Hi, I’m Gidon from thetechnologyman.com. The BenQ EW3270U monitor has a huge 32" wide
gamut, 4K screen. It has HDR support for gaming and streaming with High Dynamic Range, and
has some interesting features for reducing eye strain. It's not cheap at around £450
or $600, but if you want all these headline features, it's currently one of the least
expensive options. But is it any good?
Why 4K? 4K or Ultra HD monitors to be more precise,
have a resolution of 3840 by 2160 pixels. That's the equivalent of two side by side
full HD monitors stacked on top of another two full HD monitors. There are a few reasons
you might want to consider a 4K monitor. For productivity tasks, it provides a huge
amount of screen real estate. Just using Windows built-in snapping features lets you easily
arrange up to 4 windows. The size of the screen is then the limiting factor on how useful
this is. The 32" screen I'm looking at today is physically big enough that even 4 windows
become manageable. If your computer and broadband connection
is up to it, you can stream 4K films and TV shows via services like Netflix, Amazon Prime
and YouTube and it looks impressive. You can also hook up a set-top box or a gaming console
and use it like a TV. Finally, playing games at 4K is the holy grail
of gaming, but you'll need a very powerful computer, especially if you want to play at
the game's maximum graphical settings. There are users who will prefer an ultra-wide
monitor with a 21:9 aspect ratio. Take a look at my recent review of the LG 29WK600 for
some further discussion. Getting started
Once you clear enough space, it's straightforward to attach the stand to the monitor. Attach
the base to the stand, and tighten the thumbscrew. The complete stand then slides into the back
of the monitor, and is secured by tightening the two sprung screws.
There's a good choice or inputs with 2 HDMI 2.0 ports, a DisplayPort 1.4 and a USB Type-C
port. All three cable types are also included which is a nice touch. Unfortunately the ports
face downwards and are very awkward to reach. I'm connecting via the included HDMI cable
to an Nvidia GTX 970 graphics card. If you're connecting to an older desktop computer, with
only legacy display outputs, you'll have to factor in adding a cheap graphics card to
allow output to this monitor. The weighty stand is a simple design comprised
mostly of plastic. It has no height adjustment, and a minimal tilt adjustment of 5 degrees
forward and 15 degrees back. There is also no cable management. But it supports the large
display adequately. If you need more adjustment, the monitor has
standard 100mm by 100mm VESA mounting holes for any display mount of your choosing.
The monitor has an internal power supply, so there is no external AC adaptor. Connection
is via the ubiquitous mains kettle lead. First impressions
The monitor has a rather boxy, business like appearance. The grey plastic bezel stands
around 4mm proud of the screen and has a chamfer into the panel which I didn't find particularly
attractive but you get used to it, especially once you switch the monitor on.
This is a large monitor, with a 14 mm bezel around the sides and top and a 21 mm bezel
at the bottom. The actual diagonal viewing size is 800 mm or 31.5 inches, with the overall
dimensions of the monitor 725 mm by 428 mm and the overall height including the stand
521 mm. The power button glows green with the monitor
switched on and there is a dedicated button just above it for turning the emulated HDR
mode and Brightness Intelligence modes on and off, which by default are both off. I'll
come back to this shortly. Windows 10 will prompt you to adjust the scaling
of text to 150%, which you'll generally want to accept, unless you want the system text
to be tiny. Most applications work fine with the system scaling, but not all, and I did
encounter a few issues. For example the Origin game launcher wouldn't load without overriding
High DPI settings in compatibility mode. There are 11 pictures modes in Standard Dynamic
Range or SDR mode, with the default Standard mode defaulting to maximum brightness, which
is way too bright for most situations. You can lower the brightness via the OSD, or On
Screen Display controls, beside the power button. There's no user friendly joystick
here, you'll have to navigate around using the five buttons. By default, just to get
to the brightness setting requires five button presses. But you can customise the buttons
if you're going to be changing this setting frequently. Or turn on the automatic brightness
controls, which I'll cover shortly. The monitor has built in audio via 2 x 2W
integrated speakers. The default volume level is low - you'll need to return to the OSD
to bump it up. The audio quality is not bad but just lacks any bass. So it's acceptable
for spoken audio, but not much else. Fortunately there's a headphone port for much improved
sound. Picture quality and colour accuracy
The 16:9 aspect ratio; 3840 by 2160 resolution, even with the large size of this monitor,
delivers sharp results with a pixel density of 140 pixels per inch (PPI). By Apple's reckoning
that makes the display "Retina" at a viewing distance of over 64 cm or 25 inches, and you
really wouldn't have this monitor any closer. Which basically means text looks very crisp,
and you'll certainly notice switching back to any lesser display. The anti-glare coating
does a good job of limiting any glare coming in from a large window to my side, and a bright
light bulb above. The monitor uses a VA panel, which doesn't
provide quite as good viewing angles as an equivalent IPS panel, but still offers excellent
colour reproduction, and superb contrast ratios with deep, rich blacks. The monitor is marketed
as a TV substitute for watching streamed 4K content or connecting to a console. The rich
blacks are very desirable in these circumstances and would explain the choice of panel. It
also brings the price of the display down. I still found the claimed 178 degree viewing
angles good. The contrast ratio of the monitor is quoted
as 3000:1, although you'll need to ensure your graphics card is configured correctly
if you're connecting over HDMI. By default my Nvidia card recognised the monitor as a
TV and limited the dynamic range of its output, resulting in washed out blacks and a measured
contrast ratio an order of magnitude less than the spec. Within the Nvidia control panel,
check under Display resolution | Output dynamic range and change Limited to Full. If you can't
access this setting for any reason, you can also use the OSD to change the HDMI RGB PC
Range from Auto Detect to RGB(16~235) to match the graphics card output, which although not
ideal, will still vastly improve the contrast. It's worth noting that connecting via an AMD
RX 470 over HDMI worked perfectly with no configuration required.
