I returned the GW2760HS. Too bright. Posted a wanted ad for the EW2740L instead.
BenQ GW2760HS
degen Probably a good decision. The same site tested the GW2760HS, too: minimum brightness 101 cd/m2. That' s a lot. If only we knew why we have such a brightness problem.
https://pcmonitors.info/reviews/benq-gw2760hs/
vinkenvvt ThackeryBinks Did you buy a GW2760HS yet?
Sure did. A no go for me. Gave it to my friends. No clue why it wasn't Ok however. It really was free of PWM, blue light mode, etc.
I'm also learning I'm not just reacting visually to things, but I react to off-gassing of certain
electronic devices... usually desktops though, haven't pinned that to monitors yet.
The visual reaction thing is certain, however. The cause is not.
Oddly enough I'm not horribly reacting to my wife's editing monitor, the Asus Pro-Art "PA248Q". I've purchased 2 of these now. It's 6 bit +FRC (or whatever that is haha), no pwm... but it bothers me less than any IPS screen out. Even when hooked up to Intel Graphics & a VGA connector.
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ThackeryBinks I also haven't found any LED-backlit IPS screens to be comfortable. I have an old CCFL-backlit Dell IPS screen which is OK. I've seen a few TN panels in store and a few actually looked more comfortable than their counterparts. In particular the BenQ GL2760H (looks like the TN counterpart to the GW2760HS) looked very still, despite being native 6-bit. Of course, I've learned that viewing a screen for a short time in the store isn't at all indicative of what you'll experience over the course of a few days, where minor strain adds up.
That's why I'm focused on VA panels right now (and plasma, I like my deep black levels). I would take another look at TN before I went looking for IPS, after my horrible and expensive experience with the HP ZR2740w PWM-free monitor.
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KM I can view my plasma Panasonic ST60 at normal people brightness. When I bring my family down to the home theater where it is set up, I don't have problems unless it is a very bright scene with lots of white, and then I just slip my FL-41 tinted sunglasses on until the scene is over. I think it would be totally fine even brighter if it weren't for my huge sub-reactive pupils (doctors still have no explanation) and mild autism.
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KM I can't find the EW2740L (measured at 11 cd/m² at 0% brightness) , even second hand. I'm looking now for the EW2750ZL, which is supposed to be it's successor, is more widely available (but looks to be out of production and is already becoming rare), and was also measured at 19 cd/m² at pcmonitors.info (thanks for the link to this great site). Even though it's not as dim as the EW2740L, it's still 5 times dimmer than the GW2760HS at 0% brightness. For reference I run the EW2440L at 0-3% brightness.
I found a local source and will pick it up tomorrow.
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I like it. Much more akin to the EW2440L in minimum brightness than the GW2760HS. It still is brighter than the EW2440L, and if 0 brightness was all one could tolerate on the EW2440L I would not recommend it, but I don't have to use any program to mess with the colours, and I kept the OSD contrast at 10. The first monitor I got had a dead HDMI port, so I exchanged it and now this one has bad panel uniformity, especially in 2 horizontal bands, one running through the middle of the screen and the other through the bottom. It seems BenQ does not have good QC.
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It does look a bit washed out compared to the EW2440L at 0 brightness. The EW2440L really excels at giving adequate contrast at very low brightness.
Increasing saturation and gamma in the OSD might be helping.
4 days later
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The EW2750ZL. It's a lot better than the GW2760HS but I'm thinking of returning it anyway because it still puts more strain on my eye than the EW2440L. No headaches or eyegraines but the muscles around my eye tighten up more and my eyes got redder. I'm using the EW2440L now again. It could be a brightness issue, it is brighter. Or something else, I really have no idea. In any case my monitor explorations are over. It's back to the EW2440L and my plasma TV until something better comes along... Someday....
7 days later
degen Now I bought an EW2775ZH. It has a good picture with much better uniformity of light, but it's still too bright for me at brightness 0, contrast 0, and on top of that in "dark room mode".
It turned out the newer "Blue Light Plus" modes didn't help at all. The OSD's white doesn't change when selecting such a mode, which tells me the modes don't change the backlight diodes, like some reviews suggested.
I'll stop buying new monitors, too. Until some promising technology shows up.
This review clocked the brightness of the EW2775ZH at 0% at 32.6. Higher than the pcmonitors review of the EW2750L which they measured at 19 cd/m². Difference in measuring equipment or difference in panel?
http://xsreviews.co.uk/reviews/benq-ew2775zh-review-jack-of-all-trades/
I kind of wish I had gotten that monitor instead. I'm stuck with the EW2750ZL because I didn't return it in time. I didn't realize I could get the EW2775ZH shipped to Canada reasonably from the US.
8 days later
I have been using the EW2440L without AMA on and the motion blur is really bad. I have been having nausea that is triggered by rapid movement in the background of 3d games which is something I've never had before.
12 days later
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Muscles around eyes are still tensing badly. After a couple of hours I can't keep my eyes open as the lid muscles are dysfunctional and squeezing my eye shut. Forcing through this phase causes more problem that only manifest the next day. Heavy pain in the muscles around the eye that takes days to fade. My pupils are huge as well and that seems to correlate well with my symptoms.
I need to go back to the plasma until my eyes heal up because I have been pushing through. Switching to Windows 7 did make a big difference though and for a while I thought I had actually found a fix that would last.
My rankings are now:
Panasonic ST60 (plasma, would be perfect except it has extremely high input lag. no good for multiplayer games at all) -> BenQ EW2440L -> BenQ EW2750ZL (too bright) -> Some Dell CCFL -> BenQ GW2760HS (way too bright) ------------> iPhone 6s (completely useless can trigger bad headaches quickly, I will not look at it for even a few seconds)
KM No, I didn't buy it yet... Sorry, I'm still using MacBook Pro Retina. By now the Macbook looks bearable (at the brightness of 6/16).