I’ve been working from home for almost a year. I am a full-stack engineer working for a US financial group. Affected by the epidemic, since February last year, all employees around the world have gone home and telecommuted via the VPN software pre-installed in the company’s laptops. Working from home brings me a lot of benefits, such as saving commuting time, being able to allocate my time more flexibly, and being able to take care of my family. But it also poses new challenges to how to work efficiently and focus.
In the past, I used to use my workplace laptop and monitor to get work done during work hours, and when I got home, I would use my MAC Book or MAC Mini to connect two screens (one 2K and one 1080P) and do some freelance projects. After working from home, I hooked up my company laptop to a 1080P monitor and developed entirely with a MAC Mini hooked up to a 2K monitor. I thought it would make me more productive, but it wasn’t long before I was plagued by the need to constantly shift my eyes between the two screens and switch between two sets of keyboards and mice. My eyes are always dry and uncomfortable. So I decided to upgrade their display equipment, after some research and comparison, I chose benq PD2700U this display.
KVM technology, a great tool for working from home
Benq PD2700U most attracts me or the KVM technology of the monitor. KVM is short for Keyboard Video Mouse. Two hosts share one monitor and one set of Keyboard and Mouse. You can easily switch between two hosts by pressing keys on the KVM without repeatedly inserting and removing devices.
I used HDMI video cable on my work laptop, Type B cable, and the MAC Mini for developmentPD2700UAfter the monitor is connected, you can start the KVM function. From the function menu, you can easily implement a set of mouse and keyboard controls for different hosts by selecting different USB sources. In addition, you can also configure a shortcut key in the display Settings to achieve a quick switch.
I was able to connect one monitor to two hosts, one dedicated to development and one dedicated to receiving and processing company email. Another feature of the PD2700U monitor that comes in handy to avoid missing important corporate emails is the PIP/PBP(Picture in picture/double face) feature. After ENABLING PIP, I displayed the desktop of the company notebook in the form of picture in picture at the lower right corner of the screen. This kept me focused on programming and allowed me to monitor company emails. When necessary, quickly switch display, processing. Of course, PD2700U supports adjusting the position and size of the picture according to its own usage habits.
Protect your eyes and protect your health
For programmers who have to work long hours staring at a screen every day, the most tiring thing at the end of the day is their eyes. I have also read on the Internet that some programmers can no longer work as programmers due to fundus lesions caused by long-term use of poor quality monitors. In order to avoid the same mistake, eye protection has become an indispensable requirement when I choose a monitor.
Benji PD2700U this monitor eye protection function can be used to describe powerful and intimate. It has two TUV Rhine certifications and one Chinese invention patent, providing four low blue light modes that can meet different use scenarios and avoid harmful blue light caused by binocular macular lesions. In addition, also in the hardware configuration to reduce the screen frequent flicker, using backlight route controller and DC DC dimming technology, to avoid long time staring at the display caused by the use of eye sour fatigue. By adjusting the adjust button at the bottom of the monitor, you can easily choose between four scenarios: multimedia, Web surfing, office and reading. For coding purposes, I most often use office mode, where the entire screen browsing experience is similar to paper reading, and coding for long periods of time does not cause fatigue.
Another feature of the PD2700U is smart dimming. When the smart dimming mode is turned on under the ergonomic menu, the display detects ambient light and shade through the touch sensor at the bottom of the screen and adjusts the image intensity automatically, giving the user the optimal screen brightness for eye comfort. Turn off the lights in the room for testing, and the adjustment picture can be completed in 1-2 seconds. After adjustment, the picture is still clear and no longer dazzling. Therefore, when programmers work late into the night, the automatic adjustment function of benq monitor will undoubtedly add a protection to programmers’ eyes.
In addition, the PD2700U also provides a smart reminder function, when the set time is reached (for example, I set 40 minutes), the screen will effectively appear, “your eyes need to rest at the right time”. Then I would get up and do some eye exercises or look out into the distance. This is a great way to avoid the physical harm that prolonged eye use and sitting can do to programmers.
4K fine quality is king
While KVM and eye protection are very programmer friendly, the core value of a monitor is how it looks. As the two big words “Designer Monitor” on the display box tell us, Benq PD2700U is a high-end professional Monitor with high quality 4K fine picture quality, which is also the reason why many designers like it.
benqPD2700UThe resolution of 3840×2160, refresh rate of 60HZ, the picture is very clear, and Benq’s advantages in color display are also reflected in this monitor,1024 gray level with 1.07 billion colors make the picture more real, more colorful. It’s a qualitative visual improvement over the monitors I used before.
In addition to these hard indicators, Benq has launched a variety of color gamut and professional modes for different use scenarios. In addition to the low blue light mode used daily, there are also:
- Rec.709: The video details displayed in this mode are very rich. I choose this mode when I do some video clips or hd program production.
- SRGB: As a full stack engineer, I also use Sektch for simple graphic or UI design. In this case, I choose sRGB mode. Benq PD2700U covers 99% of sRGBRGB gamut and 78% of Adobe GB gamut. Color reduction is very high, fully able to meet the REQUIREMENTS of UI design.
The level of appearance is also important
Finally, let us feel the level of benq PD2700U appearance. As a Designer Monitor, its appearance design must also withstand the critical eyes of designers.
PD2700U continues benq display consistent design style, can be used to describe the atmosphere, calm, rich sense of science and technology. The entire display is painted in black, with a metal base and stand, and rubber pads on the base to make it sit more firmly on the table. The dark blue circular line hole embedded in the middle of the bracket gives off a slight blue light, which is very scientific and technological.
Free adjustment, vertical and horizontal screen support
PD2700UCan support multiple angles and up and down adjustment, so as to adapt to different working table and chair height and viewing Angle, improve the use of comfort. Of course, it can easily support the portrait feature that programmers need most.
In general, when writing back-end JAVA programs with IDEA, I use landscape screen. When I need to concentrate on writing large sections of front-end code in VSCode, or when I need to do code review, I switch the screen to portrait screen, which allows me to read more code and improve the efficiency of development or code review.
In addition, the PD2700U also supports standard VESA wall mount, saving us even more valuable desktop space.
Three sides narrow side, watching movies, playing games not too cool
benqPD2700UThree sides of the narrow frame design, increase the display field of vision at the same time, but also make the visual sense of substitution. When watching a movie or playing a game, turn on the HDR and immerse yourself in the full screen. In addition, a display with a narrow border can provide smaller edge gaps when splicing multiple screens, making it a better visual experience.
More interfaces, more extensions
PD2700UThe display also provides a wealth of interfaces to meet the connection requirements of different devices. It includes one HDMI port, one Mini DP port, one 3.5mm headphone jack, two standard DP ports, two Type-B ports, four USB 3.0 ports, and one Type-A port.
Write in the last
There are many professional reviews of benq PD2700U monitors on the web, mostly about color and picture quality. The most obvious changes that this monitor upgrade brings to me, a programmer who needs to work at home for a long time, are: the improvement of working efficiency, a more perfect visual experience, and effective protection of eyes. The price is just over 3000, so I am very satisfied with benq PD2700U.