Amazon.com: Customer reviews: BenQ PD2725U Thunderbolt 3 Monitor for Macbook 27" 4K UHD | 100% Rec.709 & sRGB,95% P3 | IPS | DeltaE≤3 | Pantone | Calibration Report | Ergonomic | USB-C (65W)

Reviewed in the United States on March 27, 2023

Style: 32" 4K Professional Design MonitorVerified Purchase

TL/DR: Amazing monitor. Great picture, Great Features. HotKey Puck - the accessory I didn't know I needed, but can't live without! Wish it had 1 or 2 more USB ports & Ethernet port.

I shopped for a monitor for months. I have used dual 27" monitors for at least a decade. I've recently started to have trouble with vision - more than just my eyes getting old, but they are too. I thought getting a slightly larger monitor would be nice. Then my docking station for 2 laptops (built-in KVM) started to fail - and it had been discontinued and there were no replacements available. I had 2 choices, buy 2 docks, plus a KVM and all of the extra cables, or reevaluate my entire setup and consider a monitor with a built-in KVM. Frankly, it was a really tough decision. Lots of monitors with built-in KVM - not many that also have daisy-chain capability. And without daisy-chain capability, I'm back to needing 2 laptop docks and all the cables that would require.

This monitor from BenQ was the only one that also let me take advantage of the Thunderbolt connection on my laptop. Another key requirement was 4K resolution capability.

The Good:
The picture quality is really good and the features are fantastic. The display is plenty bright, without being too bright. It is flicker-free and has settings to minimize blue light. The color calibration is far more than I need. All the various color settings and features are interesting and cool. I don't really use them but did find them interesting enough to check out. There is also a boatload of software that you can download, including eye care software that reminds you periodically to look away from the monitor etc. All good things to help preserve eye health.

The Freakin' AWESOME
The most exciting feature of the monitor is the hot-key puck. With other monitors that have a built-in KVM switch, the switch to changing computers is usually on the monitor itself - not always convenient or easy to reach. The hot-key puck has a 3–4-foot cord and allows you to navigate the on-screen menu without needing to reach the monitor. You can even customize the buttons (hotkeys). This handy-dandy device allows me to change the computer with a click of a button on the hot-key puck. While the cord is plenty long to be within reach without stretching, I do wish it was a tad bit longer or could use an extension cable, so that I could run the cord under my desk to minimize cord clutter. But that's a really petty complaint for a spectacular feature.

The monitor stand is an outstanding feature with a well-thought design. The stand has quite a bit of heft to it - it's downright heavy. It has a flat plate that sits on the desk. It's suitable to place any number of small items you want to place below your monitor. It's almost large enough for my 13" Ultrabook to set on top of, but not quite. The monitor connects to the stand with a quick-release type of connection giving the back of the monitor a very finished look. Putting it together is a one-person job.

The meh
There is a single headphone jack on the side of the monitor. I made sure to get a right-angle plug to minimize the impact on the monitor alignment on my dual-monitor setup.

Most of the connections are on the back of the monitor but facing upward - meaning it's impossible to see the connections with the monitor standing upright. It is much easier to plug everything in, then attach the monitor to the stand. I keep my user guide handy so that I can find the connection diagram if I need to unplug or reconnect anything.

The Could-Be-Betters
There is no ethernet port. You can certainly use one of those ethernet-to-USB adapters and plug that into a USB port. I found that to be slower than when I plugged the ethernet adapter directly into my laptop. It also uses a USB port. Which leads to....

There are only 4 USB 3.1 ports (3 USB-A, 1 USB-C) for peripherals. 2 of these ports (1 USB-A & 1 USB-C) are on the side of the monitor. Those are easy to reach, but when in use, they prevent smooth alignment with another monitor for multi-monitor set-ups. 4 USB ports are typical of many, if not most, KVM switches, but fewer than I need. I have a USB hub connected to one of the ports on my monitor.

I do wish that there were an option for a monitor arm that was compatible with the quick-release feature. It is so easy for one person to attach, and it looks very finished. (One of the new BenQ monitors has an arm like another brand's arm that does fit. I haven't tried the other brand's arm long-term because there isn't enough room for all the cables with the monitor's KVM switch). I do wish that the new BenQ monitor arm was compatible and available to purchase without the new monitor. I would buy it in a second.

