BenQ PD2770U monitor review: Self-calibrating brilliance for £1,499

A 27-inch 60Hz 4K monitor for £1,499 might not sound like terrific value for money, but that's exactly what the BenQ PD2770U is. This professional-class monitor serves up a color-accurate IPS panel with a twist: its internal colorimeter allows it to self-calibrate for consistent color accuracy.

The feature list ticks most of the boxes for creative professionals. You get factory-calibrated modes for pretty much every color space you could ask for – sRGB, Adobe RGB, Rec. 709, DCI-P3, Display P3, and DICOM. Naturally, all of these can be checked and recalibrated automatically, and there are three user profiles which you can customise to your exact preferences, too.

Throw in a few extra niceties such as BenQ's super-handy little Hotkey Puck remote control, and a basic monitor hood, along with a few cables, and the £1,499 price starts to look very reasonable indeed.

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BenQ PD2770U monitor: Design & Features

When it comes to monitors, color accuracy is often misunderstood. When you see a review talk about a monitor's color accuracy, that is purely a snapshot at a given point in time – not a guarantee of accuracy a year down the line. And the truth is that all monitors drift steadily away from accuracy as the panels and/or backlight age – some quickly, some not so quickly. The one thing you can guarantee is that they will, and if your job involves knowing with certainty that that specific on-screen shade is nigh-on perfect, then regular calibration is a must.

That's why self-calibrating monitors such as the PD2770U are so desirable. A little colorimeter is hidden in the upper bezel, and this is able to swivel down, measure a number of color swatches, and recalibrate any of the preset picture modes. You don't even have to have a PC or laptop connected, as the calibration process is performed single-handedly by the monitor.

Calibrations can be performed manually, and you can choose specific presets to calibrate or set it to perform the calibration on a regular basis ranging from daily to quarterly. Or you can set a more granular timetable in BenQ's DSM Local software, and manage scheduling for multiple monitors across a LAN network. And should the default profiles not be suitable, you can also choose to install BenQ's Palette Master Ultimate software package: this opens the door to custom calibrations with specific white points, color gamuts, luminance, and so forth.

One nice little discovery here is that BenQ's Palette Master Ultimate software has finally added support for OEM X-Rite colorimeters. Previously, these weren't recognised – as of the version 2.6 update, our OEM i1 Display Pro Plus puck works exactly as expected.

In fact, there's only one major annoyance here: it's not possible to use the PD2770U's internal colorimeter in the Palette Master Ultimate software. You can validate an existing internal calibration with a third-party colorimeter or high-end spectrophotometer – something you would be advised to do on a regular basis – but you can't use the internal colorimeter to produce a new custom calibration, or to subsequently validate it, which is a shame. From our testing, we also couldn't see a way to correlate the internal colorimeter against a reference meter, which feels like an oversight.

Connectivity is nicely balanced. BenQ's decision to use rear-facing ports means that it's easy to get everything plugged in without scrabbling around under the desk. It's good to find USB-C connectivity is present, and the primary USB-C port delivers 96W of power in addition to DisplayPort Alt and data. The decision to add a single DisplayPort input and a pair of HDMI inputs rather than the other way around seems a bit backwards, but it's not a huge issue.

Plug a laptop or PC into either of the two USB-C ports at the rear, and this powers up the pair of USB-A ports on the underside of the monitor. Both of these reach USB 3.2 Gen 1 transfer speeds. Sensibly, the 3.5mm headphone socket is just alongside, so you can plug headphones in without having to reach around the rear.

The fundamentals here are all sound. The mostly plastic construction feels solid, and the heavy metal base and adjustable stand provide a good balance of stability and adjustability. There's 115mm of height adjustment, plenty of tilt and swive,l and the only limitation is that the PD2770U only rotates clockwise if you want to use it in portrait mode.

You also get a monitor hood, which attaches magnetically to the monitor and feels nice and secure once it's in place. The black flocking on the inner side of the hood does a really good job of keeping the panel free from unwanted reflections, too.

