I love having a work station... I do love a laptop - but I love having my desk and plopping down to 'get some work done'. That right layout, the monitors, keyboard etc.
I used to set up around my Pixelbook with adapters (like this Kensington or this OWC), but recently I have swapped for something more 'permanent' with an HP Chromebase, and it's got this neat feature of the monitor that can rotate.
This past couple weeks BenQ has let me use their newer RD280UA monitor. This is a monitor 'built for programmers'.
- RD280UA|28” 4K+ BenQ Programming Monitor with Backlight and Flexible Arm
- Special features:
- Night Hours Protection – The ambient light detection and auto-switch capabilities ensures effortless and consistent eye care.
- Superior Code Differentiation - BenQ's advanced coding modes ensure crystal-clear fonts and improved code differentiation, reducing eye strain during prolonged use.
- Easily Control the Built-in MoonHalo Bias Light - With Display Pilot 2, MoonHalo seamlessly synchronizes with your monitor, enhancing the ease of adjusting light settings, including Switch, Brightness, Color Temperature, Light Mode, and Non-stop Mode control.
- A Vision of Sustainability - BenQ Programming Monitors incorporate eco-friendly technology, recycled materials, and energy-efficient design.
Now, when you go - cool, 28" that's a decent size and it's 4K. It's also $850'ish dollars (CDN), so it's got to have more than just that.
It does.
First up, be prepared to receive this - the box is ginormous.
This is a decent weight and it's massive. This is because it comes not just with its own stand, it's a pole stand that fixes to your desk (so you do have to be cautious to make sure your desk has a lip for it to clamp to, or that 'cord hole' that you can use - or else this isn't going to work), that also has a fold out arm so that you can rotate the monitor to where you want it to go.
Everything is so heavy, giving you that assurance that it's going to be very secure. The lift on the pole stand (is there a better word for it?) allows you to adjust the height and it's so neat in that you just give it 'that much more' of a lift/pull and it overcomes the holding it in position to let it move and when you stop it then holds it there.
Love it.
Once the pole is fixed to the desk, bracket is on the back of the monitor, plopped into the arm, you're ready to hook it up. This is where I want to nerd out, and it does help.
It's got HDMI (only 1), Display Port, USB-B, USB-C x2 ... so enough connectors for you to plug whatever you want in there. It even came with the a cable for each in the box.
There are even more connectors - 3 USB-A ports and a headphone jack on the underside.
I toggled between using the USB-C or HDMI for my connection, and didn't really notice a difference, but more on that later.
Finding the right configuration to plug in, now it's time to turn it on, and it's got a little control system on the underside, that was a little non-intuitive at first (but then again, once we have it set up - how many of you ever go back to play with it?).
The light is the power button, and next to is it is a 4 way toggle to navigate through the settings.
The settings were minimal, but they play up a lot in the marketing of this how it's a 'monitor for programming', meaning it can adjust the brightness depending on the room so it's not goin to harm your eyes.
Plus, it has this cool halo light for you to bounce off your wall reducing some of that contrast in the room.
Only thing is, you need it next to a wall in order to realize the effects - and how I have my room set up it just doesn't work that way.
Oh well.
Now, let's use it.
First up, I had to play around with my dock accessories as it didn't like running 3 monitors at the same time, especially one at 4K (kept saying low bandwidth... woops).
But once with the right set up, I was getting it going - except, I couldn't get my computer to display out to the monitor at the resolution it liked.
It liked to have 3840x2560 and best I could get is to output 3840x2160, which means that the monitor is stretching out that last 400pixels to make everything taller.
I couldn't just look at those ovals, so I put it back to 1440 resolution at the right aspect ratio. Which, I'm still totally fine with!
It's not the monitor's fault, I'm assuming it's something with ChromeOS not liking some 3:2 ratios at 4K.
And that's another thing, because I'm using ChromeOS, I don't get to download the software that might help out with a few other features on it; not that I'm really missing out I'm sure.
One that might be helpful is the fact that this monitor rotates 90° so it goes into portrait mode (not that it's entirely different being 2:3 vs. 3:2, unlike my Chromebase 16:9 monitor going 9:16), but it is a cool feature depending on what you're doing (i.e. writing lines of code, you want that 'height').
I wanted to try it out more, but found that without the software it was a bit of a pain. On our phones (even my Chromebase) there's a sensor that knows when it rotates and adjusts the resolution. With my set up (and I'm assuming sans software) it just locked the ratio, so I'd have to go back into the settings for my display and rotate it manually.
I also don't have the 'cleanest' set up on my desk, so rotating, you do want to make sure that the area is clear of any items that may be in the monitor path.
In the right set up (with the right software) I'm sure it's awesome.
For me, I just enjoyed it as a really good monitor.
Like, even not at 4K it's really good.
The speaker aren't great, mind you, but I don't get a monitor and hope for great sound. I have speakers for that.
I just enjoyed it as a monitor that I can throw a work panel over to - and as needed I can adjust the position, height, the tilt, the angle, even the rotation.
Is it worth the $850ish dollars? For me just using it as a monitor that probably will never realize the full 4K, the halo... probably not, but it is a dandy to look at.
If I had a PC where I could extract that much more utility out of and this is something I'm staring at 8 hours a day (for me, I spend maybe a 4-5 hours a week at my desk at home), this is something you'd take more seriously.
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