This is the world’s first programming productivity monitor

Alexander Nguyen
5 min readSep 26, 2024

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I can finally code in 4k

My BenQ RD320UA

Disclaimer: This product was shipped to me by BenQ for free to review.

It’s 2024 and we finally have coding monitors. BenQ just released their BenQ RD series and it’s made to reduce eye-strain for late night programmers.

It’s nice to have a dedicated monitor for coders, but that means it’s not built for gaming or streaming movies.

What makes this monitor unique is that it has different coding modes to make it more comfortable on your eyes when you’re coding in the evening.

As a software engineer who always coded on a laptop, I’m going to review this monitor and these key features:

  • Coding modes
  • How easy it is to rotate
  • MoonHalo Light
  • External features

You can find a link to the BenQ Product line here.

(I DO NOT receive a commission on these purchases)

Coding Modes

The touch panel hotkey offers a quick and convenient way to toggle between different display themes — dark (ideal for black IDEs), light (perfect for white IDEs), and the last color mode you selected from your monitor’s OSD.

You can explore multiple color modes by using the 5-way control button located under the hotkey. One of these options is the “User” mode, which allows you to fine-tune display settings such as brightness, contrast, sharpness, saturation, gamma, and color temperature.

For coding, there are three common modes here:

  • Dark mode ideal for any late night coder who needs to be productive.
  • Light mode for anyone coding during the day who is using a brigther IDE.
  • E-paper mode for reading code or any other system design documents while you’re working. I personally find myself using this one more often since I’m generally reading docs and not always looking at an IDE
BenQ RD Function Bar

It’s a no-press button tap that makes it convenient to navigate different modes when you’re coding or browsing the web.

From my personal experience, the dark mode is a great setting the quickly dims your monitor without having to manually do it yourself. It’ll even turn on the moon halo light, the ring light behind the monitor, to make your workspace brighter when you’re coding in the dark.

What makes this more helpful is that the monitor can auto-detect if you’re in a late night setting and prompt you if you’d like to

User mode is the standard mode that makes your monitor bright and can get a little tiring to look at over time. I couldn’t really tell the difference between user and light mode but that might be because I don’t code in light mode.

Overall, I do see a difference reading code on my monitor and it is easier on the eyes.

Rotation

The monitor comes with an ergonomic arm that feels really comfortable moving left and right and tilting up and down.

The small problem I have with it is how difficult it can be switching to vertical. When I tried switching to vertical, I had to tilt the monitor out before rotating it.

This usually isn’t a problem because most coders don’t rotate their monitors that often.

But as far as moving it around and showing it to a coworker, the ergonomic arm is a really nice touch over having a basic stand.

Moon Halo Light

The Moon Halo Light at Midnight

This was the feature I was looking forward to above anything else. Instead of having a lamp on your desk when you’re coding at night, you can drop the lamp for the light on the back of the monitor.

Switch the monitor to dark mode and the back light will turn on. You can also turn it on manually too if you need to use it in a dark setting.

What makes it really nice is how you can turn the brightness up and down. You can also give your room a cozier vibe switching it to warmer tones or add brightness with blue tones.

I wasn’t sure if it would really make a difference at night but it did make looking at the monitor easier to look at.

External Features

What’s really convenient about the RD series is how they have built in speakers. I wouldn’t say the speakers are production quality but they’re nice to have if you’re missing your headphones.

The monitor also has a built in KVM switch that makes it possible to switch between different pcs on the same monitor. As a coder I’m usually just coding on a single pc but it’s nice to have the option.

Below the monitor is a function bar that handles switching between coding modes and helps you adjust your monitor settings. It’s a really convenient no-press bar so you won’t have to worry about breaking buttons.

Do I recommend this for software engineers?

Overall I would. Having different modes for coding or staring at your screen is nice option we should’ve had years ago.

The product markets itself with late-night coders but in general you can create the different lighting presets for different scenarios like reading documents or news articles online.

However, I wouldn’t get this monitor if you just started out programming. $250 — $700 is a steep price tag for a beginner. That’s usually a budget for work from home workers who can have their company expense their WFH setup.

While I wouldn’t say this helps a software engineer be more “productive”, it does help you with eye strain and make your monitor feel more comfortable to use.

If you’re interested in learning more about the RD series, you can find a link to the BenQ Product line here.

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Alexander Nguyen

220,000 Followers on LinkedIn. Sharing ideas about making online content