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I just want to take a second and thank BenQ and [H] for this great opportunity! I have enjoyed my time so far with the monitor, and could not be happier to have been chosen to present my thoughts to you guys.
As the thread title states, I was chosen by BenQ to review their new E2200HD monitor. For those of you who do not know about this monitor, it was one of the first, if not the first, 22 monitor with a 1920x1080 (1080p) resolution, which is an aspect ratio of 16:9, similar to most flat screen televisions.
The specifications for the monitor can be found on the BenQ site: http://www.benq.us/products/specificationsPrinter.cfm?product=745
Some of the important specs to note is its response time of 5ms and 2ms grey-to-grey, static contrast ratio of 1000:1, dynamic contrast ratio of 10,000:1, and the inclusion of an HDMI port for input.
All tests were done using the DVI port on my 8800GT with nVidia driver version 180.48. All pictures were taken with my trusty Canon PowerShot 870 IS and then cropped and resized.
Packaging
The monitor arrived doubled-boxed, which is always nice. Both of the boxes were cardboard and not especially flashy, which is fine by me. Its the box after all; Im only going to look at it for a few minutes when I unpack the display.
Inside the main box we have the nicely packed monitor. It is buffered on each side by a solid block of Styrofoam. The monitor itself is completely covered in protective plastic stuff, and is covered by a thin foam sleeve.
The monitor comes with a quick start guide, CD with drivers, audio cable, and VGA cable. I cant fathom why manufacturers continue to not include a DVI cable. They cost very little money to manufacture, and it certainly adds value to a monitor of this cost ($300 retail is not cheap).
Appearance
The build quality and appearance of the monitor is pretty good. The whole monitor, base included, is made of sturdy plastic that does not feel exceptionally thin or anything of the sort.
The main bezel is a nice glossy black that is not overly shiny; there is a silver strip on the bottom with the BenQ logo and power button, and a really thin silver strip all the way around. It looks professional in nature and I feel it to be appropriate for a monitor of this cost. I like it
Here are some profile shots. There is a headphone port on the left side which is nice, although USB ports would be infinitely more useful imo.
The back is pretty plain. There is supposed to be a cable organizer on the base of the stand, but mine was broken You can also see the 4 holes, which I believe are for a VESA wall mount.
Here are the ports; left to right we have power, audio input, HDMI, DVI, VGA
The power button glows a soft green when on, and yellow when on standby. Its not particularly annoying, although I did not see an option to turn the light off in the menu. Speaking of the menu, the buttons to access it are on the right side of the monitor, each having a label printed on the bezel. The buttons are unobtrusive, and they are curved so you can tell where they are.
Display
The main reason I wanted this monitor is that I have many HD movies, and I would like the capability to watch them in my college dorm room. Now having a nice 42 LCD TV is not an option, and I cannot fit a 24 monitor on my desk either. Thus, an affordable 1080p 22 monitor fit the bill, and I was overjoyed when I heard about this BenQ. Since I got this monitor mainly for movies, my review is geared towards them. I included display lag tests as many [H]goers were wondering about the lag, and I still play the occasional game, so this information is useful for me too.
Backlight Bleeding
The occurrence of backlight bleeding has turned me off of many, many LCD monitors. I hate watching a movie in the dark only to notice an absurd amount of backlight bleeding through the edges of the monitor; its annoying and dampens the mood of the film. I am pleased to say that the bleeding on the monitor, while existent, is minimal. There is a small amount on the top and bottom, but honestly, I barely noticed it when I was playing Left 4 Dead (which is very dark by nature) or watching movies. These pictures are taken with relatively long shutter speeds, so the effect shown is much more pronounced than it really is. I also tested the dynamic feature of the monitor, but I was not very fond of it. The change in contrast is too noticeable and thus is distracting.
Viewing Angles
As this is a TN panel, the viewing angles are not spectacular. But, once again, they are better than most other TN paneled monitors that I have used. I can see some color shift when I use the monitor normally, but it is not too bad. The angles used in the picture were quite extreme, so the quality is not really reflective of real world usage.
