Okay.
So I've been getting back into
FPS shooters recently
after taking a well deserved
two year break
after raging too hard last time
and almost breaking my keyboard.
But the problem is
I also needed a high refresh rate monitor
that wasn't going to cost a fortune.
This is the BenQ Mobiuz EX-2710Q.
With a one millisecond response time,
27 inch 1440P screen
and refresh rate of 165Hz.
On paper, it looks like a good choice.
And yes, for those of you asking,
I can also use this with my MacBook Pro
for productivity tasks
when I'm not gaming on my PC,
but more on that later.
Let's start with design and build quality.
Overall, it's pretty good.
It's not super cheap with squeaky plastic
like other budget gaming monitors
but it's also not super premium.
But honestly, at this price range,
you can't really expect much more.
I do like the light silver and gray color scheme
and aggressive style of the back though.
But the front does feel a little chunky
with that front speaker bezel
and I definitely think other monitors
come out ahead in this department,
like the 1440P Eve Spectrum for example.
The stand is also quite "gamery" looking
with an aggressive triangle shape
with red accents
and it has a cable management cutout at the back
which was good to see.
Does a good job at keeping the monitor stable
on the desk
and you get the usual swivel adjustments.
But only a tiny percentage of rotation,
which is a weird design quirk,
probably just in case your desk is really wonky.
Speaking of wonky desks, it has VESA support
so you can mount this to a monitor arm.
It's also only around 5kgs heavy
without the stand.
And I'll link my favorite monitor arms down below
if you want to check them out.
For ports,
the EX-2710Q has two HDMI 2.0 ports
and one DisplayPort 1.4.
I'm not too bothered that the HDMI port is 2.0
and not 2.1
because you'll likely use DisplayPort
most of the time
if you want the full 165Hz refresh rate.
If you're on a Mac,
you can pick up a cheap
USB-C to DisplayPort 1.4 cable
for about 20 bucks to get that high refresh rate
for productivity tasks,
or even some light gaming in macOS
if that's what you do.
And if you use a Thunderbolt dock
like me,
you can easily switch between Mac and PC
if necessary.
I have a separate video on this
that I'll link, as well.
A pair of rear USB A ports are available
and driven by a single USB B upstream connection
from your desktop or laptop.
Now this type of expansion
is starting to get outdated
but again, for the price,
it's not bad.
The quick menu is quite good.
You get immediate access to color mode,
game modes, brightness, volume,
and also BenQ's version of overdrive
and blur reduction,
which they've called "AMA".
The rest of the menu system is okay.
There's nothing super intuitive
or ground breaking.
I do like the navigation joystick
and the dedicated input button
on the back though.
This is awesome for switching between
different computers quickly
if you use them.
There's two 2W speakers
forward facing on the chin
and this projects audio right into your face
unlike other monitors
that send it into the desk
or back against the wall.
And there's a 5W subwoofer in the back
so you actually get some bass.
(upbeat EDM music)
And in terms of sound quality,
these are actually some of the best
built-in monitor speakers I've ever heard
and this is a gaming monitor, no less.
So I probably wouldn't bother
with any kind of external speakers,
unless you wanted to get
a relatively high quality one,
and that's instantly going to save you
about a 100 to 150 bucks
if you just want to use the in-built speakers
on the BenQ.
Moving on to the panel,
it's a 27-inch 1440P IPS panel.
And in my opinion,
this is the sweet spot
for gaming monitors right now.
So you get that resolution bump
from 1080P to 1440P,
which is great for clearer
and more detailed game visuals,
but it's also not super demanding
to run, like for example, a 4K monitor.
So if you're playing AAA rated games,
you can typically get over 100 FPS,
sometimes more If you bump those settings down,
with a moderately powerful GPU,
for example, an RTX 3070.
Plus you get Freesync
to smooth everything out.
Viewing angles are also good
and backlight bleed on my model is minimal.
Now let's talk about brightness and HDR.
