Expert note
Pros
- Attractive 32 inch 4K display
- Competitive price
- Good connectivity features
- Adjustable height and rotation
Disadvantages
- Not intended for professional use
- Faithful displayed pilot application display
- Light plastic cut
Our verdict
It will not challenge Apple's professional level displays, but the MA320U is an attractive and affordable 4K screen for general use at home or in an office.
Price during the examination
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Best price today
Price during the examination
$ 599.99
Best prices today: Benq Ma320u
$ 729.99
MA270U 27 inch BenQ (examined separately) provides a very affordable alternative to the expensive studio screen of Apple, but its price of less than $ 500 involves certain compromises. In this review, we examine that the 32 -inch MA320U is slightly more expensive, at $ 599.99 / 549.99 £, but in addition to providing a larger screen, it also addresses some of the weaknesses of its 27 -inch stablematem and produces a brighter display with more daring and sharper colors. For the record, we must emphasize that the screen is really 31.5 inch when it is measured diagonally.
Unsurprisingly, the basic design of the two monitors of the MA series is very similar, with a silver and black case which is mainly plastic. It cannot correspond to slimline elegance or robust aluminum construction of Apple screens, but it provides functionality that is missing from its more expensive Apple rivals. More specifically, the stand provided with the MA320U allows you to adjust the height of the screen at no additional cost – while Apple invoice $ 400 /400 additional £ to provide this option with its studio screen. Going a little further, the MA320U can also run 90 degrees in the vertical position (portrait), which can be useful for graphics or photos of photos.
Benq also pays good attention to smaller details, including a cable support that rushes on the support and helps keep your cables a little more expensive – which is particularly practical if you use the display with a mac de desktop and a MacBook laptop, or perhaps a Windows PC. There is also a rubber cushion on the basis of the support where you can rest your MacBook, or smaller items such as a set of AirPods (although it is a shame that the PAD also provides the Qi wireless load).
Nestled at the back of the screen, you will find two HDMI ports for video input, two USB-C ports, two USB-A ports and a headphone jack located on the lower edge of the screen for easy access. There is no DisplayPort connectors, but one of the USB-C ports supports DisplayPort for video input when it is connected to a Thunderbolt port on your Mac. This USB-C port also provides up to 90W billing for a MacBook laptop, which was good for invoicing my 14-inch MacBook Pro, although 16-inch models need more power, you will probably still need to use the external power supply with your MacBook.
The second USB-C of the screen port provides a power of 15W to load smaller devices, while the two USB-A ports provide 7.5 W. and, if your Mac is connected to the screen via USB-C-rather than HDMI-you can also use the USB-C connection to transfer data also, allowing you to connect devices such as a semiconductor drive external to the display, or a keyboard. This facilitates the connection of all your devices and other devices on the screen, so that you can simply recover your MacBook and take it with you when you leave, while all your peripherals remain connected to the screen and ready to use when you return.
The MA320U has a small set of integrated speakers, but they are low enough, you may want to use this audio connector to connect certain headphones to listen to music, videos or play games. I was also happy to see that I could use the USB ports on the screen to also provide an audio input for my faithful small Beoplay speaker.
The MA320U certainly marks well for its characteristics of connectivity, but the image quality is just as important, and it improves the model of 27 inches cheaper from Benq. The screen resolution is always 4K (3840 × 2160), but in addition to providing a larger screen than the MA270U, the MA320U also improves the stronger image quality, going to 550 nits (600 nits with HDR) which is well next to the display of my MacBook Pro. The contrast is also clearer than the MA270U, and the MA320U includes an “M-book” mode designed to match the colors of a MacBook display. It also supports 99% of the SRGB color standard and 97% of the DCI-P3 standard for video publishing, so that it can certainly be used for basic graphics, photography and video work, although professional and creative users can need a display that provides even more precise color controls.
But, for general use at home or in an office, the MA320U provides a bright and daring screen which is a worthy companion for the integrated screen on my MacBook Pro. Benq also provides an application called Pilot display which runs on Mac and Windows PCS. The Display Pilot Application provides a drop -down menu in the Mac main menu bar and allows you to quickly adjust parameters such as the color profile or to turn or deactivate HDR. Admittedly, the application is a little delicate to use, and rather involves a lot of technical knowledge, especially with regard to the choice of colored profiles and HDR parameters, but it will always be useful for people who must do photo or video edicts from time to time.
If you buy the Benq Ma320u
The MA320U is very designed as a general use display to use at home or in an office, and it may not meet the needs of creative and professional users. But, less than half the price of Apple’s studio screen, it offers an attractive and versatile 4K screen, and will particularly appeal to MacBook owners who need an affordable external screen for their laptop.
Find out how the Benq Ma320u compares to the other speakers that we have tested in our overview of the best Mac monitors and displays that we tested.
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