of the housings (like the speaker grilles) are coloured brown. I would have preferred a neutral colour but you get used to it.
– The included USB-C cable doesn’t work with my 2018 Mac Mini. Works fine if you use an Apple-branded Thunderbolt cable.
– There’s no useful height adjustment. If you want this, buy a VESA mount but be aware the monitor is pretty heavy so make sure the one you buy is specced for the weight. However, you may only need on if you need extra space to fit something under the monitor – I needed to accommodate a sound bar which wouldn’t fit with the default stand (see picture).
I’ve been a fan of BenQ monitors for over a decade now and decided it was time for an upgrade from a Full-HD EW2750ZL as I now have the PC horsepower to pull 4K at 60FPS or above in many games.
The games where I can’t manage this still look great rendered at 2K or 3K then GPU upscaled to 4K with Radeon Image Sharpening on an AMD RX Vega 56. This monitor’s FreeSync feature works perfectly for ironing out the occasional dip below 60FPS (as low as 40FPS) without any stutters.
Input lag is stated in many independent reviews as being around 10 milliseconds. I have no way of confirming this but am inclined to believe it as there’s no apparent lag even in fast-paced games. This equates to well under one frame at 60Hz, so I can’t imagine anyone having a problem with it.
The panel’s 3000:1 static contrast ratio and DCI-P3 colour gamut leads to much deeper blacks than any TN or IPS panel as well as colours that pop nicely. If it pops too much for anyone’s liking, they can always rein it in by either selecting the monitor’s sRGB picture mode or dialling back the saturation.
There is a slight glow in the lower left-hand corner on mine, but it’s standard practice for me to install sufficiently bright bias lighting behind a monitor to give the impression that blacks are actually black. Under these conditions, it’s barely perceptible. I can certainly happily live with it.
Movies look fantastic! My movie archive is always played back via Media Player Classic – Black Edition with the aid of madVR precision rendering and this monitor blows my similarly priced Toshiba TV away in terms of overall clarity and perceived image depth, especially with the room lights out.
I’ve very little to add really except to say that if you’re familiar with the pros and cons of a VA panel (actually MVA in this instance) then this monitor is unlikely to give you any unpleasant surprises. There are better monitors around dedicated to specific tasks for a similar price, but this is an excellent all-rounder.
For this price the picture is excellent, bar the viewing angles. The light sensor is also very valuable to me as I use it during the evenings.
Though I nearly returned as the viewing angles on this VA panel are terrible. This is a problem as it is a 32″ so part of the screen is always at an angle. So the sides and especially top corners get faded. But I persisted and now don’t notice it as much, especially not in the daytime.
Alternative monitors at this price (and time) do not have a light sensor, USB-C and VESA mount.
I wish it was curved though. As that would help with the viewing angles. I have HDR disabled as no use to me.
A few negatives that did not bother me: sound coming from the monitor is not that good; it is not height adjustable.
The positives is the good resolution and size which is perfect for programming, having several windows open and multitasking.
I have done extensive research and tried several monitors before getting this one. This one was the best in terms of outcomes. All in all this type of equipment with better specs and size is not cheap, so this monitor is not “cheap” but it is seems to be reasonably priced for the specs in my opinion.
It would be nice height adjustable, better sound, able to rotate the monitor.
I am no expert in color and image quality of monitors but in terms of resolution is good. You will have good quality image of text presented in the scree
This monitor is my first 4K monitor/screen. I have seen plenty of 4K screens before though.
I have an Xbox One S and a gaming laptop. My Xbox One S gs this monitor all the green ticks for 4K besides Dolby Vision, watching 4K content on it whether it be Netflix or Youtube, the quality is amazing. The emulated HDR makes colours pop, light and dark scenes better to watch.
My gaming laptop doesn’t quite have the power to output games at 4K 60fps but seeing the games at 4K quality anyway is very nice to see, it can however play games at 1440p (2K) at 60 fps and they look fantastic.
The only issue I have with my monitor in particular is the light bleed from the backlight. It is particularly bad on the left hand side near the bottom, when viewing a dark image or scene it is very noticeable and takes away from the quality of the video. When watching a bright scene there are no issues at all.
Would I recommend this monitor. Yes.
For a 4K HDR monitor for 300 this is I think a great starter monitor if your just getting into 4K for the first time.
Just as a word of warning, one thing I did pickup as a bit strange out of the box was…….I am using my own, very high quality DP cable to connect my PC to the monitor, for some reason the monitor set itself up as 59hz, however, the AMD driver wouldnt allow me to run 10bit colour with 4:4:4 settings, only 8 bit, I had to dial down to 4:2:2 settings to run 10bit, thats when I discovered it was running at 59hz, I changed it to 60hz with windows advanced monitor settings and went back to the AMD driver settings and set it straight to 10bit colour with 4:4:4 settings, all is good in the world now.
The video above is running the 4k UHD demo video on youtube Costa Rica, the camera on my S10 doesnt do this monitor or this video the justice it deserves, Absolutely stunning !!!
You wont be disappointed, my next upgrade will be for a 5k2k ultrawide next, just waiting on BenQ to release one, which is the same as 4k, just in ultrawide version.
Only have some minor complaints with this monitor, I can’t have brightness/contrast as far down as I like since the dark/black colours bleed and after only a few months there is a dead pixel (barely noticeable, in the top right corner but if there are more in the future it could become a problem).
Other than that I’m pretty please with this monitor, so long as you don’t mind fiddling with your settings to fix the colour bleed it’s pretty decent for the price.
