BenQ EW2780 27 Inch(68cm) 1920 x 1080 Pixels Premium HDR IPS Full HD 3-Side Bezel-Less Monitor, Speakers, AMD Freesync, HDMIx3, VESA Wall Mountable, 75Hz(Black)

This is my first impressions/weeks take on the BenQ EW2780 monitor.I am currently using a Dell S2240L that I purchased in 2013.The Dell monitor has given me stellar service and I have zero complaints...except that it's a 22" monitor, which over the years was getting a little cramped.My Dell monitor has a glossy screen, so picture/color reproduction is absolutely top notch.(way better than some other matte screen monitors that I have seen.)So the main reason for the upgrade was to get more screen area to use.Upgrading from a 22" to a 24" monitor seemed like a minor incremental upgrade at best, while upgrading to a 27" monitor is a major upgrade (in terms of usable area).The only issue with a 27" monitor "seemed" to be the drop in pixel density from 103(for a 22") to 82(for a 27"), and the resulting loss in clarity/sharpness on texts and pictures.I did physically check out a few 27" monitors in showrooms (big ones like Croma or other big shops will not have any 27" monitors on display, so I checked out some smaller ones in my neighborhood.)At least for me, I hardly saw any major degradation in the clarity/sharpness on texts and pictures from around 2 feet distance, so I knew that going in for a 27" made sense.I use monitor for general purpose.....word,excel,web surfing,movies and games.I don't care for high refresh rates and faster response times as I play SP games, so 60 hz was more than enough for me.(the EW2780 tops out at 75 Hz.)So I needed a 27" 1080p (60hz) monitor.(Was looking for a glossy monitor but couldn't get any. I think no one makes glossy monitors now a days.)Initially I did look at a few monitors from Dell,HP,Philips and BenQ.HP 27f/27fw/27er are very sleek but are also a good 3k more than comparable Dell and BenQ.The Philips 276E9QJAB is around 3k cheaper but looked a bit cheap in build quality...and has very few reviews on the net.Dell SE2719HR also seemed good (though the panel quality of the SE series is a tad lower than the regular S series from Dell), but its the same price as the BenQ EW2780 which has the additional HDRi feature.The BenQ GW2780 is a good 3k cheaper than the EW2780 but also doesn't have the HDRi feature.Other reviews for the BenQ EW2780 on the net seemed good so I decided to order this one.First impressions after assembly were very good. The monitor looks minimalist and very premium with a solid well designed metal base.It's almost bezel less and looks beautiful. (but this is the norm now for all monitors.)I did compare it's picture/text quality against the Dell, and am very pleased with the results.The picture quality matches and even surpasses in quite a few instances.Even the text is crisp and clear. (For people with a very good eyesight, maybe this might be an issue, but it certainly wasn't for me.)For me personally the HDRi (simulated HDR) was a hit and miss, as I was able to see a good amount of contrast in certain games with it switched on, while it was a bit too dark in others.I tested Metro Exodus, Dishonored 2, Styx for HDR, as these games have a lot of dark and lit areas next to each other.The HDR works fairly well in Exodus and Dishonored 2, as the dark areas were suitably darkened without going overboard and the overall experience was very good.For Styx, the HDR made things a bit too dark for my taste and I preferred to keep it on Cinema HDRi or just switch it off.I tested Ori & the Will of the Wisps for color pop and vibrancy, which was on point and everything looked absolutely beautiful.Generally speaking, Cinema HDRi makes the scenes more vibrant, while HDR darkens the dark areas and provides a deeper contrast.The OSD controls are fairly comprehensive.Didn't test the inbuilt speakers as I have separate ones.There seems to be minor back light bleed on the left corner but its not too distracting.Imo the upgrade was totally worth it.The large screen fills your vision and I cant believe why I didn't think of moving to 27" earlier.The 27" 1080p screens give a very pleasant experience (for both pictures and text), as long as you are not into professional graphics designing and editing, and are at least around 1.5/2 feet away from the monitor.For regular day to day office use, net surfing, movies and SP gaming, it suits my needs perfectly.

I won't give a technical review, you can find that in couple of other review posts. I will be posting what I did not find in other posts or something of value in my own experience of purchase.1. Audio quality is good not great because of the limited volume. Given you are going to use it as an extended monitor or nearby PlayStation experience the volume should suffice. For a rich music experience, you might need to plug into a set of external speakers.2. The monitor mount is metallic and very sturdy. Nice and sleek.3. I had to raise an exchange due to the issue of light bleeding and the exchange turned out to be fine. Although, I am pretty sure the seller tried to ship me a defective unit for the first time. For the first time, the seal tape by BenQ visible in the attached image was missing. The seller in my case was Appario Retail Private Ltd.4. I started from a sub 10k budget and pushed to this monitor for 16.5K on a strong recommendation by a friend and I am glad I did it.The sweetest deal for this price.

Its really a good monitor at this price with HDR and other features. It has good amount of brightness and contrast perfectly suited for watching videos and movies as well. Its built in speaker is small but produces a good amount of sound, however dont expect the outcome like from a TV. It has headphone port which could be connected to external monitors.It has 3 HDMI ports so that multiple devices can be connected to it at same time, however no other type of ports like DVI, VGA or Display ports. However you can use converter cables from these type of ports to HDMI.Regarding the color reproduction, its really awesome and accurate. It has several eyecare features and settings, however i like the reading mode which makes the entire screen grayscale.Nice product for this price.

Before buying this monitor for my home office, I had to do a full research on what would best suit my needs. I’m not a gamer, so I needed a monitor that’s good for web surfing, working and occasionally watching YouTube/Netflix.This is a 27 inch 1080p HDRi monitor. The highest recommended size for 1080p would be 24 inch monitors but as I occasionally watch movies, I had to push it by a bit. It’s a fair trade off for me because 2k/4K monitors are substantially more expensive than this one.Now coming to review of this product, initially I received a faulty product which was replaced by amazon within a day. Apart from that, the monitor has some really nice features that are hard to find like ambient light sensor that works really well, low blue light filter. Both these features really help me reduce eye fatigue post sunset. Apart from that there’s a hot key for changing the mode from low blue light to HDRi and suddenly everything is vibrant and good for watching YouTube/Netflix.The monitor also has timer which pops up nicely in the bottom left corner reminding us to take breaks in the intervals that we choose from the available options.While this monitor also comes with inbuilt speakers, I haven’t used them much as I have external 5.1 speakers. One thing that I noticed is the inbuilt speakers are louder and sound better than my work laptop.Apart from this, the panel is matte finish and doesn’t have any reflections, and the monitor height is also decent provided you are an average height person. For someone that’s taller than 6 feet, they might need a VESA stand to adjust the height of the monitor to avoid strain on neck.