BenQ has been making excellent Mac-compatible monitors for years and their new MA270S It is the creme de la creme of their lineup. It’s a 27-inch 5K monitor, but with a feature that most monitors don’t include: a glossy finish.
All Apple displays come with glossy finishes by default, but for one reason or another, matte finishes have dominated the external monitor market, and BenQ bucks that trend. This makes the MA270S much more at home with the Mac.
I checked the MA270U last year, its cheapest offering for the Mac. It’s still a 27-inch panel, although it comes in 4K instead of 5K. It comes with a matte finish by default, although they make a variant with a glossy finish for those who prefer it. BenQ offers excellent colors, so you don’t have to worry about it feeling inferior compared to your MacBook’s screen.
Overview
the new MA270S follows many of the same design philosophies as the MA270U which I tried. It has the same slim bezels, the same minimalist silver stand (with a silicone pad on the bottom to prop up your MacBook without scratching it), and plenty of ports.
You can run the MA270S With a single USB-C cable, power your MacBook and keep all your accessories connected to the monitor. The display offers four USB-C ports, two USB-A ports, and two additional HDMI ports for other devices.
BenQ also offers an app called Display Pilot 2, which lets you manage your monitor’s display and brightness from your Mac’s keyboard, without having to fiddle with the monitor’s controls. It also offers a KVM, allowing you to seamlessly use the same keyboard and mouse with your Mac and a Windows PC.
The built-in stand swivels, tilts, swivels and has height adjustment. The display panel, on the other hand, offers 99% P3 color coverage, offers HDR400 support, goes up to 70Hz (although that’s nothing to write home about), and has built-in speakers.
Wrap
Honestly, the only real compromises compared to the studio screen are two times:
That said, the MA270S enter only $999compared to the $1599 price of Apple Studio Screen – while offering a similar 27-inch 5K panel with a glossy finish. The savings are substantial and, at the end of the day, the MA270S It will be one of the few 5K options on the market with a glossy finish, so if that’s what you’re after, it’s a no-brainer. It’s been my daily driver for weeks and I’m certainly quite pleased with it.
You can buy the MA270S of BenQ website either on Amazon (sold out at the time of writing). Or, if you want one of their cheaper glossy monitors (albeit in 4K), you can check out the MA270UP either MA320UPin 27 inches and 32 inches display sizes, respectively. Both are available on Amazon.
My favorite Apple accessory recommendations:
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