Looking to replace my monitor soon, are BenQ's good?

[jnelsoninjax]

I am looking to replace my aging 4K display with a newer one, and I see the BenQ brand is fairly reasonable in pricing. Are they decent monitors, or would I be better off buying a well known brand like LG, etc?

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

What is your display now? I never used a BenQ, but I heard they are quite good.

[jnelsoninjax]

1 minute ago, Mindovermaster said:

What is your display now? I never used a BenQ, but I heard they are quite good.

Yamakasi, I paid like $200 for it, almost 4 years ago, and it is showing signs of failing (brightness issues)

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

7 minutes ago, jnelsoninjax said:

Yamakasi, I paid like $200 for it, almost 4 years ago, and it is showing signs of failing (brightness issues)

You ever look at Dell monitors? I have 2 of these:

 

https://www.amazon.com/Dell-U2415-24-Inch-1920-Monitor/dp/B00NZTKOQI/ref=sr_1_1?crid=TWACNFJ8D2NT&keywords=dell+ultrasharp+24&qid=1556059282&s=gateway&sprefix=dell+ultrashap%2Caps%2C156&sr=8-1

[xendrome]

Just now, Mindovermaster said:

You ever look at Dell monitors? I have 2 of these:

 

https://www.amazon.com/Dell-U2415-24-Inch-1920-Monitor/dp/B00NZTKOQI/ref=sr_1_1?crid=TWACNFJ8D2NT&keywords=dell+ultrasharp+24&qid=1556059282&s=gateway&sprefix=dell+ultrashap%2Caps%2C156&sr=8-1

Going from 4k probably 27 to 32 inch to a 24 inch 1920x1200 is not going to work for anyone who is used to it. But Dell monitors are really good, 27 inch 1440 or 4k would prob be his minimum

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

1 minute ago, xendrome said:

Going from 4k probably 27 to 32 inch to a 24 inch 1920x1200 is not going to work for anyone who is used to it. But Dell monitors are really good, 27 inch 1440 or 4k would prob be his minimum

Was just posting as an example, I am sure Dell does 4K monitors as well. I do not know the quality of them.

[DevTech]

33 minutes ago, jnelsoninjax said:

I am looking to replace my aging 4K display with a newer one, and I see the BenQ brand is fairly reasonable in pricing. Are they decent monitors, or would I be better off buying a well known brand like LG, etc?

This kind of thing has been discussed before.

 

The cost of mass producing a modern LCD Panel has resulted in a consolidation to just a tiny number of plants on Planet Earth.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_flat_panel_display_manufacturers  - the list needs a bit of updating to remove the obsolete stuff, but your new monitor's Panel is coming from one of those!

 

Since the quality of the Panel is like 95% of the quality you will experience, ALL brands will be drawing from the same well there.

 

EVERY brand sells low cost junk, business class junk, mid-range consumer (and same thing in "gamer" plastic/colors) , mid-range business, premium gamer and premium designer.

 

There is also a bottom-feeding low volume market in "end of line/manufacturing defect rejects/etc" as typified by your Yamakasi.

 

Some Brands also provide premium customer support as part of their branding, a "feature" which can change overnight so I tend to discard it but Logitech for example has worked hard in that area over the years...

 

Dell is particularly good at making it clear which "category" their product model in once you know their "lingo" - If you want some of the best monitors available, you wait for a sale on a Dell UltraSharp with Premium Panel (for Dell, the "Premium Panel" designator is a sneaky way of leveraging their reputation to make more profit off of people who don't notice at time of order that they forgot to specify that option)

 

HP monitors with the "DreamColor" designation are also first rate.

 

ASUS uses the "ProArt" designation to indicate top of the line LCD Panels.

 

BenQ used to call their good monitors "DesignVue" but now the designation is "PD Series"

 

https://www.benqdirect.com/pd3200u.html

 

Ultimately, to understand ANY monitor purchase, you need to know exactly what model of LCD Panel you are buying and that can usually be found in various forums where people discuss monitors. Unfortunately, some Brands will substitute panels over a model's lifetime and often they start high to get good reviews and often save a few pennies as sales progress but sometimes it goes the other way so always TRACK THAT.

 

 

ETC.

 

 

 

 

 

[DevTech]

47 minutes ago, Mindovermaster said:

Was just posting as an example, I am sure Dell does 4K monitors as well. I do not know the quality of them.

Per my post above, quality varies with the monitor's product category.

 

For Dell, any monitor that is "UltraSharp with Premium Panel" is as good as anything on the planet and very highly recommended!

 

Any other model will be various trade-offs all the way down to low-end like HP, Lenovo and everyone else. Since there is a lot of tech issues to consider, the general INSANELY HIGH level of lazy in almost every I.T. dept, means that I get to see CRAP MONITORS EVERYWHERE in the business world. 

