BenQ sw271c Monitor review

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Verdict

The BenQ SW271C tries to fill a gap between traditional productivity monitors and truly professional-class displays for vital content development. It’s a difficult balancing act to achieve, but BenQ has succeeded admirably.

Hardware calibration support, Pantone Validation, 10-bit per channel color, a 16-bit LUT, a large number of color space presets, and more round out the content production feature set. It’s elegant and easy to use with laptop PCs and Macbooks thanks to the presence of USB-C with charging.

On the negative, it doesn’t support full HDR, and color coverage in a professional video production setting is restricted. However, if you can live with or aren’t bound by those limitations, the BenQ SW271C should be on your shortlist because it delivers a good overall value proposition.

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Pros

  • 27-inch 4K screen
  • Bespoke calibration software
  • Good screen height range
  • Glorious 4K IPS panel
  • Wide-ranging gamut support
  • USB-C connectivity

Cons

  • Limited HDR performance
  • Calibration hardware not included
  • Old-school styling
  • The vertical orientation is less beneficial than you may think because of the 16:9 aspect ratio
  • Color coverage good rather than excellent
  • USB-C computer connection required for the Palette Master Elements calibration software

Business monitors with extensive color coverage and compatibility for content-critical color spaces used to be prohibitively expensive. All of this and more are promised by the new 27-inch BenQ SW271C. While it isn’t inexpensive, it is reasonable in comparison to the potential value it provides for professional 4K operations.

The main characteristics of the BenQ SW271C monitor revolve around color coverage. Many color formats are supported, including Adobe RGB and DCI-P3, and important features like 10-bit per channel color, a 16-bit LUT, and an image processing processor with hardware calibration support.

You may get a hotkey puck and a shading hood, as well as native 4K or UHD resolution, USB Type-C connections with device charging. It’s a fairly extensive set of tools. The only glaring lack is complete HDR support. An HDR input will be accepted and processed by the BenQ SW271C. However, it lacks local dimming and isn’t bright enough to produce real HDR or master HDR video, let’s see the BenQ sw271c Monitor review.

BenQ sw271c Monitor Review

  1. What is the BenQ sw271c?
  2. Design and Features
  3. Performance
  4. Price and availability
  5. Specifications

What is the BenQ sw271c Monitor?

The BenQ PhotoVue SW271C is a 27-inch 4K monitor geared towards photographers that were announced in March 2021. It employs in-plane switching LCD technology, which is widely considered to be the most accurate and consistent alternative for color accuracy and consistency.

It also features 10-bit color technology, which allows it to display up to 1.07 billion colors. Furthermore, the color range encompasses 100% of the Adobe RGB colorspace and 100% of the sRGB colorspace. When combined with the resolution, you should be able to see true colors and gradations as well as a lot of detail.

Adobe RGB, sRGB, black and white, and Rec709 are among the color options offered, with the latter being particularly helpful for video editing. Also, you can see that Why to Buy a 4k monitors for PC – Are they wroth it


Design and features:

BenQ sw271c monitor design and features



The BenQ SW271C features a 27-inch IPS 4K display. It’s a high-resolution device with a real 10-bit per channel color and a 16-bit LUT while being housed in an old-school design with hefty bezels. This isn’t a stylish slim-bezel monitor, but the fully adjustable stand provides superb ergonomics, including rotation into portrait mode.

According to BenQ, it covers 99 percent of the Adobe RGB space and 90% of DCI-P3, which are respectable but not outstanding results in the professional workflow setting. However, options like the EIZO ColorEdge CG2730, which produces 98 percent or more of the DCI-P3 space, cost more than twice as much.

There’s a vast number of color spaces supported by ready-baked presets, including Adobe RGB, sRGB, Rec.709, DCI-P3, Display P3, and others. The SW271C can also hold three completely calibrated profiles and is Pantone Validated as well as Calman Verified.

A wide range of additional functions contributes to the BenQ SW271C’s content creation appeal and value proposition. An integrated image processing processor allows for full hardware calibration, and major third-party calibration software like Calman and Lightspace is supported. Additionally, the panel has been Claman Verified and Pantone Validated.