The monitor is claimed to have 95% coverage of the DCI-P3 colour space popular with Apple
displays, which has a 25% wider gamut of colours compared to the more common sRGB. What this
basically means is it can display a more accurate representation of colour. If you're doing
any colour critical work, this can be a real boon.
I measured the colour accuracy or Delta E (ΔE) of the monitor as it comes, using the
default standard picture mode and the default maximum brightness. Delta E is a metric for
understanding how the human eye perceives colour difference with a value of less than
1 being not perceptible to the human eye. And a value between 1 and 2 being barely perceptible.
I got an average Delta E of 1.5 which is quite acceptable.
Using an X-Rite i1Display Pro, I calibrated the monitor, reducing the default maximum
brightness I measured at 290 cd/m², to a more comfortable 150 cd/m². You'll need to
choose the User picture mode for calibration, since it's the only mode that allows you to
adjust the colour temperature. I achieved excellent results from the calibration,
bringing the average Delta E down to below 0.5 with a maximum of 1.89. I was also able
to confirm the claimed 95% coverage of the DCI P3 standard with a measured value of 94.5%
which is close enough, and an impressive 99.8% coverage of the sRGB colour space. I couldn't
get the claimed 3000:1 contrast ratio but 2800:1 is still pretty good.
There is some variation in brightness across the screen, only really detectable if you're
looking for it. But the monitor passed a basic uniformity test, checking variation in brightness
and more importantly tint across the monitor, by dividing the screen into a 5 by 5 grid.
Additional features The BenQ EQ3270U has a few interesting features,
the most notable being the built in ambient light sensor just below the BenQ logo.
BenQ call this Brightness Intelligence Plus (B.I.+) Technology and dedicates a separate
button to it that also toggles emulated HDR mode.
When turned on, the sensor automatically monitors the light levels and colour temperature of
its surroundings and adjusts the brightness and colour of the screen accordingly, in an
attempt to reduce eye strain. As an added bonus, it also saves power. You can turn on
the Light Meter display which shows you graphically when a change of lighting is detected. There's
also a Sensor Sensitivity toggle, but I didn't find this made much difference so would recommend
leaving at the default 50%. The B.I.+ technology works well, and unless
you're using a colour calibrated work flow it makes sense to turn it on. I measured a
few typical values starting from the default eye-searing brightness of around 290 cd/m²
which used 45W. Just turning the feature on with only natural light from a cloudy day
coming in through the windows, the brightness dropped to around 160 cd/m² and used 30W.
In a completely dark room the brightness dropped to 100 cd/m², consuming only 25W.
I still found the brightness a little high for my tastes, and unfortunately you can't
adjust the brightness manually with the B.I.+ mode enabled. It would be nice to be able
to set an upper limit. It's also not possible to use the ambient
light sensor in sRGB, Rec 709, Eco and User picture modes.
I was able to measure the colour temperature of the screen changing as the colour temperature
of environment changed, but it's a very smooth transition and hardly detectable to the naked
eye, just as it should be. It's subtle but it does make the colours of the display appear
more natural. There's a also a dedicated OSD button to choose
from one of four Low Blue Light modes, which filter blue light which is meant to reduce
eye fatigue and is also recommended close to bed time to aid sleep. Phones and tablets
often have this feature. Apple calls it Night Shift and Samsung calls it the Blue Light
Filter. There's also BenQ's Flicker-Free technology
that doesn't use the common Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) to reduce the brightness of the screen.
PWM effectively reduces the brightness but turning the backlight on and off very quickly.
BenQ's Direct Current (DC) backlight system is meant to eliminate flicker but I can't
say I've ever noticed flicker on any modern monitor. Still it's meant to reduce eye strain
and fatigue and is all part of BenQ's Eye-care system.
