It’s been a while since I last reviewed a monitor. Part of it is mostly because I got so used to the BenQ MOBIUZ EX270QM, an exquisite gaming monitor by BenQ, that I just didn’t see how any other monitor could beat it. That is until BenQ came out with the EX321UX, which introduces their Mini-LED platform. The idea of a Mini-LED on a gaming monitor was very intriguing as, although we are used to seeing high-performance TVs using the Mini-LED technology, it’s not common in monitors. So we got in touch with our friends at BenQ, and they were happy to provide a testing unit for us.
Mini-LED screens are notoriously fast, so the EX321UX will have no problem keeping up with the high refresh rate of modern competitive games. The reality is that this panel is seriously impressive, not only because of its 1000nits peak brightness, but also because of its AI upscaling capabilities. Added to that, its multiple profiles and amazing HDR performance, also make it perfect for media consumption and even productivity-focused setups. Let’s take an in-depth look in everything this monitor can do:
BenQ EX321UX – Unboxing experience
The BenQ EX321UX is a really good-looking monitor. Very subtle in the front, but if your setup is not facing the wall, this monitor makes for a great statement piece. The build quality also follows suit, as we are used to from BenQ monitors, but I do believe that it’s worth delving into all the little details.
Opening the box
Let’s start from the beginning. The EX321UX is a big monitor and comes in a big box which, thankfully, has everything you might need inside. I seriously appreciate the “here’s everything you will need” approach from BenQ because high-quality cables are expensive, and a hassle to find without waiting for shipping. Here’s everything you will find in the box:
- BenQ EX321UX Mini-LED Gaming Monitor
- The arm of the stand
- The legs of the stand
- Remote control
- Power supply & cable
- HDMI cable
- DisplayPort cable
- USB-C to USB-C cable
Setting up the monitor is a very straightforward process: The arm and the legs of the stand latch onto each other and are locked in place with a hand screw at the bottom of the legs part. Then the entire stand latches into the back of the monitor and securely locks into place. This is a fool-proof mechanism by BenQ – the monitor is super stable and does not wobble at all while in place.
BenQ EX321UX – Design and build quality
Design
The design of the BenQ EX321UX is a departure from the usual look of the MOBIUZ series monitors. No more dark silver and orange, this time we’re working with classy, arctic white and piano black – along with some charcoal and bronze here and there. Apparently, the design language for this monitor is based on the sci-fi designs of spacecraft we usually see in movies and games – and you know what, I can see it. More importantly, this design change helps segmentate the BenQ monitor lineup. The EX321UX looks different than the rest of the MOBIUZ series because it is, in fact, different. This is not your regular gaming monitor, this is a high powered Mini-LED multi-purpose display.
In the front, the EX321UX has an almost bezel-less look across the top, left and right sides. There is a rather slim-looking lip at the bottom of the display, which houses BenQ’s Brightness Intelligence light sensors, and the three control buttons at the bottom.
From the back, the EX321UX really is a stunner. The matte arctic white back of the display gives a very elegant feel to the monitor, with a piano black pentagon in the middle, right where the stand arm latches into place. There are also smaller design details in the black pentagon, makes you think that the design team was really having fun with this one. Love seeing that.
Underneath the pentagon is where we will find all our I/O ports. There is no I/O shield this time around, and it’s not really necessary. We noted the absence of a hole in the stand arm, which helped us route all the cables to the monitor from one single place.
Build quality & stand features
The EX321UX brings the signature incredible build quality we’ve come to expect from BenQ monitors. The stand is very sturdy and you will never have to worry about any accidents – as long as your desk can take the weight, because make no mistake, this is a heavy piece of tech. This weight is distributed across 3 different legs, a small but wide leg in the back of the build, and two wide ones in the front. The weight distribution makes sure that the whole display rests safely on your desk.
As far as the plastics go, everything is again high quality and feels very sturdy, although there is some creaking, especially in the back. Now, this is because of the big exhausts that are in place in the back of the monitor to help dissipate the heat. Every monitor can get hot over long sessions, but the bigger the screen, the more the heat it produces. So, the creaking sounds come from the empty space that works as a cooling chamber in the back of the display.