Prior to researching for a new monitor, I had never heard of BenQ. Given my experience with this product though, they have moved to the top of my list for future monitor purchases.

40 people found this helpful

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Chris in NJ

Excellent Thunderbolt Monitor for my Apple Studio

Reviewed in the United States on March 31, 2024

Style: 27" 4K Professional Design MonitorVerified Purchase

I had to replace a recently purchased (under a year) Samsung Viewfinity S8 4K Thunderbolt monitor that had just way too many issues - screen freezes, system windows remaining on the screen, buttons now responding unless I completely unplugged the monitor which was wall mounted and a complete PITA.

After much research I was confident in the BenQ PD2725U, and it did not disappoint. Crisp 4K picture and it works perfectly on all connections. I have an HDMI switcher with a Roku box, xBox and my old 5G Mac Pro Tower connected to an HDMI port and my Apple Studio connected to the Type C Thunderbolt connection. It is an enhanced experience, to say the least. Love the convenience of the puck - though I still have to run it through the wall to hide the wire.

My only wish is that I had the room for the 32" equivalent. I do not feel that you would be disappointed with your choice. Highly recommend!

One person found this helpful

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Jonnylongshot

Works great with MacBook Pro 2019 16"

Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2020

Style: 32" 4K Professional Design MonitorVerified Purchase

I had been using an Asus PQ321Q 31.5” 4K display since 2014 with a variety of Macs. At the time, the image quality had exceeded anything I’d used and I was quite pleased with this monitor. It had its quirks, including a difficult UI, but the image made up for it, and once adjusted, I rarely messed with things. Various OS updates brought problems with waking from sleep that required hard power cycling. As time went on, these got increasingly annoying, but I was always able to get the monitor to work again, eventually.

Then MacOS 10.15.4 came along, and the monitor simply would not work. This is surely a bug with Apple software, but after a few days of fighting an uphill battle, I gave in and decided to purchase a Thunderbolt Display.

Given the relatively positive experience with ASUS and the forced opportunity to upgrade, I selected the Asus ProArt PA32UC 32". It was a comparable size but had dramatically better specs. Thanks to Amazon, it showed up shortly after ordering. My first impression of this monitor was that it was vastly more capable with its HDR capabilities, wide color gamut, and myriad input ports. But, the backlight bleed in the corners was noticeably worse than I remembered on the PQ321Q. Without a side by side comparison, I wasn’t sure but it felt worse for sure. And given that this device touted its deep blacks, I was immediately disappointed. I could live with this though, but worse, the first time I brought up a white screen, I immediately saw a number of black spots around the display. Dead pixels? Dust under the glass? I don’t know, but I do know that it drove me crazy. Every time I scrolled a white window across the screen, I fought the urge to wipe the dust off the screen. But I couldn’t. The next day, back to Amazon it went.

The available options in this display class are fairly limited. The other device I’d been weighing was the BenQ PD3220U 32 inch. On paper, it’s a lesser display, certainly in terms of color gamut. But I needed a display and this seemed like it could work, so I gave it a try. Much to my delight, this display has been amazing. As a Mac user, it feels as if it were made by Apple for your Mac. Plug it into the Thunderbolt port and it just works. There’s a color setting just for you. You can adjust all the settings via free software. The display looks great and free of artifacts. The stand is solid and feels rugged, and the bezel and elegantly discrete. I really like this monitor and every time I wake my Mac from sleep and the display illuminates as if it’s happy to see you, it makes me appreciate it even more. I don’t ever use the included puck but see that it could be useful for some. The speakers are terrible, but hey, it includes speakers that are good enough to alert you to system sounds if the audio out is selected for monitor output.

29 people found this helpful

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j h

fantastic image (4k is plenty) but dimmer then macs

Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2022

Style: 27" 4K Professional Design MonitorVerified Purchase

Really a great monitor. I can't speak much to the details of color spaces and all that, but the picture quality is great. Text is a bit odd as they overcorrect a bit to make it sharp- didn't quite get used to it. But I ended up returning this monitor because I am under a super bright light and the apple studio display is just brighter, I hate to say it. Next to the iMac at 500nits brightness, you can see the difference (the benQ is 400 nits). It's just a bit dull. Perhaps the matte screen makes a difference. For so much $ I wanted my monitor to be perfect, so I returned it, and got the apple studio display which goes up to 600 nits and works well in my space. For a space not under intense lighting, the benQ could work very well. My high resolution electron microscopy images looked gorgeous on the benQ monitor, just could be brighter.