Text Quality
Heres a quick picture of the text quality (with ClearType). It looks fine overall, although small text looks a little thin and has like a fringe of color around it.
Display Lag
Here are some pictures of the display lag testing I did with an old CRT monitor I had lying around. I was very impressed by the results; the lag is minimal, which is just excellent! Also to note, I tried the AMA mode which apparently minimizes lag, but I could not tell any difference.
Click the thumbnails for the normal sized version
Finally, here are many pictures of the monitor when watching some movies. The quality of the actual display picture is FARsuperior to the quality shown in these photographs, so keep that in mind. The movies are razor sharp, the colors are very vivid, and the blacks are very, very good.
Kung Fu Panda
300
Black Hawk Down
Transformers
The Bourne Supremacy
I just wanted to show the title screen here to demonstrate the blacks. They are very very good and they rarely look grey in nature. It was not easy to take a picture, so sorry in advance
Casino Royale
Conclusion
Lets see, the E2200HD retails for $299, but it can be found on the BenQ website for $249 with coupon, at Newegg for $249, and at NCIX US for an astonishing $180!!! I'm not sure if I would pay $300 for the monitor, but at $250 or below, its an absolute steal! The 16:9 aspect ratio is great for movies, and works fine for gaming and normal office tasks. I found the viewing angles to be pretty decent for a TN panel, the contrast ratio is excellent, and the colors look great.
I am very happy to have finally found a low-cost and space-conscious way to watch HD movies in my dorm room. The picture looks nearly as good as the Samsung LCD TV we have at home, which is no easy task. In comparison to other non-pro 22" monitors that I have used, this is by far the best. Best viewing angles, color, contrast, etc.
There are not many flaws with the monitor that I can come up with. It does not do 1:1 pixel mapping which is disappointing, but not many monitors can do it in the first place. Additionally, it would be nice if a DVI cable was included and the stand was height-adjustable, but I can live without them. One odd thing was that the cable organizer on the monitor was broken, and there was a fingerprint on the monitor underneath the protective covering; looks like QC could improve a little bit.
And once again, a big thank you to BenQ and [H]!
Please feel free to ask any questions that you may have
As the thread title states, I was chosen by BenQ to review their new E2200HD monitor. For those of you who do not know about this monitor, it was one of the first, if not the first, 22 monitor with a 1920x1080 (1080p) resolution, which is an aspect ratio of 16:9, similar to most flat screen televisions.
The specifications for the monitor can be found on the BenQ site: http://www.benq.us/products/specificationsPrinter.cfm?product=745
Some of the important specs to note is its response time of 5ms and 2ms grey-to-grey, static contrast ratio of 1000:1, dynamic contrast ratio of 10,000:1, and the inclusion of an HDMI port for input.
All tests were done using the DVI port on my 8800GT with nVidia driver version 180.48. All pictures were taken with my trusty Canon PowerShot 870 IS and then cropped and resized.
Packaging
The monitor arrived doubled-boxed, which is always nice. Both of the boxes were cardboard and not especially flashy, which is fine by me. Its the box after all; Im only going to look at it for a few minutes when I unpack the display.
Inside the main box we have the nicely packed monitor. It is buffered on each side by a solid block of Styrofoam. The monitor itself is completely covered in protective plastic stuff, and is covered by a thin foam sleeve.
The monitor comes with a quick start guide, CD with drivers, audio cable, and VGA cable. I cant fathom why manufacturers continue to not include a DVI cable. They cost very little money to manufacture, and it certainly adds value to a monitor of this cost ($300 retail is not cheap).
Appearance
The build quality and appearance of the monitor is pretty good. The whole monitor, base included, is made of sturdy plastic that does not feel exceptionally thin or anything of the sort.
The main bezel is a nice glossy black that is not overly shiny; there is a silver strip on the bottom with the BenQ logo and power button, and a really thin silver strip all the way around. It looks professional in nature and I feel it to be appropriate for a monitor of this cost. I like it
Here are some profile shots. There is a headphone port on the left side which is nice, although USB ports would be infinitely more useful imo.
