I've had the new MA270S for a few days, paired with a MacBook Pro to replace my old 5K iMac.
This is far from a professional review, but I thought I'd jot down some first impressions...
- Uniformity is subjectively excellent, better than my old iMac. There's a bit of vignetting at the corners but that is a viewing angle issue, if I look at the corners straight on then it goes away.
- Backlight bleed is very minimal, blacks in a dark room are noticeably better than the iMac. This is where the MA270S beats the non-XDR Studio Display – it's just a better panel.
- I can't quite put my finger on what it is, but the panel seems "clearer" than the iMac. I mean... the iMac has a glass panel in front of the LCD and the BenQ does not. And somehow that is noticeable. The glossy coating is great, and reflection handling is similar to the iMac and my Macbook.
- Below maybe about 50 nits, the monitor can go dimmer but it uses software dimming. The minimum brightness is comfortable enough in a lit room at night.
- The "M-Book" mode that is supposed to apply a "Mac-like" colour calibration is rubbish, it applies a very green cast compared to both my Macbook and my old iMac (which have very similar colours). The default P3 colour mode is pretty good, though my Macbook is a little more red in the white balance.
- The OSD is very simple, I'm not sure if it's possible to adjust colours for any devices that can't run the BenQ app (for example a PS5). Though the default P3 calibration seems decent enough for casual gaming.
- The speakers are bad, with absolutely no bass whatsoever. My MacBook Pro 14" sounds way better even in clamshell mode. No surprise there.
- The stand is okay, with a good range of height adjustment. Unfortunately it's not as sturdy as my iMac, and sometimes the monitor wobbles a tiny bit while typing. Maybe I need a sturdier desk, or a beefy monitor arm.
- The USB-C port on the back of the monitor can be used for charging and display input, but not for other peripherals.
- I'm not quite sure what's up with the USB hub speeds, the BenQ app has a setting to enable USB 3.0 speeds but you can only enable it if you're running at 4K resolution. I have a USB 4 SSD and I can get ~780 MB/s on the bottom USB-C port and 800 MB/s via the Thunderbolt 4 port. The Thunderbolt 4 speed increases to 1800 MB/s write and 2900 MB/s read when I run my Macbook at 1600*900 (HiDPI) resolution and enable the high-speed USB port mode. But the speeds remain the same even after I go back to 5K resolution again, so it seems like I've tricked it into remaining in the faster mode? YMMV, but it's not as fast as a Thunderbolt 5 hub.
I basically bought this monitor because I could get it for €940, vs. €1970 for the height-adjustable Studio Display.
I can get a Spyder Pro calibrator, bookshelf speakers, and a high-quality webcam and still be saving a few hundred € over the Studio Display, while also getting a better panel (IPS black) and a display that also works better with Windows machines and game consoles.
If the Studio Display worked nicely with non-Apple devices, and had an IPS Black panel, I would have sucked it up and paid the Apple Tax. I just can't justify paying more for a worse panel for my non-professional use, the XDR is way too expensive, and being able to work with Windows machines and consoles will be occasionally useful.
So I'm gonna keep it, I think it's pretty decent value for money.