7 people found this helpful

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Jeepster

Timely Delivery And Quality Galore

Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2024

Style: 32" 4K Professional Design MonitorVerified Purchase

The display screen I bought is fantastic and a reasonable value for the money. The BenQ screen has excellent features and can be modified for landscape or vertical viewing. Easy to set up and is an absolute breeze on the eyes. Enjoy!

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Thom

Sooo not worth it

Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2023

Style: 32" 4K Professional Design MonitorVerified Purchase

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I ordered two of these direct from Amazon LLC. The monitors I received had been manufactured 10 months prior and the boxes were torn wide open and obviously had been dropped from a considerable height. There was a 4 inch deep cut in the side of the box facing the screen. These look like refurbs to me.

The screen bezels don't look correct at 90 degrees, you can see the latches. The frame is coming apart. This is true for both units I received and it's super distracting. I had many issues with Ventura where the monitors kept losing their HDR settings. At every boot it had to be reset.

But the picture is good. I would say however it's worth more like $700. There is a cheaper BenQ series at about half the price with 27 and 32 inch variants, with a large bezel at the base of the screen. For this monitor they removed the bezel and added a filter over the screen to make it look more high end, very much mimicking Apple displays. The filter tries to trick the eyes by adding visual noise, it’s a total scam IMO. I have had the cheaper models right next to the PD3220U and they have better picture quality without the filter for sure. This appears to me to be the exact same product in a more expensive looking enclosure for twice the price. Pfft

Way overpriced and only 60Hz, and the refresh rate on this type of display is very noticeable even moving windows around. Colors are Ok in HDR mode. P3 is wildly oversaturated and unusable. And across the two “calibrated” monitors I received the colors varied noticeably with the exact same settings, see the video.

Looking at a background of pure white I see the brightness is very uneven at the corners, on both units.

Not a great use of $2500 but a hard lesson learned.

Update: I returned them both. Outrageously overpriced and IMO an imitation of an authentic product (from Apple). There are far better monitors on the market at half the price of this or less.

17 people found this helpful

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Frank Underwood

Died After One Year

Reviewed in the United States on July 6, 2023

Style: 27" 4K Professional Design MonitorVerified Purchase

The screen is very nice. It's IPS and anti-glare. The stand is also super robust and very ergonomic, supporting any kind of position you can think of.

KVM functionality is wonky, but once configured it does work so long as you have both sources plugged in and powered. And only one source can be TB3. The other must be HDMI + USB.

The built-in speakers are trash and there are not many ports on the monitor for something that should be a TB3 hub. Mine also died almost exactly at the 1y mark. And by died, I mean it was working fine for 1y and then it just started flickering regardless of the source or settings used. So, I'm thinking build quality is not great. Although, it does feel like a substantial monitor.

One person found this helpful

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N. Strum

Excellent monitor for graphic design and video editing, great value

Reviewed in the United States on March 26, 2024

Style: 32" 4K Professional Design MonitorVerified Purchase

I've been using a BenQ PD3220U for over a year now (for graphic design and video editing), and liked it so much I bought another to pair with it as a second display. The BenQ compares very favorably to previous monitors I've used from NEC and Apple, but for less than half the cost. The color accuracy is excellent, build-quality is superb, and the display's brightness is more than adequate in my workspace. There's a good selection of ports, although accessibility to the ones on the back is a bit frustrating if you can't vertically rotate the monitor (mine sits under a bookshelf).

Some of the setup instructions could use better clarification, particularly in regards to daisy-chaining displays and setting up the KVM switch, but BenQ's customer service has been very responsive to any questions I've had.

The included Hotkey Puck is a convenient way to access the monitor's controls, however the icons on the buttons are nearly impossible to see, so I stuck my own P-Touch labels on them for better visibility (see photo).

The monitor's stand is rock-solid and well-built. It's easily adjustable and has a good range of motion. The base is very flat and low-profile, so you can set things on top of it and it doesn't intrude on your usable desk space.

