When it comes to picking a monitor for creative work like photo and video editing, you need something with excellent colour accuracy, a wide colour gamut, and a large immersive display. BenQ aims to deliver all that with the new PD3420Q, a 34-inch ultrawide monitor purpose-built for creative professionals. With its 3440 x 1440 resolution, IPS panel, and 100% sRGB coverage, BenQ is touting this as a monitor that provides the colour performance and expansive workspace needed for things like editing photos, videos, and graphics.
When I tested the BenQ PD3420Q Monitor, I was impressed by its beautiful picture quality, thanks to its vibrant and accurate colours produced by its Wide Gamut IPS panel. The ultra-wide 21:9 aspect ratio gives you plenty of horizontal space for your timeline when editing video or opening multiple documents and windows side-by-side. It’s a truly immersive experience. The monitor also has great ergonomic adjustability and plenty of ports, including USB-C connectivity. Designed for professionals, these features come at a premium but are well worth it if you need a monitor that offers more than your standard offering.
With its sleek silver stand and slim bezels, the BenQ PD3420Q Monitor has a modern and stylish aesthetic that will fit right in with any workspace or home office. Despite its large 34-inch size, the monitor manages to maintain a relatively slim profile thanks to thoughtful design choices, such as tucking the ports into a recess at the back. Although it is thicker than some gaming monitors on the market, it still manages to feel at home in the most minimal of setups, delivering an incredibly high-quality experience even without the monitor being switched on.
“The sleek design looks modern and professional in any workspace.”
The all-metal stand is sturdy and offers a wide range of ergonomic adjustments. You can smoothly adjust the height over a range of nearly 6 inches, tilt the display forward or backward, and even swivel it from side to side. This flexibility to adjust the viewing angle and height to suit your needs helps reduce neck and eye strain during long editing sessions. The stand makes it easy to position the large monitor for maximum comfort. For creatives, the ability to adjust with ease is fantastic; from colour grading to video and photography work, flexibility is incredibly important and cannot be overstated.
Beyond the look, the overall build quality feels solid and durable thanks to the metal stand and quality plastics used in construction. There is very little flex in the screen or chassis. Assembly was quick and simple out of the box. The total weight of over 20 pounds gives it a reassuring stability on the desk. It is one of the most solid monitors I have ever used, and I come from an age where CRTs were the norm.
While not the flashiest design, the BenQ PD3420Q Monitor still manages to look modern and professional. It does not have all the flashing lights, RGB or any of the other flairs we have come to expect from gaming monitors. However, it still manages to look incredible on any desk, thanks to the little touches like the subtle power LED and hidden cable management in the stand, which give it a clean aesthetic. The anti-glare screen coating helps reduce distracting reflections without affecting image quality or calibration.
One feature that is relatively unique to the BenQ PD3420Q Monitor is the Hotkey Puck G2, an innovative controller included that provides quick access to commonly used settings like brightness, colour modes, and volume. The jog dial and programmable keys allow you to tweak settings on the fly without navigating menus. For example, you can easily adjust the brightness based on ambient lighting—which is crucial for colour-critical work. While a simple idea, the intuitive physical controls are a smart design choice that improves workflow efficiency.
Moving on from the physical design and onto what everyone wants to know about, the screen. The BenQ PD3420Q Monitor delivers excellent image quality thanks to its 34-inch IPS panel with 3440×1440 resolution and support for 1.07 billion colours. The monitor covers 100% of the sRGB colour space, 100% Rec 709, and 98% DCI-P3, providing vibrant and accurate photo and video editing colours. In testing, I found the colours to be rich and lifelike right out of the box, with no calibration required and excelled in all our benchmarks.
“The image quality and performance of the PD3420Q lives up to what creative professionals demand from a high-end monitor.”
Colour accuracy was superb, with an average Delta-E of 1.4 prior to calibration. After calibrating with a colourimeter, I was able to achieve truly impressive accuracy with an average Delta-E of 0.82. This level of precision is critical for colour-sensitive work like processing photos and videos. The IPS panel provides wide 178° viewing angles with no noticeable shift in colours or contrast when viewing off-angle.
The anti-glare coating on the screen is just right, reducing reflections without negatively impacting sharpness or clarity. Details remain crisp, and text is easy to read. While the resolution tops out at 3440×1440 and lacks support for 4K, I found it more than adequate for a screen of this size. Images and videos still have plenty of resolution for advanced editing.
Brightness comes in at 223 nits at full 100% brightness based on my measurements, which is lower than BenQ’s specified 350 nits. However, for most purposes, 223 nits is perfectly sufficient, and I didn’t have any issues with brightness in everyday use. One of the key benefits of the ultrawide 21:9 aspect ratio is the expanded horizontal workspace it provides. You have ample room for toolbars, panels, timelines, and more without feeling cramped. It’s a very immersive experience that helps boost productivity.
The image quality and performance of the PD3420Q lives up to what creative professionals demand from a high-end monitor. You get superb colour accuracy, great ergonomics, and an expansive screen real estate that really improves workflow efficiency. The IPS panel provides a clear advantage over VA panels common in curved ultrawide when it comes to colour consistency and viewing angles.
The BenQ PD3420Q Monitor comes equipped with a solid selection of ports and connectivity options. On the back, you’ll find two HDMI 2.0 ports, one DisplayPort 1.4, a USB-C port, two USB 3.1 downstream ports, and a headphone jack. The USB-C port supports power delivery up to 65W, allowing you to charge laptops and mobile devices directly from the monitor.
Side access ports are a handy addition, providing quick access to two more USB 3.1 downstream ports and the 3.5mm audio jack. This makes plugging in peripherals like a microphone or flash drive easy without having to reach around to the back. The monitor also has a built-in KVM switch, allowing you to control two computers connected to the monitor using a single keyboard and mouse.
The picture-in-picture (PIP) and picture-by-picture (PBP) capabilities of the BenQ PD3420Q Monitor provide a versatile multitasking tool for professionals. With PIP, you can display a smaller window within the main display, allowing you to keep an eye on email or video chat while working on primary tasks, and the PBP lets you connect two inputs and view them side-by-side in a seamless dual display. These features could prove invaluable for those who need to reference multiple sources like video, audio, and images simultaneously. However, again, these are pro-level features most users will never touch.
The BenQ PD3420Q Monitor delivers an immersive ultrawide workspace and excellent colour performance that makes it a great choice for creative professionals. Its 34-inch IPS panel provides vibrant colours and wide viewing angles, while the 3440×1440 resolution gives you ample screen real estate for working with photos, videos, and graphics. Factory calibration ensures superb colour accuracy out of the box.
Loaded with features like USB-C connectivity, PIP/PBP viewing, and a built-in KVM switch, the PD3420Q improves workflow efficiency. The sleek design looks modern and professional in any workspace. While the price is steep at over $800, it’s justified by the quality, performance, and versatility this monitor provides.
For creative pros seeking a capable ultrawide monitor with accurate colours and advanced features, the BenQ PD3420Q is an excellent option. It provides the workspace, connectivity, and colour performance needed for photo and video editing tasks. Just be prepared to pay a premium for all those capabilities. There are cheaper alternatives for casual users, but they won’t match the BenQ PD3420Q’s blend of image quality, ergonomics, and features.
