BenQ RD320U monitor review: A great value 32in 4K monitor

Unlike most monitors, the marketing for the BenQ RD320U doesn't lead with astonishing color accuracy or dazzlingly bright HDR. Instead, it rather quietly and enigmatically promises the "ultimate coding experience". Sadly, that doesn't mean it has a built-in fridge or integrated bean-to-cup coffee machine, but its 32in 4K panel does come equipped with a host of coding-focused features. And it's actually a very decent everyday monitor to boot.

At a glance, you'd mistake it for just another mid-range monitor. However, BenQ has opted for an upmarket IPS panel which delivers a 2000:1 contrast ratio and covers a claimed 98% of the DCI-P3 color gamut. It also employs a super sensible nano matte coating for glare suppression. With a fully adjustable stand and a built-in USB hub with USB-C and 90 watts of power delivery thrown in for good measure, there aren't many boxes left to tick.

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The novel bit is that the RD320U is designed to minimise eyestrain in low lighting conditions. The Night Hours feature uses an auto brightness sensor to dim the screen as the sun goes down, built-in bias lighting – BenQ's magical-sounding Moonhalo – softly illuminates behind the monitor, and a little row of touch-sensitive buttons puts your preferred coding image settings at your fingertips.

BenQ RD320U monitor: Design & Features

The RD320U's design is subtle and understated. The body is finished in a reserved charcoal grey, and the rear's textured lines look smart. The construction does feel rather plasticky and hollow once you get your hands on it, but that's to be expected given the price – and it's sensibly designed in all the places that matter.

There's plenty of adjustability for starters. The broad, heavy base screws into a super solid feeling stand which provides 110mm of height adjustment as well as an ample amount of tilt and swivel. It also rotates into a portrait mode, but it only pivots clockwise.

We're super pleased to see that BenQ has dumped the usual plastic cable management clip. In its place, there's a slightly incongruous strip of rubbery plastic with a leather effect finish. Still, it's a definite improvement. Two small press studs give some adjustability, and it does a far better job of holding multiple cables neatly in place.

Given the amount of connectivity, this is just as well. You get one full-sized DisplayPort input, two HDMI, and a single USB-C port, which juggles both DisplayPort signals and 90 watts of power delivery. A USB-B port opens to the door to KVM functions – which we'll discuss shortly – and you get a further USB-C port at the rear, albeit limited to 7.5W of power delivery. Look underneath the monitor's front edge, and you'll also find a 3.5mm headphone socket, two USB-A ports, and another USB-C port, all of which operate up to USB 3.2 Gen 1 speeds.

Given the coding focus, it makes sense to find a basic KVM switch included as standard. Dab the function key on the monitor's bottom edge, and you can swap between the two connected machines. PBP and PIP support is present, too, so you can also display video outputs from both machines simultaneously.

The integrated speakers won't be something you'll want to listen to for extended coding sessions, however. They're acceptable for occasional use, but background music is a step too far – they're just not refined enough for that.

The RD320U's on-screen display is a little different from the usual BenQ design. A strip of touch-sensitive buttons poke out from the lower bezel, and these make it quick and easy to flick between display modes or adjust the Moonhalo bias lighting settings. This is actually rather handy: you can switch between one of the RD320U's color-accurate modes straight into a high contrast coding mode with a couple of taps – and without having to delve into the more complicated on-screen display menus.

BenQ RD320U monitor: Display quality

The RD320U's priorities are a little different to most monitors, but that hasn't stopped BenQ providing a selection of color-accurate picture modes in addition to the high legibility, high contrast coding modes, or the black and white Epaper preset. And when we say color accurate, we mean really, really color accurate. In fact, oddly enough, this is one of the most accurate out-of-the-box performances we've seen.

The IPS panel picks out around 95% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, and this allows the RD320U to serve up an accurate Display P3 mode. The average Delta E of 1.28 is very respectable, and the white point is just a whisker away from perfect at 6,509k. The contrast ratio is excellent, at least by IPS standards, at 2,056:1. The only disappointment is that there's a little bit of black crush, and the gamma is a little lower than it should be, so some tones are a little darker or lighter than intended. Frankly, though, most people won't notice.

The RD320U also does a great job of clamping down that saturated color palette for a super-accurate sRGB mode. An average Delta E of 0.74 is superb, and this goes hand in hand with excellent greyscale and gamma tracking, and a nearly perfect white point of 6,540k. Contrast, again, is a respectable 1,990:1 thanks to the high-end IPS panel.

HDR support is present, too, as is VESA DisplayHDR 400 certification, but it's not proper HDR in any sense. The panel doesn't go bright enough to make highlights really pop, and there's no dynamic backlighting to tease out a little more contrast and pop for highlights. Although it's usable in a pinch, it's by no means an accurate HDR presentation – the RD320U is far more capable in SDR, so we'd leave HDR disabled.

The 2000:1 contrast ratio isn't likely to get OLED converts excited, but the flipside is that it's good enough – and the text clarity on the IPS panel is leaps and bounds better. The 4K resolution and matte panel deliver pin-sharp text, and that's arguably a bigger boost for coding and day-to-day productivity work than the near-infinite contrast ratio of OLED. BenQ's nano matte screen coating also does a very good job of minimising glare. It's not quite as effective as the best offerings we've seen – Samsung's recent coatings are just a cut above their rivals – but it does manage to diffuse bright highlights really effectively.

The quality of the images on offer is subtly improved by BenQ's Moonhalo bias lighting. This integrated ring light only produces white light – you may or may not be disappointed to hear that shimmering RGB light shows aren't an option – but it works really well, providing reduced eye strain and boosting perceived black depth. You can manually adjust the brightness and color temperature to match the onscreen white point and overall display brightness, and this serves to evenly illuminate the wall behind the monitor. Alternatively, you can set it to adjust the lighting level automatically in tandem with the display's automatic brightness adjustment.

As ever, it's the 60Hz refresh rate which is the biggest limitation for motion clarity. BenQ ships the panel set to its 'High' overdrive setting, and this is worth leaving well alone. Turning it off produces a noticeable drop in sharpness for moving objects, and cranking it to 'Premium' adds ugly fringes around the edges of moving objects due to excessive inverse ghosting. For movie watching or very casual gaming, it's fine – but if you want a monitor for both gaming and coding – or coding games, for that matter – then you'll want a more multi-talented monitor. BenQ's 144Hz PD3226G is a better bet here, although it's far more expensive at £1,099.

Panel uniformity is fine. We measure brightness and contrast across 25 points on the panel, and the RD320U puts in a solid performance here. The left and right hand flanks of the panel are as much as 12% dimmer than the centre, but contrast is nice and consistent.

BenQ RD320U monitor: Is it worth it?

BenQ has got pretty close to nailing the perfect productivity monitor template here. The big 32-inch panel and 4K resolution provide a big desktop area with crystal clear text, and the RD320U makes it refreshingly easy to rapidly flick between a high-contrast reading and coding presentation and highly color-accurate picture modes.

That basic suite of features would be enough to get a thumbs up from us, but add in the clever Moonhalo bias lighting and fully adjustable stand, and this is pretty close to perfection in our eyes. The only tiny criticism is the 60Hz refresh rate, but we can live with that at the price. For around £699, this is a great value monitor for productivity, coding, and almost anything else you care to mention.

BenQ RD320U monitor specifications