BenQ DesignVue PD2706UA Review: Professional Level Accuracy at an Enterprise Price

27-inch IPS 4K monitor with wide-gamut color, HDR, professional-grade color accuracy and premium build quality.

By Christian Eberle
published
BenQ DesignVue PD2706UA
Editor's Choice
(Image: © Tom's Hardware)

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Uncalibrated – Maximum Backlight Level

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BenQ DesignVue PD2706UA
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

I measure monitors in their out-of-box state in the default picture mode with the brightness maxed. The PD2706UA comes with uniformity compensation engaged which reduces contrast by half so I turned that off. I also found more light output in the User Define mode, a maximum value of 380 nits. Black levels are respectable among IPS panels so I measured a native contrast ratio of 1,107.4:1. You can’t use the backlight dimming in SDR to increase contrast which is a bummer. It works fine for HDR, though, which is very good performance.

After Calibration to 200 nits

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BenQ DesignVue PD2706UA
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

After calibration of the color temp and setting the peak white level to 200 nits, contrast is unchanged. In the IPS category, it doesn’t get much better.

The PD2706UA’s high ANSI score shows excellent quality control and component selection, particularly the screen’s grid polarizer. Intra-image contrast is deep and well delineated, especially in brighter material where extra color saturation enhances the picture.

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Christian Eberle
Christian Eberle
Contributing Editor

Christian Eberle is a Contributing Editor for Tom's Hardware US. He's a veteran reviewer of A/V equipment, specializing in monitors.

4 Comments Comment from the forums
  • helper800
    Wow, this seems like a huge bargain at 650 dollars. The clamp / stand it come with alone is around a 100 dollar value.
    Reply
  • mickrc3
    The last 32in 4K monitors I bought near Christmas were LG models with adaptive sync and HDR and you could have easily bought 2 of them for the price of this smaller Benq 27in. Besides the word Professional there doesn't seem to be much remarkable about this monitor. Where's the value?
    Reply
  • cmccane
    The only real options for serious studio creators right now are the Dell 32" 8K monitor or a 65" Samsung 8K monitor which are both several times the price of these 4K monitors. If you're running Final Cut Pro on a new Mac that supports 8K, its not an option to only be able to see 4K at one time. No doubt the clips or movies you generate will be in 4K but if you start with 8K raw video, which in itself is still a feat, you don't want a 4K monitor.
    Reply
  • helper800
    cmccane said:
    The only real options for serious studio creators right now are the Dell 32" 8K monitor or a 65" Samsung 8K monitor which are both several times the price of these 4K monitors. If you're running Final Cut Pro on a new Mac that supports 8K, its not an option to only be able to see 4K at one time. No doubt the clips or movies you generate will be in 4K but if you start with 8K raw video, which in itself is still a feat, you don't want a 4K monitor.
    I do not believe that recording in 8k RAW is even needed, seems like a waste of time and money, but what do I know...
    Reply