This is why they have created a whole new lineup of Eye Care Monitors, which boast a variety of unique technologies and design features that have been carefully selected to minimize the impact that monitors have on our eyes. The GW2785TC is the latest iteration in this series, and we are here to see how it holds up.
Design & IO
On the surface, the monitor doesn't look any different from the rest of its competition. It has a nice ergonomic design with slim bezels and a hefty stand. The major focus is on the ergonomic part, as the monitor comes with height (130mm), tilt (down -5˚ / up - 20˚), pivot (90˚), and swivel (left 45˚/right 45˚) adjustment options. You can tweak these figures for a perfect line of sight.
All the ports are neatly tucked into the lower back area of the monitor in a downwards-facing position, just like the speakers. You get a USB Type-C port, a DisplayPort, a 3.5 mm jack & an HDMI. There is also a DisplayPort out (MST), so you can daisy chain a bunch of these for an easy multi-display setup.
The USB-C port supports 60W of power delivery. While the monitor is the company rated at 100 - 240V and draws 110W at its peak. There is even an in-built microphone tucked underneath, along with the buttons, but it requires a connection via USB-C if you want it to work with your laptop/PC.
Display & Performance
The display itself isn't anything to write home about. You get a decent 27-inch FHD 1080p IPS display. It's not too bright at 250nits, has a native contrast of 1000:1, and a pixel density of around 82 PPI.
It looks good enough while handling regular productivity and entertainment tasks, but is not a good option for editing or gaming, as it has an average colour gamut of around 75% NTSC and a barely fast enough response time of 5ms.
While there is the option to ramp up the refresh rate up to 75Hz, it isn't that useful since it will drop the resolution down to 1024x768. You do get an Anti-Glare Coating on it if that makes up for the rest.
However, any dedicated gamer wouldn't even like to use a productivity monitor anyways; which this model clearly is, as it features lots of special productivity and user safety features, which truly makes it work as a long-term office/study monitor.
Sound
One of the first things that highlight this is the sound setup. The monitor has a basic 2W stereo speaker setup. The speakers are not that loud, have negligent bass, and focus on voice reproduction.
There is even a dialogue mode to help with the same. This mode uses the noise-cancellation feature of the microphone. To cancel out surrounding noise and improve the vocal clarity of the speaker. As you attend your zoom meetings.
Even then, we would recommend sticking to an external sound system to do the heavy lifting, as these were not tweaked for entertainment purposes.
Eye-Care Technologies
With an average display and below-average speakers, BenQ is relying on these features to be the USP of the product. As the name suggests, these are a collection of eye care technologies that Benq has developed. They include:
Brightness Intelligence
This is a mode that uses an ambient light sensor and an algorithm to sense the light levels in a room, and then adjusts the brightness and contrast of the screen. This sounds like a good feature to have, but the algorithm Benq uses still needs a few tweaks, as it often becomes too bright for the surroundings.
Low Blue Light Plus
In this mode, the monitor filters out the harmful parts of the blue-violet spectrum (420nm-780nm), while still maintaining vivid colour quality. This feature is quite reliable as it comes with a TÜV Rheinland EyeSafe certification
Flicker-Free
This feature eliminates flickering at all brightness levels. This is a big deal as LCD screens generally flicker around 250 times per second. This can cause eye strain, headaches, and decreased productivity. This feature is also endorsed by a TÜV Rheinland certification.
Colour Weakness Mode
This mode is for people with either red colour deficiency (protanomaly), or green colour deficiency (deuteranomaly). The monitor features special red and green filters that help people suffering from colour deficiency to distinguish between colours more easily.
In addition to these eye-care technologies, there are also certain software-enabled features that help make the viewing experience a little bit less taxing. These include:
Care Mode - Which lowers brightness and colour saturation.
Coding Mode - This makes specific colours pop out for easy readability.
Reading Mode - Which filters harmful blue light.
ePaper Mode - Which simulates an e-book ink type effect.
Conclusion
These special features pivot this monitor from average to a must-have product, especially in at-home setups for both working professionals as well as students. The affordable price of around 1500 AED also makes it a no-brainer purchase. As long as you are not looking to do anything too graphic intensive.
