BenQ MA320U review: A giant, Mac-friendly monitor for sensible money

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If youve found yourself backing away from an Apple Studio Display for the sake of your bank balance, or more practically because you need a monitor that isnt ideally betrothed to a Mac, then the BenQ MA320U may just reignite your passions.

This 31.5in 4K panel supports USB-C and HDMI connectivity, comes with 90W of USB power delivery and has DisplayHDR 600 certification. Whats more, it swaps a fiddly on-screen-display for a desktop widget that synchronises your colour profile and brightness settings between your laptop and monitor. For a rather sensible-sounding £550, it looks like something of a steal.

BenQ MA320U monitor review: What do you get for your money?

A scan down the specification sheet reveals little in the way of surprises. The 31.5in 3,840 x 2,160 IPS panel has a 60Hz refresh rate, a matte anti glare coating and BenQ claims a contrast ratio of 1,300:1 in addition to 99% sRGB and 97% Display P3 coverage. The DisplayHDR 600 certification is backed up by basic HDR10 support and a modest eight vertical edge-lit dimming zones.

Granted, the MA320Us design doesnt scale the striking heights of Apples own displays, but this is a nice looking monitor nonetheless. The sizable panel sits atop a smart looking silver adjustable stand, and this provides 115mm of height adjustment alongside ample amounts of tilt, swivel and 90 degrees of portrait rotation in either direction. The large, square silver base does a good job of keeping the monitor stable even at full extension, and its easy to adjust the monitor single handedly without any wobble.

If theres a criticism here, its the very basic cable management: you simply get a little plastic collar that clips around the monitors stand. Youll need to make sure that theres enough slack in the cables before spinning the monitor around into portrait mode. In fact, youll also need to be careful that youve extended the monitor to full height before doing so the stand exhibited a hefty scuff from where a previous reviewer had spun the monitor around a little too rashly. One thing you wont necessarily need to do is manually rotate your desktop, however, as enabling the auto pivot feature in the app does it for you.

Connectivity isnt as generous as some monitors weve encountered recently the Dell UltraSharp U2723QE or U2724DE, for instance but it strikes a nice balance. Theres no Thunderbolt, which is a shame, but the primary USB-C port carries both 4K 60Hz images and provides up to 90W of power delivery for compatible laptops, and you also get a further two HDMI inputs. The primary USB-C port powers up a pair of USB-A ports and a single USB-C port (which provides a more modest 15W of power). Usefully, the second USB-A port and headphone output are hidden under the monitors front edge for easier access.

Unlike most monitors weve seen in recent years, the BenQ MA320Us ports are mostly rear- rather than downward-facing, so slotting in cables is tad less fiddly. This isnt life-changingly helpful, but some users may find it handy if theyre regularly unplugging USB-C or HDMI cables and slinging them in a laptop bag.

The only issue with the MA320Us connectivity is that the USB-C connection doesnt have enough bandwidth to simultaneously handle both 4K 60Hz images and full-fat USB 3.2 Gen 1 data speeds. Users using the USB-C connection need to choose between 4K 60Hz refresh rates and reduced USB hub transfer speeds, or drop down to a 30Hz refresh rate for maximal USB 3.2 Gen 1 transfers. This isnt unusual other 4K monitors with USB-C connectivity, such as the Dell UltraSharp U2723QE are similarly limited but its worth bearing in mind. If you want both 60Hz refresh rates and speedy USB transfer speeds, and you can use the HDMI input instead, then two cables may be a more attractive compromise.

The really interesting thing here, however, is the presence of BenQs DisplayPilot 2 software. This allows both Mac and Windows users to control the monitors various settings without ever once setting foot in the monitors on-screen display. In fact, BenQ is so confident in the utility of its app that the monitors on-screen display has been pared down to the bare essentials. The little four-way joystick under the monitors front edge allows for quick adjustments to brightness and volume, but thats your lot all the fine control is done via the app. Helpfully, the on screen display even provides a QR code sending you to the download page for the Display Pilot 2 app.

Install this and youre presented with a neat control panel that minimises to an icon in your system tray or menu bar when its not in use. Tap the icon, and the widget pings into view and gives you quick access to a variety of useful settings.

You can quickly enable features such as HDR and auto pivot without diving through reams of system settings menus, and you can synchronise the displays current colour profile for instance, sRGB or Display P3 and the screen brightness between a monitor and laptop. Select the required colour profile from the drop down menu and if you select the ICCsync option the relevant ICC colour profile is activated on both displays. Similarly, if you tick the Synchronise Brightness checkbox, you can simultaneously adjust the brightness of both your laptop and monitor with the shortcut keys on your laptop or via Windows on screen controls.

One nice touch is that the app works via DDC, so it behaves nicely regardless of whether youre using the USB-C or HDMI video connections.

