Benq DesignVue PD3220U
Made for Mac, nearly perfect for PC.
Shop carefully and you can pick up a 4K monitor for under $400; $600 will bag you a 32-inch 4K monitor with a decent VA panel. Which begs the question: Why would you unload nearly $1,200 on this?
It has a 31.5-inch panel, 4K resolution, and tops out at 60Hz. However, the DesignVue PD3220U ups the ante with IPS rather than VA panel tech. That implies better color accuracy, viewing angles, and response, but inferior contrast compared to a VA.
Problem is, $1,200 will buy you a 4K 32-incher with an IPS panel. As it happens, BenQ itself will sell you such a screen. So, what justifies the price premium? It’s not high refresh, that’s for sure, what with the PD3220U pegged at 60Hz. Nor is gaming generally the remit here, even though this monitor will turn its hand to more frivolous pursuits if you have the requisite beefy GPU to drive it.
Instead, productivity and style are the recipe here. The latter involves symmetrically slim bezels on all four sides, plus a slick stand in what Apple, were it the manufacturer, would doubtless denote as Space Gray, and which offers a full range of articulation, including rotation to portrait mode. Indeed, Apple’s MacBook Pros are a large chunk of the stated target market for the PD3220U, hence the styling.
The Apple-centric execution is more than just skin deep – BenQ has also fitted the PD3220U with dual MacBook-friendly Thunderbolt 3 ports. Both allow for single-cable connectivity carrying the display signal, USB connectivity, and charging, although one port supports 85W of charging power, the other just 15W. Anyway, the point is that this is an ideal display for a single-cable setup using a powerful laptop computer, be it an Apple or a PC.
It’s also worth noting that the full Thunderbolt 3, as opposed to merely USB Type-C, spec of those dual ports means you can daisy-chain a secondary monitor and thus drive two displays with a single cable. Nifty. While we’re on the subject of connectivity, a KVM switch and a hotkey puck for quick switching between display modes add yet another layer of utility to what was already a very flexible display.
Rounding out the significant specs is support for HDR10 content. BenQ is careful to not claim full HDR display capability, which is welcome, given this monitor is limited to 300cd/m2 brightness and does not offer local dimming. However, the HDR10 signal processing means that colors can be seen correctly, allowing this monitor to be used for HDR content creation, a significant boon for content pros, who’ll also be interested to learn that the PD3220U is claimed to be good for 100 percent of the sRGB color space and 95 percent of DCI-P3.
Bearing all of that in mind, in action, the PD3220U is as good as you’d hope. The colors and clarity are fabulous, and the viewing angles utterly impeccable. Moreover, 4K at 32 inches provides a very nice compromise between a tight pixel pitch and usability at 100 percent scaling, if the latter is a preference. This is an impressively precise display solution.
The BenQ PD3220U is therefore a very slick allaround option for content professionals or serious desktop PC enthusiasts. In fact, pretty much anyone other than gamers would be very happy to have it as a primary display. Whether it’s worth the extra money over a less well-featured 32-inch 4K IPS monitor really depends on the premium you place on flexibility and connectivity.