Native 24P, 25P, and 30P video preview without pulldown for smooth playback and compatibility with certain SDI to HDMI adapters, including numerous Black Magic and AJA models, are further noteworthy capabilities for video and broadcast workflows.

The HDR10 and HLG formats are supported by the SW271C. Actual HDR performance is restricted by the lack of local dimming and restricted peak brightness, and this panel is not appropriate for mastering HDR material.

It’s a 27-inch 16:9 model with a 3,840 by 2,160 4K IPS display, according to the core panel specs. BenQ claims a 1,000 to one static contrast ratio and a pixel reaction time of 5 milliseconds. The brightness is shown as 300 nits, indicating that the display is SDR rather than HDR.

USB Type-C connection is the final characteristic of a certain note. This enables single-cable connections with up to 60W of charging power for a connected laptop. For most thin-and-light computers, this is sufficient. However, the most powerful laptops and Macbooks consume substantially more electricity. They’ll run on just 60W, but they’ll run out of power if you put them through a lot of workload.

A retractable shade cowl reduces glare when extremely precise color matching is required, and a Hotkey Puck enables switching between different color modes or calibration profiles quickly and straightforward. Also, you can review the Samsung odyssey g9 gaming monitor


Performance:

The ability to flip the screen to portrait mode appears to be a significant benefit at first glance, however, the 16:9 ratio makes it less helpful than you may assume. To begin, you must tilt your head up and down to see the entire image at typical distances, or you may move a little further away. The control panels should ideally be moved to the top and bottom of the screen, however, this isn’t always practical.

Vertical pictures, on the other hand, are given a little more area to allow for a better look and assessment of their impact.

The BenQ PhotoVue SW271C’s colors and tone gradations seem great right out of the box, but I followed BenQ’s instructions and calibrated it with the Palette Master Elements program. Once the screen was calibrated, I didn’t detect much of a difference, which is a positive thing.

I utilized the BenQ PhotoVue SW271C, which was linked to an iMac, to make a direct comparison between the two displays. The difference isn’t night and day; it’s more subtle, but the BenQ screen’s dynamic range appears to be greater and the colors are somewhat more saturated. Subtle tone gradations are also portrayed well and appear more natural.

I was perplexed on several occasions when I turned on my computer and saw the SW271C displaying gaudy, too warm, and saturated colors. The answer might be found in the System Preferences. I realized that the SW271C was not set to the profile I had created when I checked the Displays section. Fortunately, this can be readily fixed by unticking the ‘Show profiles for this display only’ option and then selecting the appropriate profile. This serves as a reminder to give the profile a recognized name and a date so you can be sure to utilize the most recent version.

When I was editing the movie, I used the PhotoVue SW271C in addition to stills. You can generate profiles for several color spaces with Palette Master Elements software, and the Rec.709 profile is a suitable choice for video. Also, you can review Samsung m7 smart monitor series

Price and availability:

The BenQ SW271C monitor is substantially more expensive than an entry-level 4K IPS monitor, costing $1,099 in the US and £964 in the UK. It is, in fact, significantly more costly than even a well-specified USB-C variant, such as the Philips 279C9.

The BenQ SW271C, on the other hand, is significantly less expensive than comparable entry-level professional displays, such as the EIZO ColorEdge CS2740, and far less expensive than displays in the next class up, like an EIZO ColorEdge CG2730. As a result, it has a strong value proposition.

Specifications:

Screen Size27-inches
Resolution Max3840 x 2160
Panel TypeIPS
Backlight TechnologyLED
Brightness300nits
Aspect Ratio16:9
Display size596.12 x 335.34mm
Pixel pitch0.1552mm
Pixels per inch163
Native Contrast1:1000
Viewing Angle (L/R;U/D) (CR>=10)178 / 178
Colour Gamut99% AdobeRGB, 90% P3, 100% sRGB
Color modesAdobe RGB / sRGB / Rec.709 / DCI-P3 / Display P3 / M-book / B+W / HDR / Calibration 1 / Calibration 2 / Calibration 3 / Custom / Paper Color Sync / DICOM
Connections2x HDMI, 1x display port, 2x downstream USB 3.1 1x upstream USB 3.1, 1x USB-C, 1x SD card reader

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