BenQ Mobiuz OLED Gaming Monitor Review: Just Too Much

It’s not precisely straightforward for a gaming monitor to face out. Once you hit a number of key specs—at the least 1440p, 120 Hz, 0.1-ms response time, and some others—nearly any show will do. Some corporations fight this by bettering their colour copy or cranking these specs even increased. Then there’s BenQ, which determined to make this ludicrously massive 48-inch mannequin I’ve spent a number of weeks testing.

As a show, the BenQ Mobiuz OLED gaming monitor—particularly mannequin EX480UZ—is spectacular. On a spec sheet, it ticks all of the packing containers you’d need whereas enjoying video games. It has a 4K OLED panel, a 120-Hz refresh charge (we’d prefer to see 144-Hz, but it surely’s not unhealthy), and even HDR help.

The solely downside is that it’s enormous. Average pc displays are sometimes within the 22- to 24-inch vary. This one is 48 inches. That isn’t simply twice as huge as a typical monitor. Due to how math works, doubling the diagonal dimension means quadrupling the world. So for those who’re studying this text on a 24-inch monitor, think about three extra of them stitched collectively. All sitting in your desk.

It’s quite a bit to soak up.

(Giant) Picture Quality

Before we fixate on this behemoth’s dimension, let’s discuss the way it performs. In common, gaming displays typically forego some options that you just would possibly come to count on from, say, a tv. High dynamic vary (HDR), a color-enhancing characteristic that’s current on this BenQ show, is typically absent from gaming displays. But it’s among the best upgrades you can also make to get higher image high quality, so it’s good seeing it right here.

BenQ’s implementation can also be notably good. Unlike most LED displays, which depend on an LED backlighting system to light up the display above, OLED shows are a single layer of pixel-sized natural LEDs able to solely lighting up the pixels a picture wants. This means a lot deeper black ranges. Where a normal monitor nonetheless appears to be like a bit grey when exhibiting a black display, an OLED is completely darkish; the pixels are literally black. This higher distinction between mild and darkish already improves the image on non-HDR video games, however once I performed video games that supported HDR, the picture was about as crisp because it might get. 

The monitor additionally helps AMD FreeSync, which helps an AMD graphics card sync as much as the display for no dropped frames as much as 120 Hz, which is extraordinarily welcome—if anticipated at this level, on condition that this characteristic is in most TVs and displays—once I play Overwatch. Any sport that has fast-paced motion goes to learn from a super-high body charge.

But after we discuss image high quality, we’re not speaking purely about pixels. Numerous different elements have an effect on the viewing expertise, like how far-off you’re sitting from the show. This is why a variety of gaming displays can get away with a mere 1440p show. Despite 1440p being lower-res than 4K, it’s often sufficient for particular person pixels to be practically invisible on smaller shows, when sitting at a standard distance out of your desk.

But this BenQ show isn’t any commonplace gaming monitor.

The Burden of Breadth

The first time I arrange this monitor, I attempted to fireside up a sport of Overwatch and nearly instantly needed to cease. I don’t precisely have a small desk—its floor space is about 2.5 toes deep by 5 toes huge—however I needed to take away each of my 27-inch displays to make room for it. Despite this, and irrespective of how far again I sat in my chair, the display was overwhelming.

Overwatch’s killfeed—a working feed of which gamers have died within the upper-right nook of the display—was now towering over me. What I might beforehand examine by glancing with my eyeballs instantly required me to maneuver my whole head to see. If I wished to see my very own well being stage within the sport, nicely that’s all the way in which down within the lower-left nook. My neck started getting sore as I attempted to catch essential data.

The vibrant show additionally began to grow to be a severe detriment. The vivid OLED display was nice for blasting out mild to create a compelling image. The solely downside is that this image was a few toes from my face. And it was filling my peripheral imaginative and prescient. I began to really feel a robust sensory overload the longer I sat in entrance of it. It was simply an excessive amount of of a superb factor.

“That’s a TV”

It didn’t take lengthy earlier than I merely couldn’t stand having this factor on my desk anymore. After a few video games, I unplugged it and put my previous displays again. But perhaps I’m utilizing it mistaken, I believed. I imply, this factor is mainly a TV—which, notably, can also be what everybody who noticed it in my house stated. “That thing is basically a TV.”

So, I moved it from my desk to the lounge. And it felt much more at house there. Suddenly, the 4K panel didn’t really feel fairly so pointless. When I used to be sitting 10 toes or so from the monitor, it was not as overwhelming, and I might recognize how detailed the image regarded. It wasn’t the very best TV I’ve ever seen, but it surely supplied a very good image as I performed by means of a few of my PS5 video games.