BenQ PD2770U 4K monitor review

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BenQ has been one of my favorite monitor brands for quite a while now. The build quality is spectacular, the built-in features are wonderful, and their companion software makes it feel like a first-party device for Apple products, which is a huge win for me as an Apple product lover.

When it comes to creative hardware, those working in the industry need the best of the best. They crave color accuracy. A lot of them crave fun features as well, but above all they crave the ability to reduce friction in their day-to-day work.

Specifically, when it comes to monitors, color accuracy and calibration matter more than most people realize. If you’re in this space, you’re very familiar with how to calibrate your monitor. BenQ decided to answer that not just with its own hardware, but by building its own hardware. The company built a color calibrator into its monitors that are designed for those who need the color calibrator. BenQ didn’t just do it in a way that would work, but did it in a way that’s elegant and very BenQ-esque.

The monitor has a color calibrator arm that swivels down from the monitor and then pushes itself back up as well, hiding away when you’re not using it but popping out when you need to calibrate further. It has a light shade or a hood, depending on the industry that you’re in, that helps make sure there’s no glare or reflections or anything that can manipulate the colors, producing an even more true-to-spec experience. So, for those looking for the best video editing monitor or best photo editing monitor, this one is excellent in my experience.

BenQ PD2770U: Price and availability

Right now, this monitor sells for around $1,700, and that comes with the hood and the built-in color calibrator. BenQ is also really good about sending cables that you need in the box, so don’t worry about that.

If you buy this monitor, you can literally just plug it straight into your computer of choice without needing any extra accessories. It’s widely available, and you can pick this up from BenQ’s website, Amazon, and other retailers.

BenQ PD2770U: Unboxing and First Impressions

As expected with BenQ monitors, the packaging is simple yet well-done. It’s no Apple unboxing experience, but it is one that is predictable and expected. On first unboxing, I was a little confused about how the shield could be folded up so tightly, but then I realized how intricately they’ve tucked it into the box to keep it safe and protected.

Other than that, I was able to set up the monitor fairly quickly. I tried it first with the built-in stand and then quickly added it to a monitor arm that I had to try out some testing. Once I finished initial rounds of testing, I moved this to somebody on my team who does a lot of video editing, and now he has been using it on his desk for the last 100 days.

I’ve tested this monitor in low-light scenarios and in high-light scenarios with fluorescent lights directly above the desk. Thanks to the shader, this monitor has performed brilliantly and brighter, but the shader makes it so that even this dimmer color is still spectacular and vibrant.

BenQ PD2770U: Design & Build Quality

This brand came out very much like all the others, to where it is professional and simple. It’s got a basic stand if you choose to use it. It’s got great cable management and simple height adjustments.

What’s great is that even if you choose to not use the stand, the hood attachment magnetically connects directly to the monitor itself, meaning that you can use this with any monitor arm or monitor stand that you so choose.

Also, since it is magnetic, if you’re the kind of person that works in a light-controlled room or maybe a dimmer room (like a personal home office), you can customize the lighting. Perhaps you won’t need the shade. If you work in a coworking space or an area where you cannot control the lighting as much, that’s where the shade comes in clutch.

Last but not least, having the USB-C hub built in makes this a monitor and a hub all in one. If you don’t have a ton of ports and perhaps you’re just running a more simple setup where you have a desktop or laptop plugged directly into this monitor and that’s about it, then you can run all of that.

You can have plenty of room to wiggle directly from the monitor itself without needing a docking station. Even if you had a couple accessories from a laptop, you can plug those in if you wanted to.

BenQ PD2770U: In use

As I previously mentioned up above, my team and I have had this 4K monitor in our arsenal for over 100 days. It’s actually even closer to 150 at this point. I wanted to make sure that we could get some good long-term testing with this panel before giving results.

In that 100 days, my team and I have put this monitor through the tests. We’ve edited countless videos on it, done multiple big photo projects, done administrative tasks, and used it for managing content and so much more. While it is phenomenal, all those things, it is 100% overkill for anything other than photo or video editing where you need color accuracy.

Currently, this monitor is set up in a coworking area that has some pretty aggressive fluorescent lighting right above the desk. For our scenario, having the shader has been an absolute game changer, as it helps keep any glare off of the monitor, changing and destroying the color and visual sighting.

Plus, having the color calibrator built in is not only a fun element but an absolute game changer if you need to confirm and double-check calibration throughout your projects.

BenQ PD2770U: Final verdict

I’ve been using this monitor mostly for creative products, but of course had to test and see how it would work for basic administrative tasks. As expected, I can reassure you that if you are using this monitor for business or productivity or administrative tasks, you are dead wrong.

This is not meant for that at all. It’s overkill in price, feature set, and physical operation. However, if you are in that creative space and you want something that is more consistent than what you ever had before, then you should absolutely check out the BenQ Creative Pro PD2770U monitor.

To make a long story short, if you are in the creative space and you need color accuracy above all else, or if you find yourself reaching for or even wishing for a color calibrator regularly, then this is absolutely your monitor.

If you are just looking for a 27-inch 4K monitor, this is 100% overkill, but it will do the job in a better and fancier way than you probably need. If image quality, screen resolution, and picture clarity are a part of your workflow, consider this one. If not, check out some of our other spectacular monitors.