This stand is a work of art
Let’s take a brief moment to go over how nice the stand looks, before we move over to the functionality aspect of it. The Starfield-esque spacecraft white aesthetic is in full display here, with the words “Pixsoul engine” on the left side of the stand. The arm has a triangular shape with rounded corners, that makes it look even better, with bronze details at the point where it connects with the legs. And then, the legs are rather slim, and offer a large opening in the middle, where you perfectly nest something like the Elgato Stream Deck, making it perfect to enhance productivity.
Now, the stand if of course very practical, in true BenQ fashion. Mike did a great job at pointing out all the usual features you should expect in BenQ stands in his BenQ MOBIUZ EX2710U review, but the EX321UX comes not only with an updated design, but also updated functionality because of the larger – and heavier – screen it has to support.
You can still tilt and swivel the screen, as well as adjust the height. You can tilt the EX321UX 5 degrees downwards, and 20 degrees upwards, while you can swivel for 30 degrees, 15 in each direction. As for the height adjustment, you can make adjustments for a total of 10cm. Keep in mind, that the top of the screen should always be at your eye level for you to be comfortable in a desk position. The adjustments are easy to make, with only minimal force needed, as you will feel the stand “slide” in the right position. The stand soft locks in place, and you can adjust again by applying the right amount of push. It’s a really intuitive system, and makes for a great quality of life feature to have in a monitor, especially if you’re thinking of having it in a standing desk.
BenQ EX321UX – Use experience
We have spent a little over a month testing the BenQ EX321UX in a variety of real-world use scenarios: gaming (obviously), media consumption and productivity. Our experience was overwhelmingly positive, as BenQ has packed this monitor full of features that you can use to fine-tune your experience in any scenario, and even save them in the form of presets so you don’t have to go searching in the settings every time.
In reality, the EX321UX is a very intricate piece of tech with lots of systems baked in underneath the surface, but in execution, everything feels super straightforward. All the little systems work together to make the user’s experience substantially better, without the user ever noticing. And that’s how every good tech product should behave.
The tech inside
Before we dive into our experience, let’s take a moment to talk about the tech powering the EX321UX, because it really is impressive. BenQ has complimented this amazing 32-inch 4K Mini-LED with some very powerful tech to achieve some really impressive results in performance.
This is a 1152-zone Mini-LED screen, meaning that there are 1152 individually lit LED areas in the 32-inch surface. Thus, the EX321UX can be super accurate when it comes to which areas of the screen will be lit and which will go completely dark when needed. Couple that with the fact that this display can reach up to 1000 nits peak brightness and BenQ’s HDRi technology, you have a beast when it comes to HDR gaming. But make no mistake, this is a very fast panel too, reaching up to 144hz refresh rate, and 1ms GtG response time, along with AMD’s FreeSync Premium Pro system to minimize screen tearing, making it a great choice for more competitive games too.
Now, the 4K resolution does make it obvious that this is more of a console monitor rather than a PC one – unless of course, you’ve got a 4090 (or soon a 50-series GPU). However, there’s still a lot of tech packed in the EX321UX that makes it perfect for PC gaming. The EX321UX provides a full-on KVM (Keyboard-Video-Mouse) experience, allowing you to plug your keyboard and mouse directly into the monitor with its USB upstream capabilities, making it the central hub for your setup.
Same story in the audio department too, as unlike the other BenQ MOBIUZ monitors, the EX321UX does not come with a built-in TreVolo speaker, but it does come with eARC support for up to 7.1 channels, as well as a built-in DAC. So even though there is no built-in speakers, the EX321UX offers enough audio features for you to plug external speakers or headphones directly into the monitor.
An absolute stunner during gaming
The EX321UX is a gaming monitor through and through. With its excellent HDR capabilities and fast refresh rate, there is no challenge it can’t hold its ground against when it comes to gaming. We tested the EX321UX with all current-gen consoles and the results were incredible, especially with the PS5 and the Xbox Series X that support HDR as well as AMD FreeSync.
