The TL;DR is simple: I have found the SW321C to be a phenomenal, no-compromises, nearly flawless monitor. Great stand, great user interface (I love the puck), outstanding image quality, even backlight, no backlight bleed. It's superb for work and leisure. There's IPS glow, but that's unavoidable.
I'm a programmer who spends most of his time on his computer -- reading/writing text, watching video, and playing games. Previously I was using 2 Dell U2518D monitors, which, even after calibration with an iDisplay Pro Plus, had the following issues:
* Crushed blacks
* Poor contrast
* Uneven colors
* Uneven backlight
* Backlight bleed
* Glare, despite the matte surface
After deciding I didn't want to put up with those issues any longer, I did a week or two of research on what the best no-compromises monitors were in late 2020. That led me to the SW321C, a professional monitor rather than a gaming/consumer monitor, because consumer models -- no matter how fancy they claimed to be or how slick the marketing -- all seemed to fall short and require me to resign myself to compromises in at least one area (and I didn't want FALD).
The BenQ SW321C is expensive (though not as expensive as the EIZO and Dell screens that it's often compared to), but I consider the money well spent. The image quality is outstanding. Colors are stunning. Images and text are markedly sharper and crisper than they were on my 25" 1440p monitors (though this would be true of any 4k 32" screen). The backlight is the evenest I've ever seen. There's no backlight bleed that I can detect. I love the shade hood and never take it off. The matte coating is far and away the best I've seen/used.
For the movies and tv shows I've watched on it (Blade Runner, Ex Machina, The Witch, The Expanse, The Man in the High Castle, The Midnight Gospel), I couldn't be happier with the quality of the picture. The HDR may be "fake," but it still massively improves the viewing experience, especially in regard to handling of darkness/shadows.
Last year I bought and returned the BenQ SW271. I loved it, but the backlight was uneven, there was backlight bleed, and 27" was too small for 4K". (32" is, for my eyes (late 30s), the perfect size for a 4k screen.) If I was going to spend $1,500, I wasn't willing to put up with those issues.
The SW321 isn't as bright as the SW271, which is a shame, but it also fixes every issue I had with the SW271.
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Update: the blacks aren't as dark as I'd like them to be. (EDIT: correction, for $2k you can NOT get a very decent oled tv with perfect blacks. You will experience burn in.) The monitor also seems to produce a lot of heat. I'm not sure I regret the purchase. It still ticks all the boxes for me, and I consider the money well spent, but if I could do it again, and my living quarters allowed it, (EDIT and recantation: I would not opt for an OLED)
Update #2: Scratch that. I still wish the blacks were darker, but this is as good as it gets on an IPS panel. OLED TVs aren't meant to be used as PC monitors, and if you use one that way, there will inevitably be burn in. I'm still quite happy with the purchase, despite the one, single, occasional stuck sub-pixel.
I've seen a few reviews here that fault the hardware calibration, but for me it has been superb -- certainly better, to my untrained eye, than the i1 Display Pro Plus's software calibration. That being said, I encountered a couple of bugs/problems when using the Palette Master software: it didn't detect my calibrator until I set colors to 10 bit, full output, and I had to plug it into a USB port on my desktop, not one of the SW321C's USB ports.
Update #3: The stuck pixel started to occur more frequently, so I contacted BenQ customer service and asked them to service the screen. The customer-support staff, who were phenomenal -- prompt, professional, understanding, knowledgeable, and incredibly to work with -- helped me, despite a couple of mix ups (which weren't their fault), resolve the matter to my satisfaction.
Update #4: The top review is... awful. What on earth sort of person brags(?) about bossing around delivery people? The top item in this person's list of pros is "high Quality Display Monitor," but the review also states that the screen was defective, that s/he has seen better image quality on $200 monitors, and that the colors look "horrible." Garbage. Neither of us is an expert. Ignore amazon reviews. Read reviews written by professional photographers, for whom this monitor is intended.
Dec 2022 update: my sw321c is one of my favorite possessions. Even my partner who isn't finicky about screen quality loves it. Watching movies or shows on it is always a treat. I can't praise it highly enough. And I can't believe I omitted from my review that its cardboard box is the nicest, most thoughtful I've encountered for anything I've purchased. It's huge but well worth keeping, as it protects the monitor perfectly and stores and organizes everything incredibly cleanly and effectively. No loose cables. No textured carton compartments. Everything has its isolated section, or its own box (which perfectly fits into only one place). My only complaint with the monitor concerns the shade ood, which has started to fall apart easily. I doubt it's meant to be handled, put on, or taken off as much as I have though. I cover the screen with several layers of cloth when I'm not using it, e.g. at night, because I want to keep it pristine, and they don't fit over the hood.
| Standing screen display size | 27 Inches |
|---|---|
| Screen Resolution | 3840x2160 |
| Max Screen Resolution | 3840 x 2160 |
