BenQ SW272Q 27" 2.5K Monitor

Monitor panel sizes are measured across the diagonal, in inches.

They are approximate only, so the actual measurement might be 27.1" for example. Note that panel size in inches is only one part of the story - the other being the aspect ratio. For example a 24" monitors doesn't sound much bigger than a 23" monitor, but 24" monitors are normally 16:10 versus most 23" monitors being 16:9. This means a 24" monitor is much taller than a 23" and the working size is much greater than one inch difference would suggest.

The panel ratio gives the relative size of the horizontal to the vertical. Older monitors were 4:3, but most modern monitors are widescreen, with 16:10 or 16:9 being the common ratios. 16:10 is distinctly taller, and common with 24 and 30 inch monitors. 23 and 27 inch monitors are normally 16:9 - the same ratio as widescreen televisions. For monitors 24 inches and below, we recommend going with a 16:10 monitor if you can. Once you're over 24 inches you've got sufficient vertical working space it doesn't matter so much.

Native resolution is simply the number of pixels a monitor has, stated as horizontal x vertical.

LCD monitors really want to receive their native resolution and look pretty terrible when scaling other resolutions to the native resolution of the panel.

Most modern computers have no trouble outputting up to 2560 by 1600 (e.g. all Mac Pros/Macbooks/Minis/Airs etc. from the last 5 years or so can do this without issue, usually to 2 or more displays simultaneously). The only time it becomes particularly important is with older machines, particularly laptops, many have a maximum external display resolution of 1920 by 1200. If in doubt send us the full model number of your laptop and we can double check this for you!

There are three major types of monitor panels. IPS (aka PLS) - are the best for image makers. They have the best colour accuracy and uniformity characteristics. The can sometimes have weaker blacks, so gamers and video editors sometimes lean towards PVA monitors. However these days good IPS panels have excellent blacks so we recommend that all image makers use an IPS panel. The latest panel type, TN, is generally only used in laptops and low end devices and should avoided for imaging work at all costs!

The two major types of backlighting are CCFL (Flourescent tube based) and LED. CCFL is the older type of light source and offers good uniformity and it has been traditionally easier to engineer colour accuate monitors with flourescent tubes. However recent LED backlit monitors can be excellent - very uniform, and of course they use much less power. The latest LED backlit monitors from the good makers now offer excellent colour accuracy - at least as good as the older CCFL models.

LEDs also uses significantly less power (although CCFL monitors are already much better than old CRTs of course!) - and tend to have better uniformity.

There are two main technologies for modifying the brightness of output from a monitor:

PWM (AKA TLM) Modulation

PWM Pulse Width Modulation (AKA TLM Temporal Light Modulation) - uses extremely fast cycling of the LED backlights (up to thousands of times per second) - with the duration of the on cycles vs the off cycles determining the perceived brightness. This very rapid on/off cycling (or low/high brightness cycling) is imperceptible to the naked eye.

DC Modulation

With DC modulation the amount of electrical current sent to the pixels is varied, thus changing the brightness of their output.

Which is better?

For most people, it is irrelevant which technology is used. Both are very effective at achieving the basic functionality of controlling a monitor's brightness.

However, people with known eye/visual/headache sensitivities may want to avoid monitors that use PWM to modulate brightness.

All other things being equal, DC modulation is preferred, since you then simply avoid the issue - but the reality is very few people are PWM sensitive (and many many phones/tablets/monitors/TVs etc use PWM, so you are really quite likely to know already if you're one of the few people who are sensitive!).

(If you think you might be PWM sensitive, please get in touch and you can come and try different models to see how they affect you!)

Whether or not the unit needs a fan for cooling. Most monitors fortunately don't need a fan, rather using passive cooling through heatsinks and vents.

However, some monitors do require a fan, which can be of concern given the monitor's proximity to your ears. Generally the fan will be a low dB fan not audible above a typical computer fan, but if ambient noise is of concern to you the we suggest you choose a monitor without a cooling fan.

Direct Hardware Calibration is the process of calibrating directly into the monitor's hardware. This is both more accurate, and typically more easy to do, than traditional software calibration. See the 'Calibration Information' section above for more details about this monitor and calibration.

In built correction sensors come in two forms:

• Full Calibration Sensors - behave just list external calibration sensors and can build full colour profiles for your monitor. These are designed to allow for fully automatic regular calibation with no user intervention.
• Correction Sensors - these can not make colour profiles, so you will still need access to a compatible external sensor about twice a year, but the correction sensor is used to keep the monitor as close to the profile as possible inbetween calibrations.

Until around 2010, almost all monitors were 'standard gamut' - meaning they could display a moderate range of colours (roughly around the size of the sRGB colour space). In recent years we've seen the development of wide gamut monitors that can display a much wider range of saturated colours (about 25% more) - equivalent to approximately the gamut of AdobeRGB.

We recommend wide gamut monitors for all image makers, but especially for anyone working regularly with saturated colour. Wide gamut monitors can also emulate standard gamut monitors very well, so it's more future proof to choose a wide gamut model, and there really aren't any disadvantages (apart from the generally higher price of wide gamut models!).

