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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Connecting It To Your Computer

Unlike some of BenQ’s previous “creative class” computer monitors, the new BenQ PD2710QC comes with USB-C support. I was able to quickly connect my new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar by connecting just two cables—the included USB-C cable and the included DP to mini DP cable. The USB-C port powers the latest MacBook Pro so this means the Mac laptop is powered by the same cable that sends the video signal to the BenQ 27. (image 07)

There is a power cable that comes from the back of the display and one from the back of the base unit. The first power cable connects to the base unit while the one from the base unit goes to the power adapter bar, and from there to your electrical outlet. The I/O on the back of the display contains ways the video signal gets passed back to the base unit. (image 07)

The base unit is designed to solve cable clutter mess on your laptops, in particular, letting USB-C pass all the signals (data, etc.) and power back and forth via just the one cable while the base unit serves as a hub for your multiple devices. This includes headphone jacks, Ethernet RJ45 (100Mb), USB-A hub (4 ports), a single DisplayPort output and the single USB-C port. The final remaining items on the base unit include the power adapter port, power on button and Kensington lock slot. (image 06)

Resolution and Screen Quality

The BenQ 27 is, of course, a 27 inch IPS panel offering 2560 x 1400 QHD resolution, supporting 100 percent sRGB color accuracy and 16.7 million colors. The visual quality of the monitor’s display and in particular its color range and accuracy was every bit as equal to the 27-in non-Retina Apple iMac’s display sitting right beside it. (image 09)

However, unlike the built-in iMac display, the BenQ 27’s display is non-reflective offering a crisp matte finish. There are some that say that glossy displays provide more saturated and vibrant colors, however, if that is indeed the case, the BenQ 27 has a density of colors just as rich in depth. Color photographs from this past summer’s vacation looked identical if not a wee bit superior on the BenQ 27 than on the iMac sitting next to it. (see side-by-side color image comparison, image 09)

In general, this display is every bit the equal of Apple’s previous generation non-Retina 27-inch displays in the iMac (the kind I have on my desk at the moment).

Those using animation and rendering software will be very pleased with this display due to its overall color accuracy and visual quality. But this display was also meant for CAD and engineering software users specifically. In this regard, it comes with preset display mode options for CAD/CAM, Animation, and Darkroom. (images 10 – 15) In general, the CAD/CAM mode produces a slightly more contrasty image resulting in blacker and crisper blacks. (images 10, 12, 13) This configuration may appeal to CAD users using applications that are primarily 2D CAD and especially those who work a lot with a sheet layout mode with white or light gray backgrounds with lines represented as “ink” on CAD drawings. In other words, “paper space.” (image 12)

Personally, the visual benefit of the CAD/CAM mode didn’t quite convince me that if I had this monitor to use I would keep it in this mode all day long. Most users—including CAD/CAM users—do switch between applications, including the web browser. The Animation mode offered a much less contrasty setting with a particular emphasis on making darker areas of images brighter. (images 11, 14) This mode was also very close to the Standard setting—the default setting—but with a wee bit more bluish tone to it. It also features ten levels of brightness so the user can get the image quality just right. Notice the color value differences the 3D rendering images above. (images 10 – 11)

The Darkroom mode is literally that, for those who work in darker environments or rooms with no or little other light sources. (image 15) It is the setting for post-processing work, but it seemed in its efforts to lighten up dark areas in the image as well as lower the contrast it goes a bit too far—the image feels not bright enough.

Standard mode was personally my favorite mode on this display for overall mixed workloads of CAD, rendering, animation, light photograph editing, and overall computer usage. For CAD specifically, if you are working in AEC with 3D BIM applications—those are typically rendered with OpenGL settings and involved glass (transparency items) and shading (sun/shadow)—either Standard or Animation mode are the preferred choices.

For those doing pure 2D CAD or 3D CAD in wireframe model workflows, the CAD/CAM setting may work for you but its a matter of personal taste. What’s important is that switching between these modes is relatively easy with the built-in controls on the right rear side of the screen. So if sometimes you do a lot of CAD and then days in animation workflows you can just switch between preset modes.

