BenQ RL2755HM review

IMAGE QUALITY

The TN panel offers up bright images with its out of the box brightness measured at 321cd/m2, although you’ll want to turn this down if you’re going to be using it for long periods and sitting up close. Things fall apart elsewhere, however, with colour coverage coming in at just 91.1% using the most accurate sRGB preset. Contrast levels are fine at 1156:1, although black levels were a little high at 0.27cd/m2.

Backlight uniformity is reasonably good up to the very edges of the monitor, where it falls away dramatically; we saw dark patches along the right edge of the monitor and there were hints of this on the bottom as well. This is a clue to the fact that this is a cheap TN panel, as do the narrow viewing angles; you get tinges of yellow if you begin to view this monitor from anything other than straight on.

The main justification for using a TN panel over a better quality panel (aside from price) is a quicker response time. This means there’s less delay between your control inputs being seen on screen, meaning you can react quicker to danger and gain a competitive advantage. Some TVs can have input lag beyond 30ms, which is noticeable when playing games. Using our Leo Bodnar input lag tester, we measured the RL2755HM at 10ms, which is very good. We aren’t convinced this is of major benefit when playing console games at 30fps, but titles locked at 60fps benefit noticeably. Even then it’s debatable whether the numerous image quality compromises are worth the better performance.

It’s only through software customisation that BenQ makes any case for this being a worthwhile buy for gamers, with lots of extra image settings to bump up contrast, dim the outer edges of the screen to focus your eyes on the centre and remove distractions, and even change the size of the output if you want everything to appear smaller.

CONCLUSION

The BenQ RL2755HM isn’t massively expensive for a 27in monitor, but we’re unconvinced by its console gaming credentials. Unless you truly believe a slightly quicker response time is going to net you better results in Call of Duty, we’d suggest sticking with a smaller bedroom TV or plumping for a monitor with better image quality, such as one of the many similarly priced 27in VA, IPS or PLS monitors on the market – such as the BenQ EW2740L – or check out our regularly updated Best Monitors and Buying Guide.