benq pd2710qc monitor
PRICE £520 | COMPANY Benq | website www.benq.co.uk
With a sleek design and impressive colour accuracy, is this monitor the ideal choice?
Sometimes you need to have colour accuracy in your studio monitor, other times your priority might be connectivity, or even beauty (we all like nice-looking things in our workspace after all). The Benq Designer monitor range attempts to offer all these things in one solution and, depending on what other gear you have, succeeds.
On opening the package you are presented with a slim-bezel (just 7mm) monitor that can stand in landscape or portrait mode. The screen is notable only in being unobtrusive, as it should be. You want your attention to remain on your creativity and this works perfectly here. The slim bezel, combined with the daisy chaining ability, means you can put two of these side by side with a minimum of plastic between the two.
When looking at a monitor purchase the connectivity and design are important, but really the quality of the actual display panel should be the deciding factor and it’s here that this option really shines. With a full 100% Adobe SRGB and Rec. 709 coverage, from any angle, you can’t get better colour performance – so no matter whether you work in print or TV and film, the Benq will give you consistently accurate results. Not content with a standard HD resolution the Benq also offers enhanced screen real estate with a 2K QHD resolution of 2,560 x 1,440.
On top of this it has a number of modes to enhance your output in different tasks. There’s a CAD mode that ups the contrast, an animation mode that raises shadow detail and a darkroom mode, which has nothing to do with photography but actually adapts the output for those working in a light-controlled environment like a postproduction grading room.
Back to connectivity and here we have more thoughtful design choices, as the base of the monitor is also a hub, containing USB, Ethernet, audio IO and a Displayport socket. This is all fantastic stuff and can make for a clean desk with minimal fuss. However, there is one downside. This all works via USB-C cable, so you will need to have a fairly modern machine to take advantage of all this goodness. Not so great if you are using an older computer, but if you are updating your studio or just starting out this could be the perfect choice.
For the modern creative this monitor offers great connections, a sleek design and, most importantly, a fantastic colour-accurate display, suited to many demanding tasks. Just make sure your other gear is USB-C enabled. sleek lines and a built-in hub make this monitor look good, even when switched off