Speaking of volume, BenQ has integrated a couple of 3W speakers in the MA320U, but theyre typically unremarkable. They go fairly loud, with a peak of 68dB(A) from a metre away measured with a pink noise source, but theyre not a pleasant listen. Theres no bass and very little lower midrange and the result is that both voices and music sound lightweight and raspy. If you have a MacBook connected, youll be far better off sticking with its integrated speakers.

BenQ MA320U monitor review: How good is the image quality?

In short, the MA320U puts in a very respectable performance. The 4K resolution provides pleasingly sharp text and oodles of fine detail in images, games and movies alike. With no adjustment at all, images teem with vibrant, accurate-looking colours and natural-looking skin tones, and both SDR and HDR movies and games ooze with detail and nicely saturated colours. If youve been used to a smaller monitor, or one with a limited colour gamut, the MA320U will come as quite an upgrade.

That subjective performance translates into a very decent set of numbers in our various SDR (standard dynamic range) tests. Contrast is typical of IPS panels, but the 1,220:1 figure isnt far off BenQs claimed 1,300:1. Things look up elsewhere, too, with the panels sRGB mode providing 99.9% coverage with an average Delta E of 0.68 and a maximum deviation of 1.59. The 6,000K white point misses the 6,500K mark by quite a bit, but its not an issue for casual use.

Select the Display P3 colour profile in the Display Pilot 2 app and youll be rewarded with similar refined results. It didnt quite reach the claimed 97% coverage in our tests, but 94% is still pretty respectable. The colour accuracy is good, too, with an average Delta E of 1.14. The maximum Delta E is understandably a bit higher after all the panel cant actually reproduce 6% of the desired range of colours but a maximum Delta E of 3.25 isnt egregiously bad by any stretch. Thankfully, the measured white point is a bit closer to the ideal, with a result of 6,317K.

Hit the HDR toggle in the app and the MA320U lives up to its DisplayHDR600 certification we measured a peak brightness of 610cd/m². This is bright enough to add a welcome bit of punch to HDR highlights, but youll have to temper your expectations the panel only has very basic edge lit dimming. I counted only eight vertical dimming zones. As a result, youll see thick vertical strips of the screen jump up in brightness as highlights move across the screen. This is fairly noticeable once you know what to look for, and especially so if youre watching a letterboxed movie, as youll see the black bars going slightly grey as the backlight brightens.

Its not unusual for a monitor even at this price, but the MA320Us backlighting isnt particularly even. We measure both brightness and contrast across 25 points on every display we test, and the MA320U showed some fairly hefty variances along its bottom left and right sides. Compared to the centre of the display, brightness dropped by as much as 12% in these areas, and the bottom left corner also exhibited a fairly large 7% drop in contrast. You may not notice these variances in everyday use unless, that is, you have a habit of using a solid colour for your desktop backgrounds, in which case you may see faintly uneven patches where the backlighting dips most egregiously.

Given the 60Hz refresh rate and 5ms GTG response time, most gamers will have already left the chat, but its worth emphasising: this isnt a gaming monitor. Delve into the AMA settings and you can pick from three overdrive settings: Off, High or Premium. The monitor is set to the middle High setting by default. Notching it up to Premium does very subtly improve motion clarity, with leading edges looking just a tad crisper, but wed advise against turning it off as the increased smearing is intrusive. Wed advise most users to just leave the AMA settings well alone, however. For everyday office use, in addition to gaming and watching the odd movie, the MA320U is fine left at its default settings.

BenQ MA320U monitor review: Should you buy one?

The MA320U has much to recommend it. Its colour-accurate, well-connected and the adjustable stand makes it ideal for both work and casual media consumption. Its the versatility and sensible design that really takes the MA320U up a notch, however. The Display Pilot 2 app is far less fiddly than a traditional on screen display, and the multiple video inputs and extra connectivity create an attractive package for users who want to hook up a port-starved MacBook or laptop in addition to a desktop PC or games console.

If anything bears pause for thought, however, its that IPS monitors with this kind of basic, edge-lit backlighting are beginning to look a tad, well, ordinary. And especially so when it comes to HDR. For instance, the Mini-LED backlit Philips Evnia 32M2N6800 offers searing HDR highlights and wide contrast levels alongside a smoother 144Hz refresh rate for its £740 RRP, and its currently on sale for £599 on Amazon. Make no mistake, the BenQ is a brilliant all-rounder, but if HDR performance or gaming trumps everything, this may not be the monitor for you.

Written by

Sasha Muller

Senior Editor Sasha started out in the world of tech magazines way back in 2001 and has spent the past two decades working as a writer, reviewer and editor across a range of titles including Computer Buyer, Mobile Computer, PC Pro and Alphr before finally landing at Expert Reviews. While reviewing laptops, PCs and monitors was once a key speciality, Sasha is now more likely to be surrounded by a fleet of coffee machines while consuming unwise quantities of espresso or filter coffee, or researching and writing about large appliances.

 

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