Does the monitor accept a 10 bit incoming video signal? 10 bit video signals allow for more tonal level separation (i.e. smoother gradients).

PC: 10 bit is well supported and relatively easy to achieve with 'workstation' graphic cards (short version: buy an NVIDIA Quadro video card!). Since about 2020, even most modern consumer video cards now support 10 bit, but the consumer cards with their gaming optimised drivers do tend to be a lot more buggy.

Mac: 10 bit has been supported across the Mac lines since around 2016.

Note that there are often caveats to this support - such as 10 bit being available only on DisplayPort and not HDMI for UHD inputs, for example.

Do make sure you check the manufacturer's specifications very carefully if you have a particular requirement - like e.g. 10 bit over HDMI at 4K/60Hz.

Our comprehensive article on 10 bit support has more details. Important to note, also, that whilst 10 bit is definitely 'better' - in 20 years of professional imaging work, we have never really seen it make a practical difference to typical tasks (with the possible exception of HDR grading work).

In general, in the context of colour accurate monitors, there are two types of '10 bit' monitors - i.e. monitors that can display more than a billion different colours (versus 8 bit monitors which can display 16.7 million, and 6 bit monitors that are, frankly, garbage).

8 Bit Plus FRC - 'Simulated 10 Bit'

Panels that are natively 8 bit can use extremely fast LED cycling to achieve the equivalent of 10 bit display - by cycling pixel colours (thousands of times per second!) - your eye will perceive the colours as the appropriate intermediate shades. (Just about all high quality monitors, including even top of the line ones like Eizo CG monitors, were 8 bit + FRC, up until ~2020 or so, i.e. since colour accurate LCD monitors came along).

True 10 Bit

True 10 bit monitors can natively disable over 1 billion colours directly, without this cycling technique.

Which is better?

All other things being equal, true 10 bit display is theoretically better, of course - but it's extremely hard to visually detect any difference in practise. 8 bit plus FRC is an excellent and effective technology and many award winning monitors, up to and including in the year 2024, use this technology.

We have a longer article on 10 bit monitors with more thoughts on this specification and why very often it's better to choose the better quality 8 bit/FRC monitor than a lower quality true 10 bit monitor.

The maximum achievable ratio of the brightness of a monitor's white to the depth of it's black. The stated figure is a maximum, achieved only when the monitor is running at high brightness in a darkened room.

A high contrast ratio makes things looks more contrasty (i.e. more 'pop') and is particularly of note with gaming, video, and image display scenarios. For example, if you're selling photos to clients straight off your screen, then high contrast has more wow factor.

However, for print work, it is typical practice to dramatically reduce the monitors contrast to as low as, say, 200:1 to better simulate paper. This is best done with monitors that feature direct hardware calibration support and allow you to specify the desired contrast ratio.

The maximum achievable brightness of the monitor in candellas per metre squared.

It is VERY unusual to run a monitor at maximum brightness, especially for imaging work.

Does the monitor have 'true blacks'. Generally, this is essentially the same as having a contrast ratio noticeably over 1000:1.

The DCI (Digital Cinema Initiative) specifications for 'true blacks' requires a (post-calibration) contrast ratio ~ 1500:1 or more.

Most LCD monitors do not yet offer True Blacks support. This doesn't mean they have bad blacks in typical viewing environments, but it does mean you may experience some 'glow' in your blacks if you're viewing in a very dim environment.

Achieving very high contrast ratios is difficult and a combination of technologies is used - changes to the panel, light retardation film and backlight are all required. In 2024, we're beginning to see the term 'IPS Black' to describe these sorts of blacks-improved panels.

This is really particularly of relevance in video work - in still image work, and particularly for print, it is common practise to actually raise the monitor's black point above the minimum to better simulate the printed output. A very low black point makes a monitor more suitable for video editing in a dim environment.

The wider the better! But as usual, on paper specifications tell you just about nothing about the actual performance.

Viewing angle is the maximum angle at which a display can be viewed with 'acceptable visual performance'. In the context of this specification, all that means is that the 'contrast ratio remains above 10:1' (which is laughably low). This is really a meaningless specification with regards to the colour accuracy of a monitor when viewed off angle.

Thus, we don't place any credence in the manufacturer stated numbers. Simply though, IPS panels have the best viewing angles by far, and all IPS panels sold here all have (relative to low quality monitors) excellent viewing angles for this type of monitor, so you won't see significant variance as you move you head around under normal circumstances (movements of 15 or so degrees, say). In general you and a colleague could sit side by side (closely) and work acceptably together on an image. Beyond that, though, like all LCD monitors, accurate display will drop off very quickly once you move off angle. That is simply a fact of life with LCDs, even the best ones.

Ironically, monitors with lower black points tend to be slightly worse in this area (e.g. the CGX range from Eizo) - as often part of achieving the low blacks is the use of a polarising film over the panel. As anyone who has ever used a polarising filter with a camera knows, the effect of such a filter is highly directional. Thus as you move off axis, you will therefore see change more quickly.