Product Reviews

When it comes to large-format monitors, much of the price is determined by the feature-set or, more precisely, the flexibility of the stand. So it goes with BenQ's new 24in offering, the G2400WT. Most monitors of this size with prices below £250 come with fixed bases, but the BenQ manages to give full adjustability for just £233.

The hefty base means it's as solid as any monitor we've seen when being shifted around, and the 13cm lift in the neck should suit all manner of desk setups. It also swivels widely and pivots from landscape to portrait mode. As far as connections go, you get DVI and D-SUB, as well as an HDMI port for more modern devices; interestingly, while there is a headphone output to take advantage of audio

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via HDMI, there are no speakers.

This wouldn't be an issue if the picture quality was outstanding, but it falls some way short of the high standards set by others recently; cramming in such an excellent stand and portrait capability seems to have led to compromises in other areas. The major issue is the brightness, or lack thereof. Even on a white test screen there's an overriding sense of gloom, and the uneven backlight makes that worse towards the top edge.

This has a knock-on effect on detail in dark areas. Murky might be slightly too harsh a word, but telling the lowest shades of grey apart is tricky. Greys are a little greenish, even after extensive tweaking, and the controls you need to use to do so are confusing - why Enter opens the menu, yet Menu changes the input source, is anybody's guess.

As you'd expect at 1,920 x 1,200, the level of detail in video and photos is high and to be fair to the BenQ it's perfectly usable if you're not relying on it as your main entertainment monitor.

But if you regularly play games or watch DVDs you'd be better off looking to any of the superior TFTs around this price - the 26in Iiyama ProLite E2607WS - for instance, now costs just a little over £200 and, flexible stand aside, bests the BenQ in every way.