What a monitor. WHAT a monitor.
Now yes, I, like many, really struggled to get this monitor to turn on. It has touch-sensitive buttons that run down the bottom-right side of the monitor, with a circular power symbol in the bottom right corner. As you move your hand close, it lights up. As you pull your hand away, the light fades away quickly. Very futuristic, very cool.
So, the fact that you have to look in the manual to turn this thing on is crazy in my mind. Never had to do that. But I'll bite.
So you take a look, and the last image is just a finger over the button saying "Turn on the monitor." Well...thanks BenQ, but I've been prodding, smooshing and holding my finger over that button for the past 10 minutes, and it won't come on.
Great, got a dud I thought. But no. Some research online and reading the countless other people's exact same issues in forums, all saying they can't turn their new monitor on, what a farce etc, I found a video on Youtube of how to turn it on.
I've tried this 10 times now, and it's a fail-safe method to turn this monitor on.
What you do is cup your hand. Form a C, and you gently, GENTLY, push your PALM near the base of your thumb over the button, with your fingers around the back of the monitor as it were. You hear a quiet ding straight away, and then HUZZAH, the screen comes on!
And then you scream in pain as the brightness destroys your retinas.
This thing is like a mobile sun on full brightness. Over-exaggerating of course, but you definitely think "Wow this thing is bright compared to other monitors."
Changing the monitor settings is mandatory, if fiddly. The touch-sensitive buttons are really poor. The top 2 work, the middle 2 don't work very well AT ALL (you end up putting your finger near them like 10 times before it detects). Luckily, you can navigate with the little remote/pre-set-settings module device that comes with the monitor. MUCH easier.
Mine came in "FPS 1" mode and 100 brightness, Gamma 5 setting. I change to "Standard Mode", Gamma 4, 50 brightness and RGB of 96, 97 and I THINK 99. But you can read around to find the optimum settings, as everyone has different preferences, but my settings were the universally acclaimed "These are really good" settings.
Performance wise? This monitor is a beast. An absolute, un-ashamedly gaming...beast. You simply switch to 120hz in the advanced settings of your display settings in Windows, screen goes black for a few seconds, and then...you enter a world you wish you had found before.
Just moving the mouse around in Windows is a far smoother experience.
Colours are deep depending on your settings. In Gamma 5 mode, I found blacks to be too washed out. Gamma 4 is nicer for me. Some say you should drop the RGB into the 70s for the best colouring. Again, it's all preference.
You don't get any obvious light bleeding going on, not that I can notice anyway. Whites are properly white etc. No obvious strobe lines.
In games? If you can push your FPS limit beyond 60 FPS, preferably into the 100s, then this monitor COMPLETELY changes how you view games, and more importantly, your accuracy increases due to the incredibly noteable increase in smoothness.
There is an attitude that if you can get above 60 FPS in games, you're wasting that power by using a 60Hz monitor, as a 60Hz monitor only shows a maximum of 60 FPS. This is true.
But then they say you need more than 120 FPS to see the difference on a 120Hz monitor. This. Is. Completely. False.
I see dips in some games to 60 FPS and notice NO difference in the increased smoothness that 120Hz gives. And that brings me to an important point:
I don't care what anyone says, you CAN see a difference at 120Hz. Even if your FPS drops below 100, even if it drops to just above 60, you get a feeling of CONSTANTLY being at 120 FPS. "oh well the human eye can't see more than 60 FPS anyway". Rubbish. Absolute rubbish. Playing on a 60Hz monitor now, is like...wading through treacle or something.
Packaged with almost military precision of fit, in the box you receive every possible connector cable to a PC or TV. DVI, HDMI and or your standard monitor cable. UK power cable, software CD, bezel, monitor of course, a monitor cover and an external mode-selection device, kind of like a wedge of cheese.
Construction takes minutes. You screw the bezel into the baseplate and it locks itself in, you flip it over and there is one screw you line up. A nice touch, is that you can either use a flat-head screw driver, OR lift a flap attached to screw it in manually. Nice on BenQ. Not all of us have screwdrivers to hand.
Once that's done, you remove the sticky covers, and simply push the monitor onto the bezel. It clicks in easily, and is solid. You push a button on the back to the side to "unlock" the monitor for transport.
There are 3 or 4 nice touches to the design. One, is a cable hook on the back to hang your headphones if you desire.
Second, the top of the bezel has a handle. A built-in handle, so you can lift up this surprisingly light monitor and transport it without lifting it BY the monitor itself.
Thirdly, the mode-selector device is magnetized. The base of the bezel is slightly curved, and the device fits flush and looks like it's part of the base. It pulls itself into the base, and stays there with rubber feet, and requires. It disconnects easily, but it is magnetized enough so that if you shake the desk, it won't disconnect itself from the base. You then connect it via a built-in mini USB to the back of the monitor. Easy and clever.
Lastly, there is a hole in the bezel/neck of the base. You can feed the cables through this for some basic cable management. Unfortunately you can see the cables dangling down into the hole below the monitor, but if you went full on with the cable ties, you could get it looking cable-less.
You can adjust the monitor to pretty much any angle. Tilt is great, you can raise and lower it to the point where it practically touches the desk, you can spin it to portrait. All solidly locked in place.
The mode-selector that comes with the monitor can be used, I believe with the CD software, to pre-select, on the fly, monitor settings you have assigned to one of the 3 buttons. Very useful, as you can change gamma and brightness settings on 1 button, assign "movie" mode to button 2, or have button 3 be your Strategy Game settings. It's your choice.
This monitor is a fantastic purchase, but with a price. Literally. Spending almost £300 on a monitor sounds crazy to most, when you can get a 32+ inch TV for less these days.
BUT.
You're getting 120Hz. TRUE 120Hz, none of this "scaled" rubbish.
The design, the look, the 120Hz, the solid build, the matte screen finish...this monitor SCREAMS quality and is built for gamers, BY gamers. The colour choice, the design, the headphone hanger, the mode device, the matte screen, the built-in handle, all screams "gamer".
It wears its' gamer badge with pride, citing it's official sponsorship to Nvidia tournaments on the box, and has had 4 or 5 world-known Counter Strike players help with the design.
This is arguably the BEST 24" gaming monitor around for under £300, and as we all should know, 24" for a gaming PC on a desk is MORE than big enough.
Pricey, but for a fantastic, game-changing reason.
| Brand | BenQ |
|---|---|
| Product Dimensions | 57.1 x 15 x 51.7 cm; 6.1 kg |
| Item model number | XL2420T |
| Manufacturer | BenQ |
| Series | XL2420T |
| Colour | Black |
| Standing screen display size | 24 Inches |
| Screen Resolution | 1920x1080 |
| Resolution | 1920 x 1080 |
| Number of HDMI Ports | 2 |
| Are Batteries Included | No |
| Item Weight | 6.1 kg |
| Guaranteed software updates until | unknown |