 

Branding is NO rescue from this problem, just makes it worse actually by giving lazy people an excuse to not spend proper due diligence doing their tech research!

 

 

 

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

12 minutes ago, DevTech said:

Per my post above, quality varies with the monitor's product category.

 

For Dell, any monitor that is "UltraSharp with Premium Panel" is as good as anything on the planet and very highly recommended!

 

Any other model will be various trade-offs all the way down to low-end like HP, Lenovo and everyone else. Since there is a lot of tech issues to consider, the general INSANELY HIGH level of lazy in almost every I.T. dept, means that I get to see CRAP MONITORS EVERYWHERE in the business world. 

 

Branding is NO rescue from this problem, just makes it worse actually by giving lazy people an excuse to not spend proper due diligence doing their tech research!

 

 

 

Never saw your post above, bro.

 

But I have never heard anything bad from BenQ. Except the crapilistic ones at WalMart...

[adrynalyne]

1 hour ago, Mindovermaster said:

Never saw your post above, bro.

 

But I have never heard anything bad from BenQ. Except the crapilistic ones at WalMart...

They source from a limited list of

panel suppliers like everyone else so due diligence should be done with research on the panel and see if you can get it in another brand monitor for a better price before just going with them.  That goes for any brand. 

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

3 minutes ago, adrynalyne said:

They source from a limited list of

panel suppliers like everyone else so due diligence should be done with research on the panel and see if you can get it in another brand monitor for a better price before just going with them.  That goes for any brand. 

Oh, OK. So it's the panel, not the maker...

 

@DevTech, noted.

[DevTech]

58 minutes ago, Mindovermaster said:

Never saw your post above, bro.

 

But I have never heard anything bad from BenQ. Except the crapilistic ones at WalMart...

"Per my post above" is just "business-speak" shorthand for "Read my post if you want more information"

 

" never heard anything bad from BenQ" is exactly the kind of logic/thinking I am trying to explain as belonging with the Dinosaurs! Maybe back in some long lost time, a person could say that sort of definitive blanket statement about a "brand" i.e. "Rolls Royce makes well built cars" and you would not have to dig into specific models and market categories.

 

In 2019, across most of human commerce and certainly with computer tech, EVERY BRAND makes low cost junk and most brands also make wonderful premium products.

 

BenQ makes junk. BenQ also make premium monitors. No surprise there at all! It is the TASK of tech people to sort each model into the right category and not to default to some ancient invalid and very lazy meme...

 

 

[adrynalyne]

3 minutes ago, Mindovermaster said:

Oh, OK. So it's the panel, not the maker...

When it comes to the visual portion, you betcha. Features can differ between brands of course. 

[DevTech]

17 minutes ago, adrynalyne said:

They source from a limited list of

panel suppliers like everyone else so due diligence should be done with research on the panel and see if you can get it in another brand monitor for a better price before just going with them.  That goes for any brand. 

As always, you are great asset to Neowin tech areas, and have provided the concise and clear explanation that completely eluded me in this case...

[sc302 Veteran]

Benq are decent monitors.  Similar to acer. Not usually high end.  We would order this brand or acer for offices we would put in (100s of them deployed over the years 02-08). We never had a warranty claim on them or had to go out to replace. 

[DevTech]

1 hour ago, sc302 said:

Benq are decent monitors.  Similar to acer. Not usually high end.  We would order this brand or acer for offices we would put in (100s of them deployed over the years 02-08). We never had a warranty claim on them or had to go out to replace. 

The BenQ PD Series is first class stuff, similar to ASUS ProArt and Dell UltraSharp...

 

https://www.benqdirect.com/pd3200u.html

 

 

[sc302 Veteran]

Even acer has high end XG series monitors.  I don’t understand your point.  A lot of brands have high rated high end monitors.  Many brands have low end monitors.  I don’t consider either brand a premium brand. 

[+InsaneNutter MVC]

With most brands you get what you pay for these days. Dell have some really good high end monitors, however that's not to say Dell don't also offer a lot of entry level monitors also.

 

I'd decide on any must have features and a price range, then look at some reviews to find out what's recommended in that price range.

 

If you want a recommendation i've been very happy with the LG 27UD59P. You could pay a lot more for a 4K monitor, however i'd say this is a nice all round 4K monitor with an IPS panel. It also supports It's HDCP 2.2 if you have any desire to playback 4K Netflix / UHD Blu-ray on it, in addition to FreeSync.

[DevTech]

4 hours ago, sc302 said:

Even acer has high end XG series monitors.  I don’t understand your point.  A lot of brands have high rated high end monitors.  Many brands have low end monitors.  I don’t consider either brand a premium brand. 

"I don’t consider either brand a premium brand" - You have described my point. 

 

 

1. Just about every brand has high quality monitors

 

2. Just about every brand has junk monitors

 

 

Hence, as I have tried to explain in a few posts in this thread, there is NO "premium brand" other than a fantasy in the mind of the beholder...

