I tested BenQ’s pro editing monitor and this thing is a workflow beast

Catchy name, right? The BenQ PD3226G. If you managed to type that into Google properly, chances are you’re looking to buy one of the best monitors for creative design and editing.

I’m Pete, Senior Reviews Editor here at Tom’s Guide. In addition to our in-house reviews team, I oversee the site’s camera coverage, which means I do a lot of editing as part of my daily job — retouching photos for reviews, manipulating digital assets in Photoshop and processing video footage.

I’ve been using the PD3226G for all the above for around a month now, and there’s a lot to like about this monitor. It features a beautiful 4K IPS panel, strong DCI-P3 and sRGB coverage, and some nifty features to help speed up busy workflows. For an editing monitor, its price is fairly reasonable. Thanks to a 144Hz refresh rate, it’s also suited to game designers or creatives wanting a single monitor for work in the day and gaming in the evening.

The PD3226G isn’t perfect, with some slight contrast wobbles, low peak brightness and no Adobe RGB setting. However, I still think this is a decent hybrid editing and gaming display. Find out more in my full BenQ PD3226G review.

BenQ PD3226G review: Cheat sheet

• What is it? A 4K editing monitor that’s also suitable for gaming and general use
• Who is it for? Creatives who need a flexible editing monitor that doubles up for gaming
• How much does it cost?
• What’s good? Its sRGB and DCI-P3 coverage, color accuracy, refresh rate and remote control
• What isn’t? The low peak brightness, slight contrast issues and lack of an Adobe RGB mode

BenQ PD3226G review: Specs

BenQ PD3226G review: The ups

The BenQ PD3226G does most of what an editing monitor must fundamentally do — for the most part. With strong color space coverage and color accuracy, as well as a remote control for streamlining workflows. It’ll also suit gaming thanks to its 144Hz refresh rate.

Wide color space coverage

One of the most important things an editing monitor needs to do is cover the different color spaces well, and the BenQ PD3226G does just that. BenQ claims it covers 100% of the sRGB gamut and 95% of the DCI P3 gamut. But manufacturer figures are often conservative, and in our testing (with a freshly manufacturer-recalibrated color spectrometer, no less), it did even better.

As you can see in the table above, the PD3226G covered 147% of the sRGB gamut and 104% of DCI P3, meaning it has those color spaces entirely covered. You can edit in those spaces, safe in the knowledge that every tone can be relayed.

The BenQ absolutely destroys the Apple Studio Display ($1,599) and Apple Pro Display XDR ($5,999) monitors, neither of which cover the DCI P3 gamut fully. The Dell UltraSharp 40 ($2,399) has even wider coverage, although after 100% it makes little difference.

As you can also see in the table above, many of the gaming monitors we test do just as well with their gamut coverage, so if you’re editing in those spaces, don’t be totally put off by them.

High color accuracy

To put manufacturer claims to the test, we always run Delta-E tests on monitors using our lab color spectrometer equipment. Delta-E measures how far colors on screen deviate from the colors the computer sends to the display. Close to 0 is best, showing low deviation.

The PD3226G features BenQ’s AQColor, which, according to the brand, delivers accurate color out of the box, with a claimed Delta-E of less than or equal to 2. Although that’s a very conservative claim. The monitor’s tested Delta-E using the factory calibration was 0.16, which is what we’d expect for a high-end display.

0.16 isn’t the lowest Delta-E we’ve seen — higher indeed than many gaming monitors — but it’s still very respectable, and means the PD3226G relays colors very accurately. It put in a better performance than other studio-oriented displays, including the Dell UltraSharp 40, the Apple Studio Display and the Apple Pro Display XDR, all of which are much more expensive than the BenQ.

I’ve been using the monitor mostly for photo editing in Adobe Lightroom Classic and Adobe Photoshop, using the sRGB mode as they’re for online use. It’s been comforting to know that the colors I’m seeing on screen are accurate, so I can ensure they’re exactly how I want them.

The PD3226G comes calibrated by the manufacturer. We left the monitor in this calibration to run our tests, so we could see its Delta-E performance from the factory. However, when you do want to recalibrate, BenQ offers two software applications. If you have a calibration device, there’s the Palette Master Ultimate app, and if you don’t, there’s the Display ColorTalk app, which allows you to sync colors to another monitor — this isn’t as good as using an actual calibration device, but it will at least help you achieve uniform color across displays.

