When comparing Samsung U32E850R vs BenQ ZOWIE XL2720, the Slant community recommends BenQ ZOWIE XL2720 for most people. In the question“What are the best monitors?” BenQ ZOWIE XL2720 is ranked 23rd while Samsung U32E850R is ranked 37th. The most important reason people chose BenQ ZOWIE XL2720 is:
You can move between different display modes with a click of a button because using the configurable fast-access switch attached to the base of the monitor.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Great image quality
This Samsung display uses an IPS panel, which results in a better color reproduction, brightness, contrast and overall great image quality.
Pro Low stand-by power consumption
The U32E850R only consumes about 0,3 watts of power per hour in stand-by, which makes it one of the more energy efficient 4K displays available. For example, the AOC C3583FQ 35 inch display consumes a hefty 60 watts.
Pro Excellent viewing angles
The viewing angles of the MG24UQ are excellent and no color shifting (the distortion of colors) occurs when looking at the display from a horizontal or vertical angle.
Pro Rotatable, tiltable and adjustable in height
You can easily adjust the height of the monitor, and you can also rotate it and switch between landscape and portrait mode.
Pro 4-port USB 3.0 hub
The monitor also doubles as a 4-port USB 3.0 hub, allowing you to quickly connect your devices on the display.
Pro Extremely sharp
The Samsung U32E850R uses a 4K-display with a resolution of 2160 x 3840 pixels, which is four times the amount of pixels of a Full HD display. This results in an extremely sharp image and overall great image quality. In terms of pixel density which is measured in pixels per inch, this display achieves just a little bit under 140 ppi. A 32 inch display with a Full HD resolution would only achieve half of that - 70 ppi.
Pro Allows you to use two inputs at once
The Samsung U32E850R has a great multitasking feature, which allows you to use two devices on the screen at the same time. You can either choose to use an overlay mode (picture-in-picture), or display the images side by side (picture by picture).
Pro Has a remote
You can move between different display modes with a click of a button because using the configurable fast-access switch attached to the base of the monitor.
Pro Reduces the eye strain
The ZOWIE XL2720 causes noticeably less eye strain than the majority of competitors in its price range because the monitor is flicker-free and has a mode that reduces the intensity of blue light.
Backlight flickering and high-intensity blue light emitted by LEDs are among the main factors related to eye fatigue that is caused by extensive use of computer monitors.
Pro Decent ergonomics
You can adjust the monitor’s tilt angle, swivel angle, and height so you won't have much trouble configuring it according to your setup.
Pro Responsive OSD buttons
The five capacitive OSD buttons are built very well and react quickly each time you press them.
Pro Highly responsive
The monitor's input lag stays at the fantastically low value of 3.2 ms making the ZOWIE XL2720 one of the most responsive gaming monitors in its price range.
A monitor’s input lag represents the delay between your GPU generating a frame and the frame starting to appear on your monitor.
Pro Intuitive OSD
The OSD is organized in a user-friendly way so all of the settings in the menu are only a couple of clicks away. Additionally, you can customize the OSD menu.
Pro Displays motion well
The monitor's excellent motion handling capabilities allow the BenQ ZOWIE XL2720 to display fast-paced content free from motion blur and ghosting because of its panel's high native refresh rate and fast pixel response time.
Motion blur and ghosting effects are eliminated by the panel's quick pixels that need only one millisecond to change their color because of the monitor's full pixel response time of 1 ms. Such fast color change prevents fast-moving objects from leaving artificial trails.
The monitor’s 144 Hz panel refreshes every seven milliseconds making motion appear smooth and fluid.
Pro Good picture quality
Regarding its picture quality, the ZOWIE XL2720 is on par with the majority of gaming monitors in this price range as it offers sufficient contrast ratio, peak brightness, color accuracy, and gamma response.
While the monitor's dark scene performance is mediocre, it can still display vivid and accurate colors and eye-catching intermediate tones. It can recreate average-looking dark scenes with blacks that are neither overly flat, nor profound as the monitor's native contrast ratio is limited to 915:1. The colors pop and appear relatively accurate since the ZOWIE XL2720 combines relatively high peak brightness of 315 nits with almost unnoticeable color accuracy error dE of 2.2. Mid-tones look good and saturated thanks to the monitor's gamma response of 2.06 which is only 6.3% away from the ideal value.
Pro Built-in USB hub
You can connect up to three peripheral USB devices to your computer using the monitor's inbuilt USB 2.0 hub. This would come in handy for those who use a laptop and have a lot of stationary USB devices.
Pro Great for gaming
The BenQ ZOWIE XL2720 is one of the best gaming monitors in its price range because it offers low input lag, flawlessly-handled motion, and high native refresh rate combined with decent overall picture quality.
Cons
Con Expensive
With an average price tag of $1000, the Samsung U32E850R is positioned in the higher-end market. However, some other 4K monitors with comparable specifications and features offer more value.
Con 4K resolution doesn't scale well with all software
Due to the native 4K resolution and the relatively small 28 inch screen size, text can be hard to read in Windows and other non-gaming environments, such as Adobe's software. Not everything scales well in 4K (yet).
Con Size limits viewing angles in corners
Although the U32E850R uses a PLS panel which is known for its great image reproduction and viewing angles, the sheer size of this display results in slightly worse viewing angles in the corners. The small difference is noticeable in dark situations.
Con No cables included
The only cables included with the monitor are a power cable and a USB cable, no HDMI or DisplayPort connectors are included. For a monitor with this hefty price tag, it's disappointing not to receive the complete package.
Con Maximum refresh rate limited to 60Hz
The U32E850R is not as fast as some other monitors, despite the fact that is supports AMD FreeSync. The minimum refresh rate is 48 Hz, with a maximum of 60 frames per second. Some of the more fast-paced games don't look as fluent on this iiyama as on other displays with a higher refresh rate.
Con Slower response time
The response time of this display is limited a 4 ms, which is excellent for normal usage but isn't as fast as some other monitors. In fast-paced gaming situations, ghosting may occur - ghosting happens when the previous image can still be seen on the screen due to a slower refresh rate.
Con Lacks adaptive sync
The BenQ ZOWIE XL2720 is not compatible with either Nvidia's G-Sync or AMD's FreeSync.
Con Lacks speakers
The ZOWIE XL2720 does not have inbuilt speakers.
Con Expensive
Priced just a bit below the $380 mark, this is a pretty costly 27-inch FHD monitor.