For an excellent, color-accurate, yet still affordable monitor, I'd highly recommend it.

There are three minor complaints I have with it:
1) At only 24", the included Thunderbolt 3 cable is effectively useless. If you plan on connecting with Thunderbolt 3, measure where you'll be installing your system before purchasing, so you can order a cable of the proper length.
2) If using more than one of these monitors together, each monitor must have its own dedicated Hotkey Puck. You can't control two monitors with one Puck (even if the monitors are daisy-chained together). Not a big deal, but it does increase desk clutter. (The Puck isn't required to use the monitor - there are buttons on the back to access the menus.)
3) I use the built-in KVMs to switch both monitors between two Macs. Mostly, it works fine. But there's an issue where if one of the connected Macs falls asleep, and I attempt to switch over to it, the Mac will not wake up and the monitor's entire USB bus and everything plugged into it will stop responding - keyboard, mouse, Puck, and all USB ports - and the KVM will get "stuck" on the sleeping Mac. If this happens, there are two fixes: 1) unplug/reconnect the USB (or Thunderbolt 3) cable going to the sleeping Mac, or 2) plug a keyboard directly into the sleeping Mac to wake it up. In either case, once the Mac is awake, the monitor's USB ports and all connected devices will start working normally again. BenQ customer support says this is a MacOS issue (which I fully believe).

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Techy Guy

Photographers and Videographers read this

Reviewed in the United States on February 16, 2024

Style: 34” WQHD Professional Design MonitorVerified Purchase

This display is a bummer for professionals.

This is the monitor you wish had three things fixed, because if it did, it would knock the Apple Studio Display out of the water. But it doesn’t, and I had to return it because of them. In order:

1. The display is not bright enough for photographers and videographers to do proper editing and color grading work, especially if they’re used to any iMac screen or Apple Display. To have a monitor in this price range that is any less than at least 500 nits makes no sense in 2024.

2. The size. It needs to be taller while maintaining the width. Or for this price, they should be offering a 38” or 40” ultra wide size. It just feels small, believe it or not. Especially if you’ve come from a 27” 5k retina iMac, which I did.

3. The speakers. A lot of people have talked about this. To say they are abysmal would be a compliment. They are actually some of the worst speakers I’ve ever heard in my entire life. I’ve been working on audio for more than 30 years. I’ve seen $200 monitors with much better sound, and I don’t understand why they even included them. But for people who just want their music playing or reference audio and don’t want to turn on professional speakers all the time this is a no-go as well.

4. I’m adding one more. This is not a dealbreaker, and if the other three things had been solid, I would’ve kept it. It would’ve been nice if they offered a glossy version of this display instead of the matte finish. I know that matte monitors are all the rage these days, but there are many of us out there who actually prefer a glossy screen. I don’t understand why so many manufacturers have gone away from glossy when the images on glossy screens are so much more vibrant and the blacks are so much better. We all look at glossy screens on our phones and iPads, etc., on almost all mobile devices all day long so it makes no sense to me.

At the end of the day, I tried the monitor for a week, and as a professional photographer and editor, just couldn’t accept the price because of those three major flaws and returned the display. The build quality was excellent and the stand itself was very well-made and easily adjustable, which were really good positives but I was able to find the Apple studio display on a sale for $1200 and why would I spend almost that much on this (with tax and a 4 year warranty) when I could have a 27 inch 5K retina display with six speaker AMAZING sound, a 12 megapixel built in web camera with center stage and a build quality that is unparalleled anywhere else in the world? It makes no sense.

If these monitor manufacturers want to compete with Apple, then they better start upping their game and provide actually competitive products at a cheaper price. I don’t think it’s that difficult to do because Apple’s prices are simply ridiculous and their whole game is forcing people to spend more money when they don’t really need to.

If a company like BenQ could produce a product even close to Apple’s quality for 2/3 the price, they would be the most successful monitor company in the world.

If display brightness is not as big of a factor to you and you have your own speaker system, then honestly, this monitor is fantastic and I think you’ll really enjoy it. But if those other features I mentioned are important to you, as they are to me, this is 100% a pass.

