MacDirectory magazine is the premiere creative lifestyle magazine for Apple enthusiasts featuring interviews, in-depth tech reviews, Apple news, insights, latest Apple patents, apps, market analysis, entertainment and more.
Issue link: https://digital.macdirectory.com/i/1496181
When you think about it, most display brands are household names. This is either because they’re made by a major computer company or one known for their household appliances. So when “newcomer” BenQ made an appearance at Adobe MAX boasting a line of Thunderbolt-friendly, made-for-the Mac screens, we were intrigued. BenQ was kind enough to loan MacDirectory one of its new, PD2725U DesignView 27-inch midrange models. And we were cruel enough to set it up beside our 27" antiglare-coated Apple Studio Display. Confessing to a bit of journalistic bias and brand snobbery, we felt that at about half the price, it would make a good second screen for our work without a distractingly different degree of image and color quality. BenQ is not exactly a newcomer. It has been in the international electronics market since 1984. In 2001, it was spun off from Taiwan’s electronics giant, Acer, which had acquired it. BenQ’s diverse product line ranged from smartphones to laptops and projectors and higher-end gaming displays. Impressive, Right Out of the Box When our demo unit arrived, one thing was notable right out of the box. The BenQ has one of the heaviest, sturdiest bases we’ve ever seen on a 27" display. However, being a flat metal plate about 3mm thick, it doesn’t completely dominate that deskspace. When the display is snapped onto its VESA mount, the smoothly counterbalanced height adjustment was easy to fine tune. When the DesignView also twists into portrait mode a motion sensor can automatically reorient the image into portrait mode–a very handy trick if you need to move between the two a lot. Impressed as we were to this point, it was a bit disappointing to see that the included heavy-duty Thunderbolt cable included was only 2-feet long, barely reaching the connector on our Mac Studio parked next to the monitor. You’ll likely want to include a longer one when you place your order. The antiglare coating, standard on the BenQ, winds up looking very similar to the $300 Nano-textured glass on Studio Display. The image remains tack sharp.Finally, when the monitor powers up and your desktop appears, we noticed that, between the thin bezel and expanded image area, the BenQ has about a 45% thinner border area than the Studio Display. And like the Studio Display, the BenQ has no front or side controls. Both the small, square power button and menu controls (a small joystick) are out of the way on the back. Unlike Apple’s display, the BenQ has a power button. Seeing the Sights We were almost ready for our first actual test drive, but first we brought out our X-Rite i1 Display Pro calibration tool to make sure both our displays were running profiles tuned to the same settings. We then tried a couple of our favorite sRGB color target test files to make sure they eyeballed as close as they could be. In fact, it was a much better match than we anticipated. In most cases, evaluating a monitor's features is fairly straightforward: how good's the image and build quality. With most of BenQ's better display's that's only part of the picture. The DesignView’s very unique and useful additions that give their products considerably more depth and more to think about (and learn). The first is a little piece of hardware they call the HotKey Puck. It's a 3" round USB accessory that plugs into the display and BenQ's special software, letting you quickly change settings, inputs and adjust brightness, contrast or speaker volume. The latter is the safest choice for The Not-so Good (if it matters to you) Unlike the Apple Studio Display, BenQ's monitors