When comparing BenQ ZOWIE XL2720 vs LG 25UM58-P, the Slant community recommends LG 25UM58-P for most people. In the question“What are the best monitors?” LG 25UM58-P is ranked 13th while BenQ ZOWIE XL2720 is ranked 23rd. The most important reason people chose LG 25UM58-P is:
You can access the monitor's setting using your keyboard and a mouse because the monitor supports LG's On Screen Control software. Moreover, the software features the Screen Split function which lets you organize the real estate of your monitor according to your needs.
Specs
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Pros
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.
Pro Convenient controls
You can access the monitor's setting using your keyboard and a mouse because the monitor supports LG's On Screen Control software.
Moreover, the software features the Screen Split function which lets you organize the real estate of your monitor according to your needs.
Pro Not power-hungry
On average, running this monitor will cost you $2 because the monitor consumes only around 24 W of electricity.
Pro Accurate colors
The monitor is suitable for media editing applications in the sRGB color space because the 25UM58-P can accurately display 99% the sRGB color gamut. You can use this monitor, for example, in web design since all the web applications use sRGB as a default color space.
Pro Good for widescreen gaming
The monitor's extended field of view can give you some actual advantage in games such as Battlefield 1 and Team Fortress 2 which offer a broader field of view for those running 21:9 monitors.
Pro Can be locked
You can be sure that no one borrows the LG 25UM58-P from your work desk without you knowing it because this monitor has a Kensington lock.
Pro Decent viewing angles
The LG 25UM58-P does look good from an angle because of its high-quality IPS panels. While the exact numbers for the 25UM58-P are still not available, the entire line-up of the LG’s ultrawide monitors from 2016 and 2017 suggests that the maximum, horizontal viewing angle of this monitor should be higher than 40 degrees.
Pro Suitable for casual gaming
High responsiveness and proper motion handling make the LG 25UM58-P a suitable companion for enjoying an occasional CS:GO or Overwatch round.
The monitor feels responsive because of its 9 ms input lag. Only a handful of other general purpose monitors in this price range can match such high responsiveness.
The motion appears clear and almost free from the artificial motion blur effect because even the most rapidly-moving objects leave just some minor trails as the panel's pixels need only 5 ms to change their colors.
Pro Excellent value for money
Priced just a bit above $150, this 25-inch ultra-wide monitor offers a generous amount of on-screen workspace, good picture quality, decent gaming performance, and some premium functions, like LG's On Screen Control and the Split Screen feature. You’ll struggle to find the LG 25UM58-P a matching competitor in its price range.
Pro Lots of on-screen real estate
This monitor has enough workspace for you to edit two Word documents side by side - something you could never do on a 25-inch FHD monitor comfortably.
Additionally, the large workspace does not come at the cost of resolution as the LG 25UM58-P offers 20% higher pixel density compared to the regular 25-inch FHD panel.
Pro Nice for watching media
You won't see the black bars on the top and bottom of the screen while watching media filmed in the widescreen cinema standard because of the monitor's near-cinematic resolution of 2560x1080.
An aspect ratio of 21:9 is currently the de facto standard in the film making industry.
Pro Good picture quality
The monitor's contrast ratio, brightness, and color gamut are on par with what the vast majority of competitors in this price range offer.
The LG 25UM58-P can display rich images, with eye-catching and vivid colors and deep dark spots. The colors look good because of the monitor's peak brightness of 250 nits and the full support of the sRGB color gamut. Dark scenes appear deep thanks to the native contrast ratio of 1000:1, which pushes the monitor's blacks to reasonably intense levels.
Moreover, the LG 25UM58-P produces sharper and more saturated images than the corresponding 25-inch FHD competitors because it has 20% higher pixel density.
Pro Excellent for general usage
The LG 25UM58-P is one of the most versatile monitors in its price range because of its good picture quality, a massive amount of on-screen workspace, and the near-cinematic aspect ratio of 21:9.
Additionally, the monitor is suitable for casual gaming.
Cons
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.
Con Bad for dark rooms
The monitor doesn't look good in dark rooms because its panel can't absorb all the light emitted by the backlight. Such effect is called backlight bleeding. Note that this is a widespread problem for most monitors in this price range.
Con Requires calibration
To pull the monitor's maximum color accuracy, you need to get it calibrated because the LG 25UM58-P lacks factory calibration. The calibration is required only if are going to do some color-critical work in the sRGB color space.
Even though the calibration process itself is not complicated, it’d require you to have the specific testing equipment. The usual rental price of such equipment is around $10 a day.
Con Lacks some adjustability
Setting up an ergonomically correct workspace might cause you a bit of a hassle because the monitor does not have a height or swivel angle adjustment.
Also, there is no way to use this monitor in a portrait mode since its stand does not support it.
Con Can't fight glare
The monitor doesn't look good in overly bright rooms with lots of windows as its backlight can't get bright enough to fight glare and heavy reflections.
Con Has an external power brick
You'll need to find a space for the monitor's PSU because the LG 25UM58-P comes with a bulky external power brick.