As ever, the Hotkey Puck is a boon. This little circular remote control communicates via infrared and allows you to quickly adjust settings, swap between color profiles with a click of a button, or use the KVM switch to flick between connected machines. All of the controls can be customised to your specific preferences, too. It's a simple concept well executed, and it makes it far easier to take advantage of all of the PD2770U's features.

There was one relatively minor, but irritating issue with our review unit: it produces a quiet but noticeable, high-pitched whine. We presume this is emanating from the internal power supply or a noisy capacitor. We spent a while wondering where it was coming from, and if you're sensitive to high-pitched noise, it may prove irksome. Whether it's solely an issue with this unit or not is impossible to say, but it left us reaching for headphones.

BenQ PD2770U monitor: Display quality

On paper, there's nothing very exciting about the PD2770U's IPS panel. It's a 4K 60Hz affair, with entirely run-of-the-mill specifications. In practice, though, it puts in a really solid performance despite its limitations.

BenQ claims some impressive gamut coverage figures: 99% of Adobe RGB, 99% of DCI-P3, and a less surprising 100% of Rec. 709 and sRGB. It also guarantees that all of the preset modes achieve an average Delta E of less than 1.5, too. Brightness tops out at a claimed 400cd/m2, and native contrast is quoted at 1,000:1 – which hints at the fact that you can expect much lower with uniformity compensation enabled.

In our tests, we didn't quite achieve those kinds of numbers, but the PD2770U put in a very respectable performance. We saw a coverage of over 96% for Adobe RGB and 93% for DCI-P3 which is still very decent. And it's worth remembering that our X-Rite i1Display Pro Plus is a standard colorimeter, which only gives a rough measurement of wide gamut panels – more precise (and much more expensive) spectrophotometers are required to accurately assess color gamuts.

The big appeal here is color accuracy, and the PD2770U delivers. In Adobe RGB mode, with the white point set to 6,500k (it is possible to switch to 5,000k if preferred) we saw an average Delta E of 0.66, measured white point of 6,279k and a contrast ratio of 686:1. It was a shame to see that the white point was a touch out of whack, but again this may be due to discrepancies between our X-Rite colorimeter and the BenQ's internal one.

The sRGB mode measured well, too. We saw an average Delta E of 0.89, a white point of 6,369k, and near-perfect gamma tracking. Again, the biggest limitation of the panel here is contrast. The panel's uniformity compensation takes its toll and drops contrast down to 665:1. The 6,197k white point was also noticeably too warm with the factory calibration, but we recalibrated the monitor using the internal colorimeter, and it pushed the white point back up to 6,470k, which is far more acceptable.

There is HDR support here, too – HDR10 and HLG support are present – but the PD2770U's panel isn't capable enough for professional usage. To put it diplomatically, the panel's limited brightness and contrast will make grading HDR content something of a challenge.

Panel uniformity is perhaps the most obvious hint as to the BenQ's relatively affordable price. That's not to say it's bad, but we've seen pricier professional panels manage to keep brightness deviations across the panel down to just a few percent. Here, the PD2770U is a little more wayward. It manages to maintain good color accuracy across the panel up to around 75% brightness with brightness deviations of no more than 7%, but at 100% brightness the left and right flanks of the panel are as much as 15% brighter than the centre.

BenQ PD2770U monitor: Is it worth it?

If you're hoping for professional-class perfection for £1,499, then you'll need to self-calibrate your expectations. While pricier panels have better uniformity and more flexible self-calibration features, many people will be able to live with BenQ's limitations.

Frankly, the PD2770U does everything you could ask of it at the price. The image quality, accuracy, and array of calibrated modes are impressive, and the focus on usability – thanks to the clever little remote control – is something rivals would do well to emulate. Factor in all the little niceties, and the PD2770U is a capable package for relatively sensible money.

BenQ PD2770U monitor specifications