The back is pretty plain. There is supposed to be a cable organizer on the base of the stand, but mine was broken
You can also see the 4 holes, which I believe are for a VESA wall mount.Here are the ports; left to right we have power, audio input, HDMI, DVI, VGA
The power button glows a soft green when on, and yellow when on standby. Its not particularly annoying, although I did not see an option to turn the light off in the menu. Speaking of the menu, the buttons to access it are on the right side of the monitor, each having a label printed on the bezel. The buttons are unobtrusive, and they are curved so you can tell where they are.
Display
The main reason I wanted this monitor is that I have many HD movies, and I would like the capability to watch them in my college dorm room. Now having a nice 42 LCD TV is not an option, and I cannot fit a 24 monitor on my desk either. Thus, an affordable 1080p 22 monitor fit the bill, and I was overjoyed when I heard about this BenQ. Since I got this monitor mainly for movies, my review is geared towards them. I included display lag tests as many [H]goers were wondering about the lag, and I still play the occasional game, so this information is useful for me too.
Backlight Bleeding
The occurrence of backlight bleeding has turned me off of many, many LCD monitors. I hate watching a movie in the dark only to notice an absurd amount of backlight bleeding through the edges of the monitor; its annoying and dampens the mood of the film. I am pleased to say that the bleeding on the monitor, while existent, is minimal. There is a small amount on the top and bottom, but honestly, I barely noticed it when I was playing Left 4 Dead (which is very dark by nature) or watching movies. These pictures are taken with relatively long shutter speeds, so the effect shown is much more pronounced than it really is. I also tested the dynamic feature of the monitor, but I was not very fond of it. The change in contrast is too noticeable and thus is distracting.
Viewing Angles
As this is a TN panel, the viewing angles are not spectacular. But, once again, they are better than most other TN paneled monitors that I have used. I can see some color shift when I use the monitor normally, but it is not too bad. The angles used in the picture were quite extreme, so the quality is not really reflective of real world usage.
Text Quality
Heres a quick picture of the text quality (with ClearType). It looks fine overall, although small text looks a little thin and has like a fringe of color around it.
Display Lag
Here are some pictures of the display lag testing I did with an old CRT monitor I had lying around. I was very impressed by the results; the lag is minimal, which is just excellent! Also to note, I tried the AMA mode which apparently minimizes lag, but I could not tell any difference.
Click the thumbnails for the normal sized version
Finally, here are many pictures of the monitor when watching some movies. The quality of the actual display picture is FARsuperior to the quality shown in these photographs, so keep that in mind. The movies are razor sharp, the colors are very vivid, and the blacks are very, very good.
Kung Fu Panda
300
Black Hawk Down
Transformers
The Bourne Supremacy
I just wanted to show the title screen here to demonstrate the blacks. They are very very good and they rarely look grey in nature. It was not easy to take a picture, so sorry in advance
Casino Royale
Conclusion
Lets see, the E2200HD retails for $299, but it can be found on the BenQ website for $249 with coupon, at Newegg for $249, and at NCIX US for an astonishing $180!!! I'm not sure if I would pay $300 for the monitor, but at $250 or below, its an absolute steal! The 16:9 aspect ratio is great for movies, and works fine for gaming and normal office tasks. I found the viewing angles to be pretty decent for a TN panel, the contrast ratio is excellent, and the colors look great.
I am very happy to have finally found a low-cost and space-conscious way to watch HD movies in my dorm room. The picture looks nearly as good as the Samsung LCD TV we have at home, which is no easy task.
In comparison to other non-pro 22" monitors that I have used, this is by far the best. Best viewing angles, color, contrast, etc.There are not many flaws with the monitor that I can come up with. It does not do 1:1 pixel mapping which is disappointing, but not many monitors can do it in the first place. Additionally, it would be nice if a DVI cable was included and the stand was height-adjustable, but I can live without them. One odd thing was that the cable organizer on the monitor was broken, and there was a fingerprint on the monitor underneath the protective covering; looks like QC could improve a little bit.
And once again, a big thank you to BenQ and [H]!
Please feel free to ask any questions that you may have