Thunderbolt shows could also be the way forward for PC I/O enlargement for one quite simple cause: They may prevent cash in addition to area.

The very good folks at BenQ despatched over the PD3220U show months in the past (apologies, BenQ PR) and it sat subsequent to my workspace whereas I added to our ongoing list of the best Thunderbolt docks. As anybody who owns a Thunderbolt dock understands, they add invaluable port enlargement slots to your laptop computer, however with two important downsides: extra snaking cords, and the dock itself takes up desk area.

So what does this need to do with a Thunderbolt show? It’s our belief {that a} well-designed Thunderbolt show just like the PD3220U eliminates the necessity for a discrete Thunderbolt dock! Honestly, it’s debatable whether or not it will prevent that a lot cash—on one hand, the dock logic is constructed into the show, which means you’re paying for it. On the opposite hand, you’re shopping for a single gadget, eliminating price overhead and saving invaluable area in your desk, too.

BenQ’s PD3220U is a 4K, 60Hz Thunderbolt 3 dock, designed for content material creators, and protecting nearly 100 p.c of the DCI-P3 and RGB coloration gamuts. BenQ despatched us the 31.5-inch TFT mannequin for our impressions. The port choice is pretty stable: a pair of HDMI 2.0 inputs, one DisplayPort 1.4 enter, one 10Mb/s USB-C port, and three 10Mb/s USB-A ports, too, plus a headphone jack. BenQ even throws in a small Microsoft Dial-like hockey-puck controller that can be utilized to regulate coloration, sound, and inputs, and takes its personal USB-B (sure, Type B) enter.

What makes this monitor particular, although, is its pair of Thunderbolt 3 ports. I set my assessment docks to the aspect and easily plugged in my laptop computer from the show’s included Thunderbolt 3 dock—and similar to that, I used to be up and working on the PD3220U and a second 4K show.

But wait—there is one main shortcoming that the BenQ PD3220U (and, we think about, most different Thunderbolt shows) presents. With a Thunderbolt dock, all the ports are readily accessible. With the PD3220U, all the ports are aesthetically hidden behind the show. Even with a full 60 levels of swivel adjustment (or rotating the show 90 levels, which is really useful), it’s simply not that straightforward to attach a mouse, USB key, SSD, or different peripheral, and repeatedly manhandling the 23.6-pound PD3220U to take action, provides to your monitor’s put on and tear.

While the show does have a side-mounted I/O pod (one USB-C port, one USB-A port, and the headphone jack), it’s additionally considerably awkward. Display makers might need to rethink favoring aesthetics over ease of use.

On the opposite hand, the PD3220U provides 85W of charging energy, and the second Thunderbolt port lets you daisy-chain shows. While that is an enchantment to a Mac viewers, Windows customers shouldn’t despair: simply purchase a Thunderbolt-to-DisplayPort cable in case your second show helps Thunderbolt. Connect that cable from the second Thunderbolt output from the BenQ PD3220U to the opposite show, and also you’ve solved that downside.

I’m left considering a number of issues: first, I’m an fool for not testing this sooner. Second, the heck with aesthetics. I can nonetheless bear in mind when show makers slipped the ports beneath the entrance of the show, somewhat than hiding them on the again. I’ve at all times been a fan of perform over type, and I’d a lot somewhat see a cable than need to wrestle an enormous awkward show round simply to attach a USB key. Also, think about fumbling round by really feel in an effort to plug in your USB-A mouse.

As a lot as I’d presently favor the flexibleness of Thunderbolt docks and our associated record of the best USB-C hubs and dongles, I can’t assist however assume that this method may ultimately be the best way ahead. If producers can get the fee down (and in some way persuade customers that they’re truly saving cash by shopping for a dearer monitor), a central docking station, achieved proper, makes a whole lot of sense. Desktops are chock-full of I/O choices, and svelte, elegant laptops at all times really feel a bit of cheated in that regard.

A fast take a look at of the BenQ PD3220U

The BenQ PD3220U put out simply 180 nits at most brightness, which differed pretty considerably from other reviews. It’s attainable I misconfigured a setting. Otherwise, this can be a show designed for dimly lit rooms.

Mark Hachman / IDG

I didn’t extensively take a look at the Color Profile Switch or BenQ’s Display Pilot software program, each of that are designed to load preconfigured coloration profiles onto your laptop computer for coloration matching and configuration functions. The HotKey Puck jogs my memory of the Surface Dial, simply wired. The PD3220U additionally ships with KVM performance inbuilt, permitting you to simply change between a house and work PC.

BenQ PD3220U: Final ideas

There’s actually just one different factor I don’t like concerning the BenQ PD3220U, and that’s not BenQ’s fault. Thunderbolt 3 {hardware} can generally undergo from a bug the place the Thunderbolt connection doesn’t instantly re-establish itself after a laptop computer wakes from hibernation, and prematurely eradicating the Thunderbolt cable can lock up the laptop computer. I additionally encountered a glitch the place my cabled USB mouse (plugged into the show) stopped working.

Mark Hachman / IDG

A system lockup generally is a main annoyance; however my different testing has proven me that this glitch often happens with Thunderbolt 3 docks and no less than one in all my take a look at laptops. (The newer, improved Thunderbolt 4 specification and {hardware} can remedy this downside, although the PD3220U doesn’t use it.) Auto-saving one’s work and a speedy SSD could make a reboot on this occasion much less of a problem.

Ignore, for now, the PD320U’s value, at over $1,000. The show continues to be being marketed at professionals. Just bear in mind, as you learn evaluations of the best monitors, that the addition of Thunderbolt capabilities isn’t simply an merchandise that the producer checked off within the specs. Thunderbolt capabilities in a show are a extremely large deal, and can turn out to be more and more invaluable going ahead.