BenQPD3205U 31.5” 4K Monitor for Mac, UHD, sRGB, Rec.709, HDR10, IPS, AQCOLOR Technology, USB-C, Factory-Calibrated, Color Mode, Darkroom mode, Animation Mode, CAD/CAM Mode, Hotkey Puck G2, KVM

My 8 year old 27" iMac could no longer handle my 50mp RAW files on Lightroom and as Apple discontinued the 27" iMac I was forced to buy a Mac Mini Pro which doesn't come with a display. I looked at Apple Studio display which cost £1500 but it was out of stock everywhere so I bought this as I know a lot of photographers use this monitor.It was so easy to set up as it comes with all the leads (thunderbolt 3) you need to connect to the current Mac minis and Macbook pros. The stand was easy to assemble and is made of sturdy aluminium. The little puck which comes with the monitor is really useful and makes it so easy to change any of the display settings, trust me there are tonnes of settings you can adjust to suit your needs.A lot of people go on about scaling issues as this is a 4k monitor and current Apple Macs are set up for 5k. Trust me, this is not an issue. You can go into the display settings on your Mac and adjust the resolution to suit your eyes. Depending on your eyesight, you might find 4k is too small to read text and prefer a ratio closer to 3k (like I have), but either way you will see much more display, especially useful when editing photos when you can view the whole picture on screen without needing to scroll. You can even switch the display to the same resolution as your old non retina 27" iMac, but once you try 3k or 4k you won't go back. I was also concerned that this has a matte (non gloss like iMacs) finish, but when the monitor is on I don't even notice it's not glossy.The colours are vivid and bright, contrasts have rich tones and the display is sharp and virtually identical to Apple's colour profile, you won't need to calibrate but you can tailor the display to suit you own needs or choose from many preset settings. The only downside are the built in speakers, they sound a bit tinny (no bass) but that didn't bother me as I only use my Mac for surfing the net and editing pictures. If you need HQ surround sound then you could buy a set of external speakers or spend nearly another £700 for the Mac Studio.I reckon if you bought the 32" version of this monitor it might make using the full 4k easier as the display will be larger than on 27", but I didn't want such a big screen plus the 32" is claimed to be less sharp.When you view your old pictures which filled the whole screen on your old iMac, they won't fill the whole screen on this monitor and will appear much smaller. That's because the old non retina 27" iMac was around 2k and this screen is 4k, so this has double the resolution ie a picture that was 2000 pixels wide on a 2k screen will appear half that width on this screen as the pixels are half the size on this screen - so you fit more on screen and it looks fantastic.I'm glad I bought this screen as it's the best display I have ever used and really makes editing photographs much easier and more enjoyable. It really stands out way above my old non retina 2k iMac display which I always thought looked amazing until I bough the Benq.

This is a quick note for those of you moving from Windows to Mac who are getting hung up on the whole Mac scaling issue. In short, it's a red herring and you shouldn't worry about it. This monitor is proof.While researching your monitor for your new M4 you've probably come across purists harping on about needing a 5K monitor for that true Mac experience. I can tell you as a 54 year old with average eyesight for someone my age, there is no scaling issue. I quite literally plugged in my M4 to the monitor and I was up and running immediately. No need to reset scaling, no drivers to install, nothing. This monitor is plug-and-play, and it's very good.I bought this as a 'budget' monitor for photo and video editing. Colours are good with a high P3 rating. I don't see any issue with colour or contrast inconsistecies across the screen. White is white from edge to edge. Another reviewer posted an image of their monitor showing patches in the white. I do not see this, so I guess theirs was a lemon.FYI I have trialed the Apple Studio Monitor. It is a nice monitor, lovely and shiny and full of 5K goodness. At over twice the price compared to this monitor you'd expect it to be twice as good. It isn't. Not even half as good. It lacks ports for starters, and it has a shiny screen that makes everything look beautiful but, for photo editing, is not always a good thing. This monitor is matte in comparison but honestly, it's not so matte that it's flat. My previous monitor was a BenQ 2K monitor, bought years ago. Now THAT was a matte monitor. I'd put the PD2725U somewhere in between the two. In short, while using this monitor I do not have 5K, shiny screen envy. I suspect that any negative reviews for this monitor will be from purists who believe that you NEED 5K for things to work. That's nonsense.My ONLY complaint is that I don't think the PD2725U has a proximity sensor. My previous BenQ does and it's extremely useful, especially if you're keeping an eye on power consumption. That said, no other monitor in this class has one either.