 

A tech-aware buyer (i.e. people in this forum) just needs to find out what Display Panel a monitor is using inside it and then he knows what is going on. The Panel might be made by BOE or by TCL or by LG Display (three state of the art 4K Panel Manufacturers) and the particular model number of the Panel being used will determine the quality.

 

TCL (Shenzhen China Star Optoelectronics Technology (CSOT)) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TCL_Corporation

LG Display https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LG_Display

BOE Technology Group https://www.boe.com/en/  (you would never tell from their website that 1/4 of all LCD Panels on Planet Earth comes from BOE)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_flat_panel_display_manufacturers

 

The Logo Decal glued to the plastic frame on the outside of the monitor is just a game of "dress up" - the incredibly complex tech and quality level of a modern LCD Panel will NOT be determined by that eye-catching little chunk of a plastic logo known as BRAND.

 

 

 

[jnelsoninjax]

@DevTech, what would you personally recommend? I would like it to around the 27 inch size. Ideally it would be GSync as well, but I know that adds allot to the price.

[DevTech]

5 hours ago, jnelsoninjax said:

@DevTech, what would you personally recommend? I would like it to around the 27 inch size. Ideally it would be GSync as well, but I know that adds allot to the price.

I know from experience that you are very careful with money. But, part of any value equation is the benefit derived from the financial investment both in longevity and more importantly in day to day use.

 

There are 3 main things that everyone directly uses to interact with a computer - Mouse, Keyboard and Monitor. My philosophy takes that simple observation and demands that extra funds be allocated for the 3 items that impact you the most. Your approach might be very different!

 

Then there are specific features like GSYNC that can add to the complexity of the choice. For me, it would be a Thunderbolt 3 interface...

 

Your Eyeballs are asking you to put Panel quality first. In that light, (pun intended) the BenQ PD3200U looks good, also ASUS PA27AC, ASUS PA329Q, ASUS PA32UC, DELL UltraSharp UP2716D, DELL UltraSharp UP2718Q, DELL UltraSharp UP3216Q, HP DreamColor Z27xG2, HP DreamColor Z31x, LG 31MU97-B, LG 32MU99-W, LG UltraFine 32UL950-W, LG 34WK95U-W, LG 27UL850-W

 

Special Runner-Up mention to LG 27UL500-W at the current LG promotional retail price of $280 which is great value for a 4K LG monitor with maybe a 10 bit Panel?

 

https://www.lg.com/us/monitors/lg-27UL500-W-4k-uhd-led-monitor

 

And the LG 34WK95U-W really stands out at ultra-wide 5K and Thunderbolt 3 interface...

 

https://www.lg.com/us/monitors/lg-34WK95U-W-ultrawide-monitor?returnFlag=Y

 

 

 

I'm not entirely sure but I think Samsung got rid of their FAB leaving LG as the only maker of monitors with a direct line to their own LCD PANEL FAB, which is probably why there is a bewildering variety of LG monitors.

 

Too tired at this point to review the Samsung product line....

 

(I don't see how Samsung could have sold a Panel FAB since they have a unique LCD process with their PMA panels... Need to dig that out for the tiny bit it is worth referencing...)

 

 

[jnelsoninjax]

Thanks for the list @DevTech I really like the LG, and for the price it seems like a good choice, I am torn between the LG 27UL500 and the BenQ, obviously the price difference between the LG and BenQ is a fair amount, but I agree with you about the monitor being a worthy investment!

[jnelsoninjax]

So I was about to order the LG, and I found an Asus VP28UQG 28" for $300, and it checks all the boxes I need, and on top of everything else it will be here tomorrow!

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

36 minutes ago, jnelsoninjax said:

So I was about to order the LG, and I found an Asus VP28UQG 28" for $300, and it checks all the boxes I need, and on top of everything else it will be here tomorrow!

Sweet, dude! Well, if you don't like it, you can always refund it

 

[DevTech]

3 hours ago, jnelsoninjax said:

So I was about to order the LG, and I found an Asus VP28UQG 28" for $300, and it checks all the boxes I need, and on top of everything else it will be here tomorrow!

"What is Dead, may never Die..."

 

It appears in 2019 as if TN Panels can still leach out a life on the borders and shadows like a Zombie existence for digital garbage...

 

I don't know why you bothered to ask for advice and then turn around and buy a piece of junk. That is an obsolete monitor with a TN panel! TN Panels should have died in the previous millennium, but manufacturers keep resurrecting them from the dead to save a few pennies to sell product to the ignorant, the clueless, and the undead?

 

Apparently in trying to take many posts and with the help of @adrenilineto explain to @Mindovermasterhow the LCD Panel inside determines just about everything about the monitor's quality and the Brand on the outside says almost nothing about the quality, this seemingly simple tech factoid is still not understandable by the readers of this thread!