We’ve seen quite a few of BenQ’s monitors before. They have a few distinct features when compared to others in the market – especially the Eye-Care. BenQ isn’t stopping with just Eye-Care this time around, as they’re adding even more features like HDR, Brightness Intelligence Plus, Super Resolution, and Smart Focus. With the growing suite of features that BenQ monitors have, does the EW277HDR have just the right features you’re looking for?

Here, we’ll take a look at the BenQ EW277HDR monitor. Watch our video down below as we go through and demonstrate each and every bit of what the BenQ EW277HDR has to offer.

Specifications

Design

The BenQ EW277HDR takes on a very simple and minimalist design. Absolutely zero frills and no unnecessary aesthetics. It’s really just plain black in color and that’s pretty much it. Personally, I do like this type of design. Takes away the distraction and additional costs.

From here, we can see a few things – the BenQ EW277HDR has a very simple base that actually looks familiar. When compared to the EW2440L monitor that we reviewed before, they’ve removed the phone dock. Now, on the EW277HDR, the base is just an empty piece. Would have been nice if BenQ added USB ports and have audio/microphone jacks there instead.

Looking at the back of the monitor, all of the ports are pointed perpendicularly from the monitor – so it’s really easy to connect everything. However, cable management will be an issue since it’ll poke towards the wall unless you use a 90º adapter.

Though, that’s not an issue since the monitor has two 2W speakers flanking both sides of the I/O behind. These speakers are backward firing, so you’ll have to place the BenQ EW277HDR near the wall. Not too near, or it’ll mess with the acoustics. That’s why having cables poking out perpendicularly is alright.

Speaking of those cables, the BenQ EW277HDR has an external power supply. This can maintain the looks and sleekness of the monitor as it doesn’t need to have vents, but managing the external power supply cable is an issue.

Also, the OSD buttons are located at the bottom right corner. There’s also another B.I.+ and HDR toggle button here. It cycles through a total of 4 states, toggling either B.I.+ and/or HDR on.

At the lower center side, there’s a notch. That’s where the ambient light sensor for the B.I.+ is found. I highly recommend everyone to watch the video as many of the things said here is best to be shown.

On-Screen Display Menu

The OSD menu for the BenQ EW277HDR is rather simple and has the usual features as expected. The little extra button at the bottom right side corner is definitely useful for quickly toggling B.I.+ and HDR.

However, that’s all the quick shortcut you’ll get. To change any other settings, you’ll have to use the OSD buttons to get into the settings, and traverse through the nested menus.

Features

Speaking of the nested menus, that’s where all of the settings for the other features are found. Just a quick rundown on all the features available on the BenQ EW277HDR with a brief description:

• Flicker-free – Eliminates flicker to reduce eye fatigue.
• Low Blue Light – Lowers blue light emission to diminish eye fatigue and irritation.
• HDR – Increase brightness with higher contrast for deep blacks and wide color range.
• Brightness Intelligence Plus – gently soften bright areas while keeping dark details crystal clear. Also automatically adjusts brightness according to ambient lighting condition.
• Smart Focus – Creates a darkened border around the subject of focus at the center.
• Super Resolution – Sharpens the image on the monitor.

There are a total of 6 – yes, total of six – different and distinctive feature. All of these features are highlighted in the video above, which I highly recommend you to watch it.

The main highlight here is HDR and Brightness Intelligence Plus, or B.I.+ for short. As stated on the specs lists, HDR increases the brightness 400 nits peak. It’s eye-blindingly bright – and while HDR is turned on, brightness can’t be changed.

Again, thanks to BenQ for implementing that HDR | B.I.+ button at the bottom right corner, HDR can be toggled on and off easily.

Ergonomics

In terms of ergonomics, the EW277HDR doesn’t have any options other than just tilting the screen. It can tilt from -5º to 15º, which is adequate enough to get a comfortable level. There is no swiveling, height, or rotation adjustment.

While on the subject of ergonomics, the EW277HDR doesn’t support VESA mount too. It is only usable with the included desk mount.

Viewing Angle

During our viewing angle test, the EW277HDR exhibits very minimal color distortion even when viewed from a tight angle and different level of brightness – which is good. Although it is very unlikely for one to actually use the monitor as such extreme angles, but it will somewhat comes in useful if you have a number of users viewing from multiple angles.

User Experience

Whether it’s for office use, multimedia content viewing or games, the EW277HDR works just great for all. The built-in 2 x 2W speakers does come in handy for those who doesn’t have much desk space for speakers,  but don’t put your hope too high now as its performance is mediocre in general and quite poor if compared to a dedicated speaker.

Low blue light and flicker-free design has always been the core features of BenQ EW series monitors, which is no surprise if you’ve experienced lesser strain and fatigue from long hours of usage compared to most conventional monitors. The Brightness Intelligence Plus, or B.I.+, will automatically optimize the display according to the room brightness to allow user to see better in darker scenes without causing too much strain to the eye.

As for the HDR, it’s not a must have feature for everyone, but you will somewhat appreciate it if you’re one of those users who is really into HDR content. As it’s not actually true HDR10, it’s not where near the actual HDR demo which we saw at NVIDIA’s showroom back in Computex 2017. Though, the EW277HDR are still capable enough to deliver a pretty decent result when it comes to HDR content. The feature can be enabled easily with the dedicated button located at the bottom right of the monitor, but we find it best to left the B.I+ off when HDR feature is enabled. The reason to do so is to prevent it from constantly adjusts the brightness and contrast of the display, which will greatly affects the overall viewing experience.

Final Thoughts

Despite its limitation for adjustment and a somewhat mediocre built-in speaker, the BenQ EW277HDR is still a solid multipurpose monitor that packs quite a number of brilliant features that will satisfy the need of many – Just to name a few, thin bezel, good color accuracy and eye-care feature of the EW series monitor that allows prolonged usage.

The BenQ EW277HDR can be purchased from BenQ official store on Lazada at the price of RM1,079, it’s somewhat pricey compared to most 27 inch monitors. In case you’re considering making a jump to an entry level HDR monitor – since true HDR monitor will cost 3 to 4 times more than this price, then the BenQ EW277HDR is yours to consider for. Otherwise, just go for the non-HDR BenQ EW2775ZH that comes with similar features and cost RM300 less.

Pros

• Great multipurpose monitor
• Good color accuracy
• Good viewing angle
• Eye-care feature allows prolonged usage
• Reasonable support for HDR content
• Minimal backlight bleeding
• Support MHL

Cons

• Costly
• Limited adjustment
• Mediocre built-in speaker