Windows Settings -> Display: set Windows HD Colour – Play HDR games and apps to ON. With this, your desktop and apps & games will support HDR output. Games without HDR support will still work on fullscreen in normal preset (SDR) mode – choose and set your preset while in the game so it will be set permanently for this non-HDR mode. I’ll tell more about it later
NVIDIA Control Panel -> Change resolution: Apply the following settings:
Desktop colour depth: 32bit
Output colour depth: 10 bpc
Output colour format: RGB
Output dynamic range: Full
This is very important. Without it, the output dynamic range will be limited (RGB 17-255) and there will be no real black colour. Everything will be washed out as I presented in two pictures – two are perfectly black monitor with Full output dynamic range and manual SDR adjustment, and other 3 pictures are Limited RGB range and no preset done – image is awful.
Also, make sure that you have Displayport cable version 1.4 (32Gbps), ONLY THIS ONE is able to display 4K 60 Hz 10bpc HDR image. This cable is not included, you need to purchase it. I got one from Amazon for 13, not cheap. Benq only adds USB C, HDMI and Mini DisplayPort cables.
SDR preset: choose User Mode and set the following:
Brightness -> 68
Contrast -> 48
Gamma -> 3
Color Temperature -> User Define -> R 100, G 96, B 100
Please see great Tom’s Hardware review to see more details.
Summary: Overall, this is a great 32″ monitor and works perfectly for me with 125% interface size setting. Image is great, I am no expert, I don’t do any photo editing, so this one works just fine, for multimedia HDR content and for normal work in SDR mode.
Enjoy 🙂
This is where this adequately sized and reasonably priced BenQ monitor comes in.
Being a 32 inch, 4K UHD monitor, which is natively 60Hz, with an excellent input lag of just 1ms, this has performed excellently for gaming, and for 4K movies alike. It produces crisp and clear images at 4K resolution, and it’s HDR function showcases a wider variety of contrast.
However, it’s HDR function has limited options to adjust while in HDR mode; which is arguably not that significant if you received a model with the latest firmware. There are essentially a high brightness and low brightness setting for this, and generally speaking, I would recommend the low brightness setting, as the high brightness setting tends to display reds/orange colours a bit too brightly.
The other limitation are its internal speakers, which one should never use; the speakers are terrible. This is easily mitigated by picking up a set of external speakers, such as simple 20 Logitech speakers that will phenomenally improve your sound experience, or better yet, a soundbar with a remote control to allow you to change the volume as necessary from your own seat. One could also connect this to a surround sound system, but a bigger and better TV would be suggested for that.
Having connected this monitor to my Xbox One X, and using the console as my all in one media device (as it was originally designed to be), I can say that this is easily the best value for money 4K UHD screen that functions not only as a 4K TV for me, but as an excellent monitor for gaming and 4K movies.
I would absolutely recommend this as the best value budget choice, for anyone with a 4K gaming console, needing a reasonably priced screen to fully utilise the capabilities of their console, without burning a hole in your wallet.
There are people far more knowledgeable than me who have given technical feedback however; my requirements are quite simple – I work with CAD, or PDF, drawings and require a clean high definition monitor and this does the job very well however; there is one thing I did not count on – the graphics card I was using Sapphire Nitro+ Radeon RX580 would not go above 30Hz when this monitor was in 3840 x 2160 resolution so I’ve also had to update my graphics card to a GEFORCE RTX 2060 as a minimum
I do not use this monitor for PC gaming so am unable to comment and therefore no stars
I originally bought one of these for my Xbox One X (HDR mainly) as I use that for 4k Bluray, Netflix, Prime Video UHD etc.
EDIT: several months after buying both the panels developed an issue with colour/brightness uniformity for no discernable reason. This got worse over the period of two weeks and I had to send both back. I moved over to a 4k60 IPS 27″ IPS (LG) as secondary and X34P as primary which have both performed well.
I was quite impressed so sold my Acer Pred and bought a second as a main PC monitor too.
Pros:
-4k HDR (350-400nits in reviews). This may not be HDR 1000 Nits but it makes a massive difference to HDR content over an SDR display. Shadows and definition between middle greys, browns are clear; with colours appearing more vivid and punchy.
-Value – The next 4k HDR 32″ is an LG at over 800. I bought this at 400 which shows brilliant value for money.
-Stand is decent (although I vesa mounted).
-Bezels are not tiny, but also not large like some.
-No “gamer” aesthetic” which I found an issue with the old Acer Pred
-Ghosting is very minimal, which I find an issue with a similar samsung panel I own.
Cons
-It’s only a matter of time before a 4k HDR 144Hz version is released at 32″. This will be 1000 or so though.
-Va panel has good blacks and contrast but viewing angle is not quite that of an IPS. Much better than a TN though.
Once in HDR mode, cannot adjust HDR picture settings, too blue tone/tint. (see pictures, in HDR the white cloud is blue)
I gave 2 stars, as on SDR the picture is great.
** EDIT 01 September 2018 : regarding the blue tint/tone, i have later contacted Benq. Main problem was FIRMWARE update which can ONLY be done by Benq technician, so they offered an exchange for another same monitor. I guess i had the very early model. ****Great monitor and their customer service too!!!
***Would get 5 stars if firmware was updatable via USB or something.
****And also, once in HDR, all brightness/contrast settings are disabled. Even though in HDR, more peak brightness is better, but on some dark scene the backlight leaks through, kinda annoying.