Though budget monitors IPS-matrix recently and cheaper, they are still more expensive than the “people” TN-models. What do you do if the image quality is not satisfied with TN, and money for IPS is not enough? Perhaps it makes sense to pay attention to the monitors on VA-matrix, one of which is the BenQ GW2250HM.
Design
BenQ GW2250HM Monitor case is made of black plastic frame around the screen is glossy, flat on the sides and with a slight rounding at the top and bottom. Rear of the mat, the casing is a little on the edges (thanks to the use of LED-light), and with a noticeable bulge in the center – probably due to the fact that the power supply in this model is integrated into the body and not handed out as a single massive “box,” as it is often made by other manufacturers. The monitor can be mounted on the wall (VESA 100 × 100), all the connectors are arranged so that the cables are connected from the bottom and do not interfere with wall mounting.
Of the connectors are present in BenQ GW2250HM: video inputs VGA, DVI and HDMI, audio line in and headphone out. In addition, to the sound output of the monitor are two speakers rated at 1W each.
The foot of the monitor is made up of plastic, wide enough to display mounted on the metal latch, to the stand – also on the snap, but plastic. The compound was prepared medium hard, hard to shake the monitor, but the amplitude is low, and the stability of this fact is not affected.
Menu
Display keys in BenQ GW2250HM monitor are located on the lateral side. Without the menu they can switch between images, adjust the volume and switch between video inputs.
The menu is in the form of horizontal tabs, moving between them (and any adjustment of parameters) is not implemented in the best place, because the shift to the left / right using the arrow keys up / down.
In the “Image” you can customize not only the usual brightness / contrast, and sharpness, gamma, and color temperature, and for its there are separate sub-menu, where there is a choice of one of the presets and fine-tuning by color, and even control hue and saturation. In the “Advanced settings Image” you can select one of the modes, configure a dynamic contrast, color, and choose the format of RGB-range PC to connect to HDMI. In System Preferences select the video input, set the OSD will be reset to factory settings, etc.
Inside and Performance
BenQ GW2250HM has an 8-bit VA-matrix 21.5″ with 16:9 aspect ratio and the”native”resolution of 1920 × 1080 pixels. Response time – 16 ms, which is typical for a matrix of this type. Lubrication of moving objects visible, but weak enough – some we’ve seen IPS-monitor effect was much more pronounced. Note that in the same line, there are models of other diagonals – BenQ GW2450HM 24-inch and 27-inch GW2750HM.
The monitor offers 6 different picture modes – Standard, Movie, Game, Photo, sRGB, and Eco.
The first thing you notice when you set up your BenQ GW2250HM monitor – Change the “Contrast” effect on the gamma curve and color temperature chart. When installing the contrast is less than 60 all parameters are within normal limits, but with increasing temperature contrasts somewhat “warmer”, dropping to values of 6000K in light areas of the image, and gamma curve “goes in the peak” – so, for maximum contrast with the curve starts at 02.05 0% gray (which in itself is not enough), and then quickly “dumped” to one already at 63% gray. Work with these settings is not possible because all the gray objects are completely bleached – for example, in MS Word text selection is simply not visible. After a series of measurements, it became clear that the optimal value of the contrast is 50 – no wonder that this is the default setting. In this case, the mode sRGB gamma value in the range 2.2-2.45, and color temperature in most of the range corresponds to 6500K. Of course, the range of somewhat high, which leads to over-contrast image, but will not reduce it – using the sRGB gamut control (like color temperature) is not available. We also note that a further reduction in the contrast settings of the monitor causes it to decline only in the dark areas – in light, on the contrary, the contrast increases, which demonstrates the gamma curve – if the dark areas it drops to a value of 2.15, in the light, on the contrary, increases to 2.5.
In the “Standard” to adjust all the parameters, so demanding users to better use it. Unfortunately, for the gamma setting in BenQ GW2250HM is available only 5 set parameters that differ from each other too much – if the value of “2” gamma curve is too low (in the range 1.95 – 2.15), which leads to too bleak a picture, then at the next value “3”, it rides up too high, up to 2.2-2.45. Perhaps it is this setting and can be considered the best in this case. Color temperature can try to switch from the standard meaning of “normal” to “warm” – as a result of temperature graph drops to 6000K, what is not so, but the gamma curve that is much more surprisingly, also down to a more acceptable level in the 2.2-2.4 (and, Most importantly, in the brightest parts of it also finally reaches 2.2, which means that in these areas will no longer be lost items).
Gamma curve on a scale of brightness, color temperature graph and gamut mode Standard (in monitor settings for color temperature is set to “Warm”):
The color gamut is not quite space sRGB – when in the red zone all almost perfect, the “yellow-green” and “red-purple” areas is even a noticeable overlap, the “blue-green”.
Maximum static contrast with BenQ GW2250HM monitor is very high – 2050:1 (for comparison – the monitors on IPS-matrix this parameter usually ranges 700-900:1). However, decreasing the contrast in the settings to the value 50 the result is slightly lower, but still very high – 1718:1. Minimum brightness is very low, with 15 cd / m ². Max, too, is not very high – 190 cd / m ². Uniformity of illumination as measured as measured in nine points on the screen was 90%, it is quite average. The most striking areas were in the central and lower parts of the screen, the least – in the left and right upper corners, the difference in brightness between the two was 40 cd / m ², which is also quite traditional result for LED-backlight.
Glossy surface of the screen rather than matte (setting off the monitor is reflected, but look at him in the mirror is not released). As a result, crystal effect is negligible – it can be seen only after looking very carefully.
Viewing angles are quite large, though smaller than the models on the IPS-matrix. If you deviate horizontally markedly reduced brightness and color, there is a yellowish tint, missing details in bright areas of the image. When you reject the vertical brightness is first reduced, at angles above 45 degrees – begins to increase again. In terms of color distortion picture is the same as for horizontal deflection.
Results
BenQ GW2250HM monitor is a budget solution and approach to its assessment of costs accordingly. The design is simple, but robust enough picture quality though inferior monitors on IPS-matrix, but still clearly superior to TN. It is worth noting the presence of HDMI-input (and built-in speakers, if someone interested), and the fact that at the moment the cost of this model is a little less than $ 170, which is the average price level for TN-monitors, while most similar IPS-models start at the level of $ 180-190.
Pros:
+ image quality and viewing angles are much higher than TN-matrix
+ HDMI-input
+ low price
Cons:
– Response time
This was all regarding BenQ GW2250HM Monitor which is capable of giving good performance and has good specs as well, so if you are thinking to buy this monitor which is available for price $170 will not be a bad deal.