Finally, other modes not yet discussed include sRGB, Rec 709, and M-Book. The first of those relates to sRGB gamut, a default color working space for many digital cameras, scanners, and other equipment. sRGB gamma curve is fully supported in OpenGL 3D graphics, with support for textures with an sRGB gamma encoded color component. sRGB is the color space of the Internet and is a more limited gamut compared to Adobe RGB, so this setting is not for pre-press workflows and print. Rec 709 is related to use with HDTV systems in video workflows. M-Book mode uses proprietary calibration techniques to enable the BenQ 27 to faithfully preserve the color quality of the MacBook display being fed into it to get perfect pairings between the MacBook and the BenQ 27. However, while colors may match up nicely the MacBook Pro I’m using has a Retina display, so a perfect matchup is not truly possible.

M-Book mode uses proprietary calibration techniques to enable the BenQ 27 to faithfully preserve the color quality of the MacBook display being fed into it to get perfect pairings between the MacBook and the BenQ 27. (image 19 below) However, while colors may match up nicely the MacBook Pro I’m using has a Retina display, so a perfect matchup is not truly possible.

next page: Night Shift, Eye Care, and User Manual…Recommendations

Night Shift, Eye Care, and User Manual

The BenQ 27 features flicker-free technology to help prevent harmful effects of prolonged display use on the human eye. Along with the anti-glare technology (non-glossy screen mentioned earlier), there is something called Low Blue Light mode—similar to Night Shift mode on Apple’s latest products—which reduces the blue light in the image producing a slightly warmer image. This is beneficial for eye fatigue and for diminishing sleep interference for those who, like me often, work late into the evening just before going to sleep.

We didn’t yet mention how easy it was to unpack and assemble the display. BenQ does a very nice job of packing and instructions. (image 02) While the instructions card was clear the user manual was equally straightforward with good diagrams to aid understanding where various connections and port types are. (images 17 – 18) The product does come with a CD-ROM with driver software that adds a few additional features and controls—like the ability to divide your screen up into panes—but those features and the CD-ROM are Windows-only.

It should be said that this monitor does have a VESA standard mount with 1oo mm pattern, for wall mounting conditions.

Closing Comments and Recommendations

The BenQ 27 (PD2710QC) is a solid monitor product that we think many technical, creative pros will enjoy. It is also good for web design professionals and the vertical (portrait) turn mode worked like a charm. (image 16 above) The simplicity of the USB-C connection from the new 2017 MacBook Pro was delightful and easy. While some have claimed the monitor base is too big, personally it serves as a perfect place to put your laptop in clamshell mode.

One of the best features of the BenQ 27 is the 7mm thin bezel at its edge. It means you can park two of these babies side by side and have blissful screen real estate. We only had one to test, but we could easily imagine it. While not a Retina Display level monitor with 500 nits of brightness (the BenQ 27 has 350 nits) the anti-glare matte finish screen means that the user gets zero reflections and plenty of brightness. The Standard, Animation, and CAD/CAM modes give the creative and technical pro many options to think about, and it’s easy to switch between these modes with the controls.

Things we’d love to see in an updated version of this product would be one more USB-C port and Thunderbolt 3 so users can park external drives—always useful to creative and technical pros working with laptops in particular. And speaking of that. While this review was conducted with the MacBook Pro (Touch Bar) BenQ should be thinking about optional and cost-effective display options aimed at users of the future modular Mac Pro computer anticipated in 2018. If Apple delivers matching displays for it, they will no doubt be expensive. But many users would prefer non-glare displays to pair with such a machine, and this particular display’s overall quality inspires.

For today, the BenQ 27 we reviewed offers a very solid value with good screen visual performance and plenty of options to tailor the experience to the type of creative or technical professional you are. ——  ANTHONY FRAUSTO-ROBLEDO, AIA, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.

Pros: A beautiful 2K monitor offering excellent visual display qualities, color accuracy, user controls and pre-set workflow modes for CAD/CAM, Animation, Darkroom, sRGB, etc.; there is a mode that is similar to Night Shift on Apple devices and lots of customization potential; monitor comes factory calibrated; adjustable vertical arm and rotation controls are superb; build-quality is excellent, and the base has good heft and is stable; clear instructions and good manual. 

Cons: The user controls on the back of the machine need ergonomic cues, adjust controls was sometimes challenging because all you can do is “feel your way” with your fingers. The unit is lacking one more USB-C port and Thunderbolt 3 would be useful. It was not possible to adjust the display’s speakers from the MacBook Pro but the sound was decently good. 

Advice: Our advice is this is a great display today for your professional laptop, and it paired beautifully with the new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar. We like the build quality, design, adjustable arm and super thin 7-mm bezel means side-by-side units will literally almost feel as one. 

Cost: The BenQ 27-in display we tested cost $599.USD. Learn more here. 

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