When comparing BenQ ZOWIE XL2720 vs BenQ PD3200U, 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 BenQ PD3200U is ranked 46th. 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 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 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 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 Excellent general purpose monitor
The BenQ PD3200U has excellent picture quality, exceptional color accuracy, great adjustability, and good connectivity, which combined with the monitor's generous amount of display real estate, makes the PD3200U one of the most versatile panels on the market.
Pro Has speakers
The BenQ PD3200U features a pair of inbuilt 10 W speakers.
Pro Excellent connectivity
Connectivity-wise, the BenQ PD3200U, is among the best monitors on the market, as its USB 3.0 hub offers four upstream USB ports that can be used for connecting or charging peripherals. The two downstream ports are used for connecting the hub to a computer.
The PD3200U's stand-out feature is the builtin KVM switch, which allows sharing a mouse, a keyboard, and the monitor itself between two computers that are connected to the monitor through the downstream USB ports.
Additionally, this monitor has an SD/MMC card reader, and it features fairly fast transfer rates since it works over the USB 3.0 interface.
Pro Suitable for media artists
The BenQ PD3200U makes an excellent tool for color-critical applications like video editing and web design as it can display the full sRGB and Rec. 709 color spaces accurately.
Pro Has a puck switch
The puck has four buttons that grant you fast access to display's settings and multiple preset modes.
Pro Excellent range of ergonomic adjustments
Setting up the perfect workspace is no hassle since the BenQ PD3200U supports tilt angle, swivel angle, and even height adjustments.
Furthermore, you can use the monitor in either landscape or a portrait mode.
Pro Large on-screen real estate
This 32-inch 4K monitor is an excellent for multitaskers because it has enough on-screen workspace to allow you to work with multiple windows stacked side by side. The monitor feels best when used in a two by one vertical alignment.
Pro Excellent picture quality
The monitor's native contrast ratio, peak brightness, color accuracy, and gamma are superior to what the majority of competitors in this price range offer. Furthermore, the BenQ PD3200U is among a handful of monitors that offer a true 10-bit panel in the sub $1000 price range.
The BenQ PD3200U reproduces eye-catching images with colors that are vivid and accurate, dark scenes that are truly deep and rich, and intermediate tones that look realistic and beautiful. Colors pop and look vibrant thanks to the monitor's peak brightness of 317 nits. Dark scenes look beautiful because the monitor's AHVA panel has a native contrast ratio of 1040:1, which allows it to reproduce blacks realistically. The mid-tones look life-like as the monitor's gamma value is only 1% off from being ideal.
Additionally, the colors look realistic as the monitor's color inaccuracies can be spotted only by specifically-designed equipment.
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 Lacks hardware calibration
Hardware color calibration is an essential feature of a professional grade monitor. Without it, you can only perform software calibration which is not as efficient because it affects the computer’s video card output instead of the monitor itself.
Con Lacks USB-C
At this price point, many users expect to have at least one USB-C port in 2018.
