Get the BenQ EL2870UE for £200 (was £250)
So what can we say about this monitor that Katharine didn’t already cover in her 2870U review? It’s one of the cheapest 4K monitors on the market by far, especially at a 28 inch screen size, and is therefore a great choice for both gaming and content creation, where the high resolution allows you to get two programs side by side comfortably at 150% scaling. The 2870U uses a TN panel, which provides fast pixel response times, but doesn’t do so well in terms of colour reproduction and viewing angles. (This particular model still looks fine, mind you, it probably just isn’t the best choice for colour-sensitive work - we’d recommend a more expensive IPS monitor for this!) The great motion handling is ideal for fast-paced gaming, and FreeSync should ensure the action remains tear-free and judder-free on PCs with AMD or Nvidia graphics cards as well as Xbox consoles. (Higher refresh rate monitors would be an even better choice for competitive gaming, but aren’t available at this resolution for much less than £600. You can always look at our roundup of the best gaming monitors to see a few recommended options!) The monitor supports HDR, but with a maximum brightness of around 300 nits you don’t really get the eye-popping highlights possible on monitors that can hit 600 or 1000 nits of peak brightness. Again though, proper HDR monitors tend to cost much more, so it’s not a surprise to see only nominal support here. One final point is the name: the 2870U and 2870UE are regional variants of the exact same BenQ monitor, so you can take a look at reviews for either to make a decision on this particular model. So - do have a look at those reviews, and if this monitor sounds like it’ll meet your needs then this is an excellent price for it. I remember paying around £500 for a 4K monitor back in the day and the first models cost even more than that, so getting an even better spec for £200 is a real turn of events!
