GoKawiilThe BenQ DesignVue PD2770U isn’t the best choice for game content creation but for anything else, it’s a winner. It’s also a true Adobe RGB display which makes it rare. With supreme flexibility and ease of use, it’s a professional tool that delivers accuracy and precision.
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One of the coolest things to come to the professional monitor genre is the built-in calibrator. These monitors have a tiny sensor that swings up or down from the bezel, and along with internal test patterns, the display literally calibrates itself. While there are plenty of aftermarket software and hardware solutions, such as Portrait Displays’ Calman and the Calibrite line of meters, the convenience of simply clicking a menu option and calibrating your monitor in a few minutes is extremely attractive.
I’ve already covered monitors like this from Dell and Asus, and here, I have one from BenQ, the DesignVue PD2770U. It’s a 27-inch IPS panel with 4K resolution, multiple color modes, integrated color meter, HDR10 and HLG, wide gamut color, and a cool remote control. Let’s take a look.
BenQ DesignVue PD2770U Specs
Swipe to scroll horizontally Panel Type / Backlight IPS / W-LED, edge array Screen Size / Aspect Ratio 27 inches / 16:9 Max Resolution and Refresh Rate 3840x2160 @ 60 Hz Native Color Depth and Gamut 10-bit / Adobe RGB Response Time (GTG) 5ms Brightness (mfr) 400 nits Contrast (mfr) 1,000:1 Speakers None Video Inputs 1x DisplayPort 1.4 Row 9 - Cell 0 2x HDMI 2.0, 1x USB-C Audio 3.5mm headphone output USB 3.2 1x up type C, 2x down type A Power Consumption 28.2w, brightness @ 200 nits Panel Dimensions WxHxD w/base 24.2 x 18.1-22.7 x 9.5 inches (615 x 460-577 x 240mm) Panel Thickness 2.3 inches (58mm) Bezel Width Top: 1.4 inches (36mm) Row 16 - Cell 0 Sides: 0.3 inch (8mm) Row 17 - Cell 0 Bottom: 0.47 inch (12mm) Weight 19.4 pounds (8.8kg) Warranty 3 years
The PD2770U is first and foremost a professional display. It has no gaming features, no Adaptive-Sync, no overdrive, no fast refresh, and no built-in speakers. But like its competitors, it has color modes that align with industry standards like Adobe RGB, sRGB, BT.709 and both Cinema and Display P3. It also includes support for DICOM (medical imaging), CAD/CAM and M-book. HDR comes in HDR10 and Hybrid Log Gamma variants. Unfortunately, there is no Dolby Vision or HDR10+.
The color gamut is wide, of course; BenQ calls their tech AQColor, and the panel is Nano Matte Black. This ensures that ambient light has a minimal effect on black levels, and it delivers a very wide color gamut. Rather than going for BT.2020 as most pro monitors do, the PD2770U is an Adobe RGB panel. Why is that significant? Because that gamut has considerably more green than P3. I’ve noticed in testing that many of today’s pro monitors come up short in the Adobe RGB test by five or six percent because they are short on green. The PD2770U fills almost 99% of that gamut. It also covers around 96% of P3. Out of the box, it promises less than 1.5dE color error and each sample is calibrated before leaving the factory.
Speaking of calibration, there are several ways to keep the PD2770U in precise tune. The OSD lets you adjust and verify any or all of the color modes in a single step. This procedure can be scheduled so it takes place at regular intervals during off-hours. BenQ also offers Palette Master Ultimate software that can create custom configurations and manage multiple displays. And you can tie in auto calibration with a custom Calman workflow.
To enhance and streamline the creative process, the PD2770U includes some cool extras that are unique in my experience. One is GamutDuo, which lets you compare color settings in a side-by-side display. Two versions of the image are shown, and you can change parameters in the right pane to easily make a visual evaluation. You can calibrate while taking ambient light into account using a front-mounted sensor, and Uniformity Compensation is included.
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