The peak brightness of this monitor
is slightly less than the advertised 250 nits,
which means if you are in a bright environment
and you can't control the light levels,
you're going to have a bad time.
For example,
if there's a lot of sunlight or overhead lighting.
Typically though,
I expect most people can either
close window blinds
or turn off extra lighting when gaming.
There's also HDR in the form of DisplayHDR 400,
which, as I've talked about in the past,
is an emulated or fake version of true HDR.
BenQ calls their version "HDRi"
or "HDR intelligent".
There's a sensor inside the monitor
that adjusts the screen brightness
depending on the ambient light
and image content.
So if HDR is on and also enabled within Windows,
it allows peak brightness
to reach up to 400 nits
and it pretty much stays there
solving the aforementioned brightness problem.
There's also a HDRI profile button on the front
but I found it's effectively
just gamma curve adjustments
and didn't really do that much.
The panel itself supports 10-bit colors
but it's a fake 10-bit
in the form of 8-bit+FRC
although it can only output 10-bit at 120Hz
and under.
Now the response time is advertised
at one millisecond NPRT,
but usually you need to look at the G2G
or Gray To Gray response time
to get an accurate idea.
On this BenQ model,
the G2G response time
is actually two milliseconds.
This might put you off at first
but the reality is
most one millisecond response time monitors
can only achieve one millisecond
by manually going into the settings
and setting the response time to extreme
or whatever the highest setting is.
And this usually causes
a lot of pixel overshooting and ghosting.
And this is also the same on this BenQ model,
although,
they've called their version "AMA".
You'll still get some slight inverse ghosting
but it's some of the best I've seen
out of other, even more expensive,
monitors.
So it's really no different
to the other one millisecond response time monitors.
Color accuracy is also excellent here.
The monitor covers pretty much all of the advertised
95% P3 color gamut
and 100% of the sRGB gamut.
This means colors during gaming
will look vibrant and accurate,
and you can also use this monitor
for some amateur color correction
during photo or video editing.
So let's talk about the gaming aspect
of this monitor,
the most important factor
for a gaming-oriented monitor.
This monitor isn't an e-sports pro display
but it's not meant to be either.
It's for those wanting to take their gaming
to the next level
but still need to stay within a budget.
Now, some might say that 165Hz
is too little for ultra sweaty games
like "Valorant" or "CS: GO"
but I think it's right in the middle.
You get that little bump up from 144Hz
if you want to play those
hardcore FPS Twitch shooters
but you also get the high resolution
for those AAA-rated games
you'll never be able to run
at more than 100 FPS anyway.
And this monitor does this pretty well
with minimal input lag,
screen tearing,
or other major issues.
Okay, so let's have a talk about pricing,
which is probably the biggest negative
of this monitor in my opinion.
Earlier this year
the EX-2710Q was 400 US Dollars,
which I think is actually a really good price.
But currently it costs
anywhere from 450 to 500 US Dollars
depending on where you look.
Now, I think that's a bit too expensive,
especially if you consider some of the other,
more budget-oriented gaming monitors out there
that offer very similar features
for around 350 to 400 bucks.
Most people in this price range
can't really justify spending more than that
and they'd rather spend that on something like
the GPU to actually boost overall performance.
Now, don't forget that this monitor
does have those really nice inbuilt speakers
so that might possibly factor into your pricing,
it might decrease it by about 100 bucks,
saves you having to go get some external speakers,
but again,
most people, including myself,
we use headphones already
so I don't really need to ever use
the internal speakers on this monitor.
So yeah, all in all,
I think it's a pretty solid monitor.
It doesn't really do anything exceptionally,
but then again,
it doesn't really have any major flaws,
apart from the current pricing.
So if you're looking to upgrade
from maybe a 1080P monitor
and you want something that has
good color accuracy
and also a relatively high refresh rate,
this is definitely one to consider.
But apart from that,
hopefully you enjoyed this video
and I will catch you in the next one.