Color influences everyone. It catches our attention, affects our concentration, and shifts our mood in different situations. It’s one of the many reasons why BenQ pays special attention to color precision when designing our displays.

The original BenQ SL02K series launched back in 2020 became the first-ever Pantone^® Validated 4K UHD smart signage in the world. It gave retailers, schools, and offices a one-of-a-kind smart display that guaranteed color accuracy to a T.

Now, its successors—the latest generation Google-certified SL04 and SH04 series displays—expand on that, offering a wider color space, more enhanced Pantone features, and a set of advanced color modes that are specifically calibrated to match the needs of schools and businesses.

When it comes to color, Pantone is the undisputed leader, setting a globally recognized color system that impacts a range of industries, including architecture, design, manufacturing, fashion, and consumer goods.

The Pantone Matching System ensures the consistent use of color between different types of media.¹ This simply means that through this system, a particular shade of color will always look the same regardless if it’s viewed on a large-screen display like the SL and SH series, transferred onto a shirt, or printed on a mug.

The SL04 and SH04 carry over their predecessor’s Pantone mode, but this time, they offer a much wider color gamut. This broader color spectrum allows our latest smart signage to display more accurate colors than ever. Schools and organizations can benefit from using this mode when viewing or presenting content and making color-critical decisions.

The new SL and SH series are also Pantone^® SkinTone™ Validated, which means that both can truthfully represent a wider range of human skin tones on screen.

Related: Color Chat: Q&A with BenQ Senior Color Expert Chris Bai

On typical displays, highly melanated subjects tend to look flat since their limited shades of brown cause them to blend into the shadows. Conversely, subjects with paler skin tones tend to get washed out in bright lighting. Pantone mode corrects these issues by making dark skin tones richer and pale skin tones more balanced, allowing subjects to pop out and appear more vivid and lifelike.

Current trends show that MacBooks are steadily becoming a staple in both classrooms and offices. More and more schools around the world are partnering with Apple education,² and by the end of the year, Mac adoption is projected to grow by 20% in the enterprise space.³ These shifts create an interesting scenario when it comes to using Mac devices in blended environments, particularly regarding color compatibility.

MacBooks use Display P3, a color standard developed by Apple that has a 25% wider color space compared to sRGB, which is the standard for many displays.⁴ Because of this, MacBook colors appear differently on typical displays.

Teachers who use MacBooks when creating their lessons may find it jarring to realize that the colors of their materials look altered after extending their screen. This case is particularly detrimental for classes such as science labs or art lessons where colors play an important role.

Related: Enhancing BYOM with BenQ Education Solutions

In business meetings, presenters showing slides from their MacBooks could also run into issues when the display they’re using cannot faithfully replicate their intended designs. This could potentially dictate whether or not their proposals get greenlit.

M-book mode on the SL and SH series is calibrated specifically for MacBooks, ensuring consistent and accurate colors when connected via HDMI. This mode seamlessly matches the color profile of your MacBook, providing a reliable experience every time you extend your screen.

What’s more, the SH04, in particular, has one of the widest color gamuts when it comes to the DCI-P3 color space. At 95%, it bests the majority of the digital signage solutions available today.

Demand for architects and civil engineers in the US remains strong as the engineering and construction industry looks toward a promising future, driven by expectations of increased residential and data center construction⁵. The career outlook for architects is projected to grow by 8% from 2023 to 2033⁶—double the average growth rate of 4%—while civil engineers are expected to see a 6% growth over the same period⁷. 

This upward trend may encourage more students to pursue these majors, which often require students and teachers to analyze detailed schematics, blueprints, and other designs on a shared screen. Engineering and architecture firms are also likely to have displays installed in meeting rooms and could benefit from this color mode for enhanced productivity.

High-detail mode on the SL and SH series is specifically calibrated for these scenarios. The contrast between schematics and font with the background allows the whole class to scrutinize each line clearly, making it easy to see plans and concepts in exacting detail.

Artists and designers share at least one thing in common: their visions usually begin as conceptual sketches on paper. Whether in art, industrial design, or fashion courses, students will need to display their sketches to the class for review, which is where Sketch mode on the SL04 and SH04 comes in.

Sketch mode is a grayscale setting with a subtle warmth added and reduced display brightness designed to mimic the look of printed paper, similar to ePaper displays. This offers a clean viewing experience to help teachers and students analyze sketches of all kinds.

Sketch mode on the SL04 and SH04 provides ample contrast between the desaturated images and the background, making drawings and illustrations stand out without overwhelming the users’ eyesight.

Teachers have been integrating video into their classroom instruction since the first educational VCR tapes became available in the 1980s⁹. In one recent study, almost 75% of educators surveyed said that video leads to better student engagement than text-based materials¹⁰. That same study found that 97% of teachers said that video content is essential for their classes.

With that in mind, the SL04 and SH04 will include Cinema mode starting in Q2 2025 to help users make the most of video content, whether it’s student-made video projects, video content that teachers use in their lessons, or videos for signage purposes. By plugging in an HDMI cable to the display and playing a video from a connected source, such as a laptop, users can unlock HDR10 delivery in Cinema mode. With this, they can experience brighter highlights, deeper blacks, and more details in shadows.

Whether used as signage or smart displays for classes, the SL and SH series provide a variety of color options that are sure to improve the overall viewing experience, keeping students engaged, workers focused, and audiences captivated in any scenario.

Experience the different color modes in action, and see for yourself how a change in tone can make a world of difference by booking a live demo with any of our BenQ experts today.