With the Xbox Series X, we tested the performance playing Indiana Jones and the Great Circle right before the 2024 holidays, where the HDR capabilities of the EX321UX really shined. The PS5 was mostly used for multiplayer games, most notably Black Ops 6 and Marvel Rivals. High refresh rates during competitive games is crucial, and the EX321UX definitely delivered. However, keep in mind that current-gen consoles rarely ever run games at native 4K resolution and high refresh rate. But wait- what about the PixSoul Engine upscaling capabilities that BenQ is advertising? Well, glad you asked:
Now the AI upscaling is not going to work with the PS5 and the Xbox Series X, or any console that outputs a 4K resolution to the display. You see, the EX321UX is getting a 4K feed from the source, even if the game in question is not running in native 4K – the consoles upscale the resolution on their own to provide an output that is as close to true 4K as possible. Where the PixSoul Engine can make a difference however, is when the source outputs a lower-resolution signal. The Nintendo Switch is the perfect example here, where the EX321UX can upscale the visuals to get as close to 4K as possible, although with noticeable softness.
I do believe that 4K gaming monitors (and not TVs – very important to distinguish) will get the best out of the consoles once there is enough PS5 Pro stock to go around (as well as enough reasons to buy it). This EX321UX is a real investment for anyone who is gearing up to have the best setup ahead of GTA VI, which is coming out later this year.
Consuming media
As is obvious, consuming media content on the EX321UX is a great experience. The performance really depends on the source of the playback, as consoles handle HDR content much better than PC, due to how Windows handle HDR content playback. However, the EX321UX is always super sharp when watching anything from your favorite car YouTubers (shoutout to Nightride), or your favorite show on Netflix, Disney+ or Prime.
Productivity
You know we like to test monitors in all kinds of scenarios to provide in-depth feedback on how well they perform in every setting – premium monitors are expensive, and we wouldn’t want our readers to spend their money on products that fall short in any important real-world use case. This section is for all of you work-from-home gamers, you’re going to be very happy with what you read here:
The EX321UX is a productivity beast. With 32-inches of screen, that’s plenty of real estate for multi-window work, but that goes without saying. Its aptitude for media playback makes it the ideal centerpiece for your work-from-home setup, as you can easily have your lunch break and watch your favorite show, and pick the work right up from where you left it 20 mins later.
Now, I/O is super important for productivity, and the fact that the EX321UX has a USB-C that not only supports video passthrough, meaning you can use the USB-C port instead of an HDMI when plugging in your laptop, but also has active Power Delivery, meaning you can also actively charge your laptop. Couple that with the USB-A upstream ports, you can plug any peripherals you have lying around to your monitor to avoid having your docking station look like a mess of cables.
Arguably, the most important feature when it comes to productivity is the 99% color accuracy with the DCI-P3 and Adobe RGB color palettes, making the EX321UX ideal for any gamer whose day job is video or photo editing. But also, let’s not forget that this monitor comes with matte anti-reflective coating to minimize reflections when positioned near a window and BenQ’s magic Brightness Intelligence+ features that adjust the brightness of the display according to the light that is present in the space to minimize eye strain. The EX321UX has been a pleasure to use for work on a daily basis, and I believe that anyone working out of a small Macbook will immediately see the quality-of-life upgrade that this monitor is.
BenQ EX321UX – Conclusions
If you managed to read through our experience, along with the technical specs of the EX321UX, then you must already be drawing your own conclusions about this monitor. But in case, you’re still not sure, here’s ours: There’s no way around it, the BenQ EX321UX is an amazing monitor. With an incredibly sharp 4K Mini-LED panel, top-notch HDR capabilities that you can usually find in TVs that cost 3 times as much, and some incredible quality-of-life features that make it feel like an all-around premium package, it’s hard to not recommend to anyone looking for a new monitor.
But let’s talk about the elephant in the room: the BenQ EX321UX retails for about 1400€. That is a price point not for the faint of heart, nor for the faint of wallet. Keep in mind, however, that this is cutting-edge premium gaming tech meant for enthusiasts who also expect top performance for their buck. This is the kind of tech you’ll be seeing in monitors from other manufacturers in 3, or even 5, years down the line. This is an investment, a monitor that will be the centerpiece of your gaming setup for the next 6 to 8 years, if not more. At the time of writing, the BenQ EX321UX definitely is one of the best monitors money can buy, but to get the most out of it, you will also need some of the best hardware in the market.
