BenQ MA320U Review – Works Best With MacBooks

Unboxing

BenQ perhaps took a few ideas on Apple’s unboxing experience and has given the MA320U monitor a similar treatment: quite a few intricate cardboards packed inside the box, some seemingly for cosmetics; in any case, the monitor is packed in ways similar to TVs, where you have to lift the unit out of the box, unlike the two-piece Styrofoam that most monitor boxes use.

Note: the review unit we received is the 32-inch variant, though there’s also the 27-inch with the same 4K resolution if you prefer something smaller in size.

Here are all the items you get:
– Quick start guide
– Warranty card
– Safety guide
– USB-C (DisplayPort) cable
– HDMI cable
– AC (C13) power cable (Type G, UK / Malaysia)
– Cable management bracket
– Stand base
– Stand strut
– BenQ MA320U main unit

Walkaround

As with many things Apple-related, clean aesthetics is a given – the MA320U features the similar kind of silver shade you’ll see on most Mac products, with very clean lines that speaks minimalism. That said, there’s a patch of rubber on top of the monitor stand, and according to BenQ, this is a spot to place MacBooks or smartphones on to prevent scratches.

Controls are located at the bottom, with the power button placed separately; worth noting that the hardware controls are very limited as most features are only accessible through software (which we’ll get to in a bit), so you likely won’t be using the joystick much if at all.

For I/O, it’s split into two sections: all display outputs are placed at the lower-left side of the display at the rear, featuring a pair of HDMI 2.0 ports, one of the two USB-A ports, and a pair of USB-C ports – with the second one capable of supplying 90 watts of power to a connected device (i.e. laptops). The first USB-C port can still be used to charge small devices, like smartphones or earbuds. Down the right side of the display chin, you’ll also find the second USB-A port, plus a headphone jack.

Specifications

BenQ MA320U

Full specifications available on product page.

Display Panel Type	31.5″ flat IPS
Display Surface Type	Anti-glare Nano Matte panel
Resolution	3840 x 2160 (16:9, 4K), 140 PPI
Refresh Rate	60Hz
Pixel Response Time	5ms
Gamut Coverage	99% sRGB 97% Display P3
Color Depth	10-bit (1.07B colors)
HDR Support	HDR10
Brightness	550 nits (typical) 600 nits (HDR peak)
Contrast Ratio	1,300:1
Viewing Angle (CR≧10)	178°(H) / 178°(V)
Variable Refresh Rate Support	None
Display Certifications	VESA DisplayHDR 600 TÜV Eye Comfort 2.0 TÜV Flicker-free TÜV Low Blue light (Software Solution) TÜV Reflection Free Energy Star
I/O	Rear: 2x HDMI 2.0 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5Gbps) Type-A (7.5W) 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5Gbps) Type-C (15W) 1x USB-C (DisplayPort Alt Mode, 90W Power Delivery) 1x AC-in Bottom: 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5Gbps) Type-A (7.5W) 1x 3.5mm headphone jack
KVM Switch	No
Onboard Speakers	2x 3W stereo
Power Consumption	45W (normal), 250W (max)
Stand Articulation	Tilt: +20° ~ -5° Swivel: +15° ~ -15° Pivot: +90° ~ -90° Height Adjustment: 0~115 mm
VESA Mounting	100 x 100 mm
Dimensions & Weight	Monitor only: 424.4 x 714.5 x 82.7 mm, 6.05kg Monitor with stand: 608.8-493.8 x 714.5 x 220.2 mm, 9.1kg

Performance

Brightness Uniformity

The MA320U’s brightness uniformity test didn’t fare as well as we thought – the IPS panel particularly suffers in edge lighting with up to 16% brightness deviation in extreme cases under maximum brightness. That said, only one of the 25 zones exceeded limits with 75% brightness, and below that the brightness uniformity is generally consistent.

Color Accuracy & Gamut

Measurement: sRGB	Preset: sRGB
Whitepoint	6751K
Average ΔE	1.10
Maximum ΔE	1.99

Measurement: Display P3	Preset: Display P3
Whitepoint	7103K
Average ΔE	1.19
Maximum ΔE	2.07

In its default color mode (M-Book), the colors are tuned to prioritize matching colors to the MacBooks, though we can’t find the exact color space it uses; that said, the monitor does offer pre-tuned color gamut like sRGB and Display P3. In both cases, the colors are accurate enough to the human perception despite no tuning done on our end, so if you’re looking to do some color-critical work on this monitor, it’s perfectly capable of doing that.

