BenQ BL3200PT 32" CAD/Professional LCD Monitor
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2015-05-07
·
1,721 words · ~8 min read
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with its Factory tuning and data center DNA an Intel 730 series SSD is an
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amazing choice for gamers and performance enthusiasts this video is
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actually going to cover a lot of new ground for me first up is that this is
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the first amva panel that I've had the pleasure of using second is that this is
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the first 32in 2560x1440 monitor that
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I've used and finally this is the first time I've ever seen a truly premium
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monitor aimed at professionals from Ben Q something I wasn't really expecting
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given their recent focus on Gamers so let's kick things off with a physical
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tour of the bl3200 PT holy actual balls
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this my friends is a 32-in monitor with height adjust tilt swivel and yes pivot
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a 32in monitor with pivot as much as
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most people won't care about this feature for folks who use multiple 90°
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monitors in surround or I don't know consume a lot of content on Reddit or
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for whatever reason like pivot this will be an absolute godsend of course if the
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stands construction wasn't up to Snuff this feature wouldn't count for Jack but
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this is the best built monitor I have ever seen from Ben q and considering
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it's only $800 I know only $800 it just
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is straight up really impressive the screen uses a Just Right light
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anti-glare coating and the front bezel is a reasonably thin plastic adorned
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only by a small BenQ logo a QHD badge
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that sits next to the ambient light sensor and human motion sensor and a row
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of capacitive touch buttons that illuminate when you put your hand near
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them the base and back Ed that brushed plastic I'm so fond of that looks like
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brushed aluminum but doesn't stain like brushed aluminum and the stand itself oh
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man that solid piece of curved aluminum adds both strength and beauty to the
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design in a that I just wasn't expecting it would feel like a crime to take it
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off but in case you wanted to there's also a standard vase amount hiding back
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there so you can put it on whatever ARM you wanted inputs are mounted on the
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right a configuration that's becoming more common on TVs and one that I really
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like compared to digging around under a display and to go along with the
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included dual link DVI DisplayPort and VGA cables we've got dual link DVI
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DisplayPort 1.2 and VGA inputs HDMI is
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also present but it ends up being a bit of a redheaded stepchild since Ben Q
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doesn't include an HDMI cable with the Monitor and I can see why since I really
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wouldn't recommend using it for anything other than maybe like a secondary input
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for like a game console or something since you'll be stuck at an interpolated
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1920 x 1080 resolution due to HDMI bandwidth limitations speaking of
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limitations this seems like a good time to mention that there is no support for
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picture in picture or picture by picture so you can just switch between the
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inputs but that's about it I personally never use these features but your
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mileage may vary also on the right is an SD card reader two usb3 ports and an
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almost cleverly positioned headphone jack it's better than putting it on the
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bottom but given that most headphones have the connector on the left ear cup
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this solution may need to be routed across your peripherals to reach it oh
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well baby steps towards Perfection right like to see it on the left next time Ben
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Q finally on the bottom we've got a usb3 input two USB 2 ports and a weird little
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micro b connector that leads to a more stylish variation of the controller that
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we've seen BenQ include on some of their gaming monitors it allows you to
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navigate the onscreen display basically speaking of the onscreen display it's
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fairly intuitive and offers a ton of different options you can toggle Auto
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pivot set the usual picture controls cycle through a wide variety of display
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profiles including a blue light reduction mode that's supposed to
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improve Comfort but I personally found just looked a bit too orangey for me to
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get used to you can set a periodic reminder to look away from your monitor
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and rest your eyes you can tell the monitor to save power when you're not in front of it or even self adjust its
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brightness for different ambient light levels with the onboard sensors and more
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it is a little bit slow to navigate especially when using the display mode
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controls to emulate different display sizes but fortunately most people will
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take a set and forget approach here and for those who don't there's always the
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ability to change the quick access buttons on the control Puck for fast
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access to those frequently used submenus now it's time to talk panel this monitor
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is seriously unusual in a way that for some people will be a huge selling point
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at about 92 pixels per inch its pixel density is only a tiny bit lower than
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that sweet spot 24 in 16 by10 that I'm
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always talking about but at 32 in
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diagonally it offers a ton more real estate both physically and in terms of
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resolution its amva panel with DC
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backlight control makes it surprisingly comfortable to use in spite of its
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massive size it delivers clear crisp
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high contrast text comfortable flicker-free performance in
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bright and dim environments and on top of that very strong viewing angles for a
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VA with only a noticeable vertical contrast shift at moderate to extreme
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angles to take marks off for for gamers I measured 27.5 milliseconds of display
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leg with my brand new Leo Bodner display leg tester but TFT Central brought my
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attention to one simple tweak turning AMA to high that can bring that down to
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only 23 milliseconds or about a frame and a half at 60 HZ that combined with
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reasonable smearing or ghosting compared to other VA monitors makes it an okay
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choice for gaming especially if you want a very large display but certainly
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nowhere near fast 120 or 144 HZ TN
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panels speaking of it not being TN this monitor's 10bit panel can handle the
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entire srgb color space which is plenty unless you're working on some seriously
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specialized content but most folks won't use VA monitors for crazy high-end color
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work anyway due to the slight reduction in contrast when viewing straight on
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this is really picky stuff though it looked great in day-to-day use out of
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the box and running it through a basic color calibration routine with an x-r
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color monkey only resulted in slightly subdued oranges and boosted gamma
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revealing some more details in the shadows the before and after looked
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pretty darn similar so looks great out of the box all of that well-deserved
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positivity aside for some reason it just didn't click for me my daily drivers are
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a 2560 X 1440 27 in a 3440 X 1440 34 in
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and a 1080p 12 in and while I did find
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that I could comfortably read text and whether it was due to the flicker-free
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non pwm backlight or something else I wasn't sure of it wasn't nearly as
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fatiguing to use as my old 30in I think I've just become accustomed to sitting
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closer to a smaller higher pixel density display and it was too hard for me to go
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back which isn't to say it's a bad monitor in fact truthfully I can think
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of a lot of people who would love it it's closer to TV size for a dorm than a
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monitor size so movie watching is very
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satisfying even if the built-in speakers are nothing special you can always hook
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up other speakers to your PC so you turn it this way to watch a movie Turn it
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this way back to your chair you sit in it awesome the high contrast with no IPS
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glow makes reading a treat and the fact that it offers truly class leading build
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quality in ergonomics will appeal to many professionals I mean I don't know
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what else to say the issue with my conclusion here is that I'm saying it
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doesn't work for me but I can't come up with a better solution at all if you
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want a massive monitor for productivity use since on Windows anyway right now 4K
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monitors aside from being very expensive still at this kind of a size have some
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issues with readability and UI scaling unless you have eagle eyes so let's do
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this let me know your thoughts in the comments am I just totally off base here
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and this is the best thing since sliced bread or would you spend your money on
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something else either way I want to give kudos to Ben QQ for bringing a truly
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different product to Market even if it's not one that floated my personal boat
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2560 by 1440 but at the same pixel
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density as a 24 in 1920 by 1200 all
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right well I think that's pretty much it guys thank you for watching don't forget to like dislike or share this video
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according to how you felt about it also in the video description we've got the
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usual support us link so you can go ahead and you can well I guess you can
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buy this monitor if you wanted with our affiliate code there's pricing and availability down there you can also buy
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a t-shirt give us a monthly contribution or last but not least I'm sure there's
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one other one but I can't remember it for the life of me right now so thanks again for watching and as always don't
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forget to subscribe to lus Tech tips for more unboxings reviews and other
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