BenQ XL2730Z
Designed for gaming, from top to bottom.
Despite being launched last year, the 27-inch BenQ XL2730Z is one of the more fully featured mid- to high-range monitors on the market. Sure, it’s still $750, but offers a higher-thannormal 2,560 x 1,440 resolution with a super speedy 144Hz refresh rate. To make sure tearing and stuttering can’t affect your gaming, it also included FreeSync support.
Underneath, the XL27030Z uses a TN panel, which means a great 1ms response time, but lesser colour accuracy (72% NTSC) and worse viewing angles.
All that really matters, though, is that connecting up to your gaming machine results in a vibrant yet fluid gaming experience. The colours are actually pretty good, all things considered, and there is no evidence of ghosting, input lag or backlight bleed. The XL2730Z includes backlight flickering blur reduction tech (though it does not run with FreeSync on) that does increase sharpness a little.
But the BenQ boffins didn’t stop there, with extra features such as integrated carry handle, a retractable headphone hook, and black equaliser mode to bring out detail in dark areas. The stand is fully adjustable (including pivot) and has dials on the adjustment points so it’s easy to reset back to exactly how you like it. The screen has a range of pre-set and configurable OSD calibrations for different games, as well as a handy little remote for quickly switching between them. The XL27030Z can even auto-detect the game type and self-optimise the picture, and back up your custom game modes to the cloud or USB stick.