Product Review: BenQ 27-in PD2710QC Display Monitor for CAD & Animation

It is not very often that Architosh publishes hardware reviews, but we were delighted to find BenQ knocking on our door asking us to review the new BenQ 27-inch QHD Design Monitor PD2710QC. This is a newer version of a product line the company started awhile back aimed at design and CAD professionals.

Architosh’s interest in this review aligned with our interest in the upcoming new modular workstation Apple is developing for introduction in 2018. Unlike the forthcoming iMac Pro which contains an integral display, the “modular” Mac Pro Apple has promised its loyal pro users will need its own display or multiple displays. As one thinks about what that machine may become it’s time for its future customers—one of which I hope to be—to begin thinking about good monitor options. BenQ—as a monitor company—is making products that Apple’s pro users should be thinking about and consider.

01 – The BenQ 27 PD27QC Design Series monitor is meant for CAD/Animation workflows.

For this review Architosh setup the new BenQ monitor to a new Apple MacBook Pro with the Touch Bar. The BenQ PD2710QC is particularly ideal for designers and technical CAD users alike who are touting one of Apple’s latest pro laptops. Let’s take a look now to understand why this monitor is something you should be shortlisting for your future display needs, whether on Mac or PC.

The BenQ PD2710QC—Overview on its Design

The BenQ PD2710QC (which I will call the BenQ 27 for the rest of this article) sports a lovely and minimal bevel edge design. (image 01) It is a two-toned affair with a matt black finish wrapping the screen front and edge with a space gray metal finish that compliments the black surfaces. The aluminum looking material is a plastic material, it is not a metal. The build quality feels and looks excellent; there are a heft and solidness to this display without any sense of unnecessary weight.

02 – BenQ 27 out of the box in all its glory.

03 – Back of display with video port types at right and power I/O at left.

04 – The adjustable arm’s plate slots into firmly and easily.

While on the subject of how this display looks and feels it is very much warranted to note just how smooth but stable the adjustable arm mechanism is. I was surprised at how easy the display moved up and down and yet it stayed exactly where you put it. The same is true of pivoting (rotation about the horizon axis). In these two movement functions, the BenQ 27 feels as high quality as any Apple display including the iMacs themselves.

05 – Final assembly from the rear of the unit.

The BenQ 27 consists of three fundamental parts. The first part is the large flat display itself. (image 02) It is finely detailed with a ribbed vented zone that separates the space gray metal plastic back panel from the matt black-edged display itself. (see images 02 – 04). Next is the arm with a twin-grooved adjustable slots mechanism for moving the display up and down on the arm off of a pivoting radius joint. (image 05) That part too has a matching veneer zone of space gray metal plastic. There is a reveal between the two colored materials throughout this monitor that provides a most distinctive touch.

06 – The base of the unit serves as an I/O hub with USB-C as the primary simplified connection to the MacBook Pro with Touch Bar—supplying power, data, video, and I/O.

The final part is the base which houses an electronic board for all the I/O. (image 06) This base consists of a slightly sloped top which is designed to hold your laptop (see images) or park a keyboard when not in use. If you like the screen very close to you one could, theoretically, type from this position with their keyboard positioned on this plane.

next page: Connecting It To Your Computer