I hope BenQ reads these reviews and listens to their consumers. If they made a 32, 36, or 38 inch widescreen display in glossy with a higher contrast ratio, amazing brightness, and good speakers (even decent speakers)… I’d want to buy two of them tomorrow. :-)

2 people found this helpful

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Greg

True 10 bit for an affordable price, good enough for digital work

Reviewed in the United States on September 23, 2019

Style: 32" 4K Professional Design MonitorVerified Purchase

The PD3220U is ideal for digital work, as BenQ is notably silent on its Adobe RGB performance but boasts its P3 performance. It's also an improved monitor over the PD3200U. It may lack variable refresh rates making it not gaming-focused. Outside that particular omission, it has just about everything else you'd want: puck adjuster for controls, USB3.1c, KVM switch, multiple inputs, ability to hot-swap color profiles, and even display profiles two at once.

It's relatively performant, besting the other displays at this size. The best comparison of the displays I tried was a Dell U3219Q when I purchased it was $850, but now it is roughly half the price. In pretty much every measurable way, the BenQ is a better display (sans perhaps cost-to-performance).

It works great my MacBook Pro and Mac Pro (although under 10.13.6 with an NVidia GPU, it was registering as a 6k display, whereas my AMD Vega 56 reported it correctly). The only real complaints are the viewing angle could be a hair wider, but at the size, this is always going to be the cause. Color shift is pretty minimal. The finish can be mildly glare reflective in direct sunlight as its not a full matte. There's the smallest of edge shadow due to the ultra-thin bezel at the bottom edge, least pronounced of the four 32 inch 4k displays I've tried. The black uniformity is the best I've ever seen in a 32-inch display, which is just flatly ok. When the monitor is totally dark, you can see a bit of unevenness. Also, there are no backlighting zones. It gets dark; it's not like my aging plasma screen's ability to produce deep blacks. As a daily driver, though, this is an excellent display and better than most. The wide gamut is especially felt when working with Adobe RGB profiled images and RAW photos. The P3 covers Rec BT 709 (very similar to sRGB) but lacks in the greens compared to Rec BT2020, which is well beyond any current displays sans very expensive high-end color grading displays.

Embracing P3 as the wide gamut standard, which covers roughly 45% of the colors the human eye can see (it's nowhere near Rec BT2020 covers 75%), is a good move as it is similar to Adobe RGB in colors covered. Basically, downloading test 10bit vs. 8bit footage is notable as gradient banding pretty much nonexistent whereas 8 bit footage you can see the banding.

I don't live or die by color accuracy, but it is nice when doing UI work.

There's also a few eye-strain technologies tossed in, do they work? Unsure doesn't seem to affect my eyes. Also, the charging isn't quite enough for the 15 inch MacBook.

Lastly, the UI for a display is well above average. There are two quick profile color swaps, and brightness is super easy to adjust.

Pros:
True 10 bit, not FRC.
Wide color gamut and covers 96% of P3
Easy to use UI and fast
Multicolor profiles come included
Didn't need to set up any color adjustments
Despite the wide amount of features, sanely implemented
Very low color shift.
Fantastic pre-calibration.
USB 3.1c
More inputs than I'll ever need.
Colorwise matches my MacBook 2017

The so-so:
Matte isn't totally light sheeting.
Viewing angles are pretty good but shy of smaller displays.
Wattage is a bit low for 15 inch MacBooks running CPU intensive tasks, meaning still probably gotta use a power cable.
GeForce 1060 thought the display was 6k under MacOS 10.13.6.
No FRC, but MacOS doesn't support it.
Slim bevels.
Stand works nicely, no buttons or levels.

Bad:
Backlighting could be more uniform
Blacks look really good but still not as dark as my old plasma TV
Somewhat pricey
Internal speakers aren't any better than a Macbook's. Why bother?

Wishlist:
I wish this was 5k or 6k; the size is fantastic.
60+ Hz would be nice.
Zoned backlighting for larger light/dark

/edit update:

Well covid hit and now this my main work display, and because of its input switching and ability to charge my laptop, has become even more valuable. I have a Thunderbolt 3 dock but this effectively eliminates the need. One cable connects me to my speakers, two displays and speakers, which are shared with my 2010 Mac Pro.

137 people found this helpful

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