In terms of its official accreditations, the monitor features Pantone and Pantone Skintone calibration. Pantone are industry-standard color definitions for printing, so this is good news for designers and creatives involved in printing. The monitor also bundles a free 12-month subscription to Pantone Connect Premium, the Pantone mobile app, for color matching on-the-go — a nice-to-have for any freelancers without a boss that’ll pay for the app otherwise.

The monitor is also Calman verified — basically, Calman (which makes display calibration software) approves BenQ’s AQColor technology from a color accuracy perspective.

Strong editing features

The BenQ PD3226G also boasts a slew of features intended purely for editing. Firstly, there is a range of color modes available, including sRGB, DCI P3, Display P3, Rec.709 and HDR, which are all useful for various creatives editing different types of photo and video. There are also two custom user modes that allow you to set specific color levels, as well as enabling a uniformity mode to ensure consistent brightness and contrast across the entire panel.

There’s a CAD/CAM for product designers; a Darkroom mode for photographers who want to mimic the heightened color perception achieved in a darkroom; an animation mode for, well, animators; and a DICOM mode for medical use (DICOM is used in the evaluation of X-ray results).

A variety of workflow tools

My favorite thing about the BenQ PD3226G is the included controller pad accessory. It’s basically a circular remote with a scroll wheel and a few buttons, which replaces the monitor’s buttons (although those are still present), so you use it to access, navigate through and change the display settings. It’s so much easier than changing settings on the monitor itself (which you need to do regularly on editing monitors), and honestly, I’m not sure how I’ll ever go back.

The handiest things on the pad are the three color profile buttons, which allow you to switch between color space profiles, such as sRGB, DCI P3 and a user preset. This really speeds up workflows if you switch between different editing spaces regularly.

There’s also a built-in KVM switch, which allows you to use the same monitor and peripherals with multiple computers. Again, another huge workflow boon if you are editing across multiple machines. Many creatives will already use an external KVM switch, but having one built into your monitor is just cleaner, letting you tidy up your desk.

Productivity-focused ports

The BenQ PD3226G features two Thunderbolt 4 ports. One is a 90W upstream port, which can be used for display hookup, or as power out your laptop. The other is a 15W out port for charging and daisy-chaining. There’s also a DisplayPort 1.4 port and an HDMI 2.1 port for display connection.

There are two USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 ports —one a 7.5W downstream port, the other a data-only upstream, both with 10Gbps transfer speeds — and three USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 10Gbps downstream ports, two with 4.5W power delivery and one with 7.5W. All in all, it’s quite a formidable array of ports, allowing plenty of connectivity options from the monitor itself. If you have lots of devices and peripherals to hook up and/or charge, this could be the perfect monitor for you.

Just a lovely 4K monitor

It’d be reticent of me to miss the basics, one of which is that the BenQ PD3226G’s 4K IPS panel is lovely! It’s sharp and glorious to behold, thanks to the large 31.5-inch diameter. That diameter also gives it quite the presence, even in an office like mine that’s filled with elite gaming monitors.

The panel also features an anti-glare coating, which is beneficial from a color-accuracy perspective, although for the best results, you’ll want a monitor hood to shield from unwanted ambient light anyway. In day-to-day use, though, the anti-glare coating is most useful for simply stopping headaches and eye strain, and allowing you to see what’s on screen clearly under brighter ambient conditions.

Build quality and finish are also excellent. The monitor just oozes sleek, premium vibes and won’t look out of place as part of a slick creative workspace and/or a contemporarily-styled studio.

It’ll game too!

To round off the pros, the BenQ PD3226G will also game, thanks to its 144Hz refresh rate, which is fast enough for smooth gameplay in fast-paced titles. A fast refresh rate will also be beneficial to anyone using the monitor for game design.

It also features VESA Adaptive Sync and AMD FreeSync. These do the same thing: they vary the refresh rate of the monitor to maximise in-game performance. AMD FreeSync is just optimized for AMD graphics cards.

There’s no Gray-to-Gray (GtG) figure listed by BenQ. GtG measures the time it takes for pixels to change color, and a faster time reduces screen artefacts such as lag and motion blur while gaming. It’s disappointing not to see a figure listed, but then again, this isn’t a gaming-oriented monitor.

BenQ PD3226G review: The downs

The BenQ PD3226G’s only major downside is its low brightness. It’s also worth noting that there’s no Adobe RGB mode for printed photography, and I saw a few contrast issues in testing (although nothing major — and besides, this is an IPS panel).