The USB Type-C input lets you connect to a compatible laptop such as any of the latest
Macbooks. There's even a dedicated M-book Picture Mode, that will match the colours
between your display and the Macbook. One of the benefits of the USB Type-C connection
is that it also supports power delivery, so you should be able to also charge your laptop.
Unfortunately this port doesn't support this feature, so you'll still need a separate AC
adaptor for your laptop. There are also no USB ports on the back of the monitor, so you
can't use it as a USB hub. You can still connect an older Macbook or any laptop with a mini-DisplayPort
to the DisplayPort input, using the supplied cable.
Unfortunately there's no screen windowing software which means you're limited to using
the built in Windows snapping, or paid software like Display Fusion for finer control.
High Dynamic Range (HDR) High Dynamic Range or HDR is a
#,feature that expands the contrast and colours of the image, with the intention of providing
more realism. There are various HDR standards including HDR10, Dolby Vision and HLG and
like the LG 29WK600 ultrawide monitor I recently reviewed, this monitor also supports the most
popular HDR10 standard. However it also is not compliant with even the minimum VESA Display
HDR 400 standard which specifies a luminance of over 320 cd/m². I'm not sure this is an
issue to most users, but it's worth mentioning. The display does support 10 bit colour depth
for even finer tonal details, although Windows only detected a 10 bit display when connected
via an AMD RX 470, not my Nvidia GTX 970. There's not a huge amount of HDR content but
I played Battlefield 1 that supports HDR10. The monitor automatically switches to HDR
mode, confirmed by an OSD message. You have a choice of two picture modes: the default
and a Cinema HDR mode intended for watching films. The game does look impressive, with
deeper blacks and more vibrant colours. Windows 10 support for HDR is continuously
improving, and I found the monitor quite usable in HDR mode, which you enable from Settings
| System | Display. Again the monitor will automatically switch to HDR mode. There's
no way to adjust brightness manually in HDR mode, but you can turn on B.I.+ for automatic
control. I played some HDR content from the YouTube
HDR Channel and it looked incredibly vibrant and immersive. But you'll need a very fast
internet connection to stream 4K HDR content - my 40Mbps connection could barely keep up.
Unfortunately my system doesn't support playing HDR content from Netflix or Amazon Video,
which both require quite stringent hardware requirements.
I did find text doesn't look as crisp in HDR mode, so I wouldn't want to leave this mode
on generally. The prominent HDR button that also controls
the B.I.+ mode, only switches to an emulated HDR mode when using the monitor in Standard
Dynamic Range (SDR). Although it is highlighted when you are in true HDR mode which is a little
confusing. I didn't find emulated HDR mode improved any content I tried playing.
Gaming and Freesync If you have a powerful enough graphics card,
gaming at 4K is amazing. But it can't be overstated just how powerful a machine you need, especially
if you want to enjoy all settings maxed out. Ideally one of Nvidia or AMD's very latest
high end graphics cards. My ageing Nvidia GTX 970 with an Intel i7 processor, could
just about maintain usable frame rates of over 30 FPS playing Battlefield 1, letting
the game configure optimal settings. Of course you can always lower the resolution of the
game for better gameplay, but it won't look anywhere near as sharp.
The maximum refresh rate of the monitor is 60Hz, which compared to some gaming monitors
that go up to 144Hz seems low. But playing the latest games, at 4K at refresh rates exceeding
60Hz is asking quite a lot of even the most expensive graphics cards.
The 4ms Grey to Grey (GTG) response time of the monitor is more than adequate for low
latency gaming, and BenQ's AMA setting allows you to adjust this further. I found the default
High setting worked best for me. If connected to an AMD graphics card, the
monitor supports Freesync that synchronises the achieved frame rate of the game to the
monitor. This reduces any screen tearing and stuttering in game, where the graphics card
can’t keep up with the refresh rate of the monitor. It's only supported between 40Hz
and 60Hz, but considering the intense graphic card demands of 4K gaming, it's still nice
to have. It can't be turned on or off on the monitor itself, you'll need to use the AMD
graphics driver. Of course you could also connect a gaming
console with 4K HDR output like an Xbox One X or a Playstation 4 Pro.
Conclusions The BenQ EW3270U has good colour accuracy
and comprehensive connectivity options and the ambient light sensor is genuinely useful
for a connect and forget experience. I'm sure the price of 32" 4K HDR monitors will come
down, but you'll have to pay significantly more than this display to get those headline
features currently. The big question is whether you really need
HDR, particularly in its current form, or whether a smaller 28" display like the the
BenQ EW3270U's little brother, the EL2870U, would suffice. Some may actually find the
32" screen size unwieldy. But the HDR support isn't adding that much
to the cost and does future proof the monitor somewhat.
If you're after a 32" 4K monitor, the EW3270U should definitely be on your shortlist.
I hope you found the video useful. Please do like and subscribe if you did, and take
a look at thetechnologyman.com for the written review which includes a summary of the pros
and cons of the monitor. Thanks for watching!