Engineering Monitor Review: Two Great Images

The 27-in. BenQ BL2710 and 32-in. BenQ BL3200 offer feature-rich 2560x1440 resolution displays at an affordable price. Photo by David Cohn.

At Autodesk University in December, we first saw an impressive 27-in. display from BenQ, a company originally spun off from Acer in 2001. While the Taiwanese firm is not particularly well known in the engineering market, it has been selling LCD monitors, digital projectors, digital cameras and mobile computing devices for years. Its lack of visibility among CAD/CAM users will likely change, however, judging from the two monitors we recently received for review.

In addition to the 27-in. BenQ BL2710PT, the company also sent us its new BenQ BL3200PT, the world’s first 32-in. WQHD monitor aimed at CAD/CAM and 3D printing. It offers the same 2560x1440 resolution as the BL2710, but on a larger panel.

Both monitors are based on LCD panels manufactured by AU Optronics (AUO). While the BL2710 uses an in-plane switching (IPS) technology that AUO calls advanced hyper-viewing angle (AHVA), the BL3200 uses an advanced multi-domain vertical alignment (AMVA) panel. Both monitors offer wide viewing angles of 178° in both horizontal and vertical directions; their response times are as low as 4 milliseconds gray-to-gray (the time it takes to change a given pixel from gray to a different color and then back to gray). Faster response time reduces image smearing that can occur with moving images. The BL2710 has a .233mm pixel pitch, a brightness of 350 cd/m2, and a contrast ratio of 1000:1, whereas the BL3200 has a larger .276mm pixel pitch, a brightness of 300 cd/m2, and a contrast ratio of 3000:1.

Each monitor arrived neatly packed with its panel and stand wrapped separately. In addition to the power cord, BenQ also provides six cables: D-Sub (VGA), DVI-D, DisplayPort, HDMI and an audio cable to connect the computer’s audio port to the monitor’s built-in stereo speakers. It took just a few minutes to assemble each display by placing the panel face down on a flat surface, attaching the monitor stand to the monitor base and tightening the thumbscrew on the bottom of the base, and then aligning the stand arm with the monitor and locking it into place. Before attaching the monitor to its stand, we noted the standard 100mm VESA mounting holes that enable the panels to be wall-mounted or attached to other supports.

BenQ 27- and 32-inch Monitor Comparison
	BenQ BL2710PT 27-in. IPS Display	BenQ BL3200PT 32-in. IPS Display
Price	$699 MSRP ($599 street price)	$799 MSRP ($699 street price)
Size	27-in. (diagonal)	32-in. (diagonal)
Display Type	IPS LED backlit	IPS LED backlit
Screen dimensions without stand (WxHxD)	25.12x15.00x 2.81 in.	29.12x17.12x 2.5 in.
Physical size with stand at highest setting (HxWxD)	21.62x25.12x10.00 in.	29.12x25.63x10.5 in.
Weight	17.7 lbs.	26.9 lbs.
Native Resolution	2560x1440 pixels @ 60 Hz	2560x1440 pixels @ 60 Hz
Horizontal frequency range	30 to 83 kHz	30 to 88 kHz
Vertical refresh rate	50 to 76 Hz	50 to 76 Hz
Aspect Ratio	16:9	16:9
Pixel Pitch	0.2331mm	0.276mm
Dot/Pixel Per Inch	108.79 dpi	91.79
Brightness	350 cd/m2	300 cd/m2
Contrast Ratio	1000:1	3000:1
Response time	4 ms (gray to gray)	4 ms (gray to gray)
Number of Colors	1.07 billion	1.07 billion
Color Gamut	100% sRGB Share This Article Subscribe to our FREE magazine, FREE email newsletters or both! Join over 90,000 engineering professionals who get fresh engineering news as soon as it is published.   Join Now   Latest News Online FEA and CFD Classes Becoming the Norm Dyndrite Unveils New SMART Script PTC and Configit Partner for Product Configurations DeskProto V8 Now Released University of Maine Embarks on Build of Factory of the Future Rackspace Technology Unveils On-Demand GPU as a Service All posts About the Author David Cohn David Cohn is a consultant and technical writer based in Bellingham, WA, and has been benchmarking PCs since 1984. He is a Contributing Editor to Digital Engineering, the former senior content manager at 4D Technologies, and the author of more than a dozen books. Email at david@dscohn.com or visit his website at www.dscohn.com. Follow DE Related Topics Engineering Computing   BenQ   Featured   Monitor   Peripherals   All topics Digital Engineering https://www.digitalengineering247.com/article/engineering-monitor-review-two-great-images/ https://www.digitalengineering247.com/article/engineering-monitor-review-two-great-images/ Last updated September 19, 2018 #13178 New & Noteworthy New & Noteworthy: Future-Proof Foundation for Employee Training and Education Eagle Point Software's Peak Experience for Pinnacle Series adds AI chat, improved... Eliminate Physical Clamping – With Simulation The Virtual Clamping tool in ANSA (VCA) from BETA CAE Systems eliminates... New & Noteworthy: Fast, Flexible and Scalable Simulation – In the Cloud Ansys Access on Microsoft Azure enables seamless deployment of industry-leading simulation tools... New & Noteworthy: Safe, Cost-Effective Metal 3D Printing - Anywhere Desktop Metal’s Studio System offers turnkey metal printing for prototypes and...