Not so bright

For an IPS panel, the BenQ PD3226G is a little dim. As you can see in our brightness lab testing results below, it was beaten by other studio- and productivity-focused displays. Now, it’s important to heavily caveat this by saying that you shouldn’t have your monitor too bright when editing, as doing so can affect tonal accuracy. However, if you’re doing general work, especially in a bright area, it’s nice to have that extra brightness if you need it.

BenQ claims the display has a peak brightness of 400 nits in both SDR and HDR, which itself isn’t particularly impressive. But based on our testing, that’s way off the mark anyway. The monitor peaked at 252 nits in HDR and 268 nits at 40% screen utilization in SDR (sRGB).

When you reduce the number of pixels in use, the peak brightness typically increases — that’s why we test using 40% and 10% squares in the center of the display. Normally, we’d expect to see a jump in brightness from 40% to 10%, but there was effectively no difference between these on the PD3226G.

By comparison, the Dell UltraSharp 40 peaked at 510 nits in HDR, the Apple Studio Display peaked at 568 nits in SDR, and the Apple Pro Display XDR topped out at 467 nits in SDR and a huge 1,600 nits in HDR.

Adobe RGB

The BenQ PD3226G lacks an Adobe RGB mode, which is fairly common among editing monitors, but effectively nukes this display’s use for photographers who print. The Adobe RGB gamut covers a wider range of colors used by CMYK printers versus sRGB. This is vital for ensuring color accuracy when editing images for printed photography, as it means fewer tones you see on screen are lost when printing.

For online use, sRGB is fine, and that’ll cover most amateur photographers. As I mentioned earlier, I edited lots of studio photography and sample imagery using this display, all of which were for online use. If you need an Adobe RGB monitor, check out the Asus ProArt PA279CRV, which costs $488.

Slight low-end contrast issues

It’s nothing huge, but it’s still worth mentioning a minor contrast issue I had when testing the BenQ PD3226G. Brighter tones were fine, with clear distinction between all tones at the top end of the scale. However, there was almost no discernible difference between the very darkest colors on the blue color scale in sRGB mode. Switching to HDR, which increases the dynamic range of the display, also didn’t help. Dark areas also felt a little flat and gray.

As the PD3226G is an IPS LCD monitor, this is sort of expected. OLED panels give true blacks and therefore offer more contrast than IPS. Whether this is a problem all comes down to your use cases. If you need to render true blacks on screen, OLED is for you. That said, some OLEDs can also suffer from difficulties with contrast in black and near-black tones (known as “OLED black crush”), where blacks blend together on screen, effectively giving you decreased dynamic range in shadows — so, y’know, the BenQ isn’t on its own here.

Kinda pricey

Editing monitors are expensive, so this isn’t a particularly vicious criticism either. But the PD3226G is a little on the pricey side given its low peak brightness and lack of an Adobe RGB editing mode. It costs $1,099 / £1,099 at Amazon. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a very capable monitor with very high levels of color accuracy based on our lab test results. And, I know, studio displays often cost a lot of money (don’t even get me started on the Apple Pro Display XDR… it’s only a dollar under six grand).

However, that doesn’t mean the BenQ is cheap, and for freelance creatives budget can be a big concern. You can pick up other Calman-verified monitors for less, like the Asus 34-inch ProArt Display or the 27-inch 5K version for $849. The latter in particular would be my choice — like the BenQ, it functions as a USB-C hub, has a built-in KVM switch and offers wide gamut coverage. Although both Asus displays have maximum refresh rates of 60Hz, the BenQ is better for gaming and game design. Neither have Adobe RGB modes, though, so I’d recommend the $488 Asus ProArt PA279CRV for printed photography regardless of whether you can afford the BenQ.

BenQ PD3226G review: Verdict

The BenQ PD3226G isn’t perfect. It isn’t the brightest, demonstrates some minor contrast issues and is a little pricey. But I still really like it, and its virtues massively outweigh its drawbacks.

The monitor’s color accuracy is very high, while its Pantone certification will be a boon to anyone printing pure color — which is extremely expensive, (thanks partly to Pantone itself) and important to get right. The fast refresh rate makes the PD3226G applicable for gaming and game design. And while the omission of an Adobe RGB mode essentially annihilates its use for printed photography, for everything else, it’s great!

I also absolutely love the workflow features, including the KVM switch, Thunderbolt port and super handy tabletop remote. If you’re a creative professional, you can certainly do a lot worse than the BenQ PD3226G.