DisplayCAL Measurement	Gamut Coverage	Gamut Volume
sRGB	99.8%	144.8%
Adobe RGB	86.3%	99.8%
DCI-P3	94.4%	102.6%

Measuring the color gamut gives as the result as listed in the table above: the display fully covers sRGB and has near-full coverage of DCI-P3, in line with most high-end monitors. (Note that DCI-P3 shares the same gamut as Display P3, which is Apple’s version of the standard that uses a slightly different gamma and white point.)

User Experience

The highlight of this monitor is the ease of use – and dare I say, one of the easiest to use despite its varied feature set. To use this monitor, it is highly recommended that you install BenQ’s Display Pilot 2 software (available for both Windows and Mac), which opens up all the monitor controls that are otherwise inaccessible through the monitor’s OSD.

When the software is up and running, it’ll sit in the menu bar in macOS (or System Tray in Windows) where you can click the icon and instantly access all the monitor’s controls. There’s quite a few features worth mentioning here, some of which are designed exclusively for MacBooks – the comparison images above should give you a rough idea on the difference.

On the MacBook, the software allows you to control both the brightness and resolution on the laptop display or monitor (you can even sync them for consistency), and you also get the exclusive FocuSync feature that works in conjunction with macOS’s Focus feature to quickly enable specific settings. Besides that, you can also control brightness directly through the control keys on your MacBook via what BenQ calls the “iKeyboard” feature (which can be turned on via the app settings > Brightness section).

Continuing on the brightness topic, BenQ has equipped the monitor with its B.I.+ Gen2 sensor located on top of the monitor to detect ambient brightness and adjusts panel brightness accordingly. Alternatively, the software allows users to use MacBook’s own sensor to adjust brightness if you prefer (or uses the laptop display primarily). Side note – we tested the monitor’s 3-watt speakers, and while it’s no match to the excellent speakers that MacBooks are known for, it’s decently serviceable for basic uses, such as video conferencing.

The Good

There’s a lot of things to praise for the BenQ MA320U: first off, we’re pleasantly surprised that this monitor comes with pre-tuned colors by default, despite the fact that this is not mainly advertised as a content creator-focused monitor (like this one) – we found that it is perfectly usable for color-critical work. If that isn’t what your job involves, there’s also coding mode for programmers (which optimizes colors to provide best clarity in IDE software), as well as ePaper mode to minimize eye fatigue.

Continuing on that, the color consistency makes it a perfect match for MacBooks right out of the box, while adjusting the monitor can be done with the Display Pilot 2 app, which we think is very easy to use and robust at the same time. The display’s 550 nits brightness also deliver decent HDR experience, and the auto rotate feature can be quite useful for those who need it – no need to dig through many pages of settings to rotate the screen is a big plus for sure.

On the hardware side, the display I/O is decent with three inputs and a few data ports which can be doubled as charging ports; there’s also an additional USB port down bottom which can be useful to plug in USB drives in a pinch.

The Bad

There’s a few small things we need to mention that can be improved. While Display Pilot 2 is a great software, I wouldn’t mind having a full OSD accessible directly through the joystick – there’s only brightness, volume and input controls available while the rest must be accessed through the software (you can’t even switch display profiles), which is a bummer.

As mentioned in the performance testing, the brightness uniformity can be improved. At high brightness, the edges of the panel lose quite a bit of brightness, and that can affect the overall color performance to some degree. Finally, the price it’s asking for can be quite steep for most users, especially given that other 4K monitors on the market can be bought with significantly lower price.

Verdict

Our tests so far shows that the BenQ MA320U is a very capable monitor for Mac users, but what is the price you’re going to pay to get one of these? The answer is RM3,999 (MSRP) – not exactly cheap. That said, for the price you’ll get one of the best monitor to pair your MacBooks with, given its seamlessness; from the other perspective, the other option to get similar features like these is to get a first-party Apple display, and that’s not anywhere close to the value this BenQ monitor offers. For what it’s worth, the MA320U is a great option if you’re using a MacBook or any similar Mac-based systems.

Special thanks to BenQ Malaysia for providing the MA320U monitor for this review.

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Expand Your MacBook®’s View with Consistent Colors Through Just One Cable

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