BenQ V2400 Eco – All white monitor
Sum and Substance:
Thumbs Up:
Good picture quality, the buttons on the sides for adjusting the picture are comfortable to press, has a built headphone jack.
Thumbs Down:
No DVI connection, there is no HDMI cable bundled.
The Whiz Kid Speaks:
BenQ V2400 Eco is a TFT LCD monitor with LED backlight technology. The unit is 22.8 inches wide, 7.1 inches deep, 17.1 inches high and weighs 10.8 lbs. It has aspect ratio of 16:9, image brightness is 250 cd/m2, dynamic contrast ratio is 1000:1 / 5000000:1, maximum horizontal viewing angle is 170, maximum vertical view angle is 160.
The screen is 24 inches big, gives maximum resolution of 1920X1080 pixels, supports 1080p videos, maximum sync rate (VxH) is 76 HzX83KHz, video bandwidth is 205 MHz, response time is 5 ms, front panel has just the power switch. Input ports are VGA and HDMI. Other features include OSD-Digital Display Director, Senseye Technology, LED-backlit, HDCP.
Interfaces on the monitor include HDMI – 19 pin HDMI Type A, VGA – 15 pin HD D-Sub (HD-15). Connections include headphone, D-Sub, HDMI.
Razzle Dazzle:
V2400 Eco is an all white model something that you seldom see in computer peripherals. We quite comfortable with the black or grey color, which computer products are known to posses. BenQ decided to do something out of the box and we welcome the new look. Everything is white including the VGA and power cable. We also liked the base stand which protrudes out from on side.
Inside Dope:
BenQ V2400 Eco has been priced at $350 and the reigning champion in our tests, the Samsung SyncMaster XL2370 costs about $300 so there is no real reason why you should go for this monitor. Samsung performed much better in our tests because it had a brighter screen and the viewing angle was wider.
We were slightly puzzled by the all white look of the monitor but it certainly stood out in our test centers. The monitor has a foot stand that is 7.1 inches deep and 11.8 inches wide and it makes sure the monitor doesn’t topple down even if you give it a big push. It just wobbles a bit and then comes back in to place.
You cannot rotate the screen and all that you can do is, tilt the screen forward and behind up to 20 degrees. We didn’t find this feature too useful. The stand of the monitor has a hole which is big enough to house a tea cup. BenQ told us that it is for keeping a mini plant pot or keepsakes but we doubt if you would let water anywhere close to a $350 electronic product.
For connectivity, the monitor gives you HDMI and VGA ports but it doesn’t give cable for the former. The ports are located on the sides of the monitor rather than on the lower side which often obstructs while connecting owing to the stand. There is also a headphone jack on the monitor’s side.
On the other side of the panel there are five buttons for menu, auto button, up and down button and enter button. The buttons are easy to feel due to their structure. The menu has options of color, contrast and brightness. There are six presets on the OSD eco, SRGB, photo, standard, game and movie. We didn’t find that menu interface as user friendly as Samsung SyncMaster Xl2370.
The monitor gives 16:9 aspect ratio and gives full HD resolution of 1920×1080 or 1080p.
| Resolution | 1920X1080 |
| HDCP compliance | Yes |
| Response time | 5ms |
| Bundled cables | VGA and power cable |
| Contrast ratio | 1000:1 |
| Backlight | LED |
| Brightness | 250 cd/m2 |
| Panel | Twisted Nematic (TN) |
| Connectivity | HDMI, VGA |
We tested the monitor for performance and we found that the picture quality was good. This is a TN panel which means you will get black spots when you view it from below or sides. We played two games, Unreal Tournament 3 and World of Warcraft, the quality was good but again is short of XL2370 because of the low brightness of the BenQ’s product.
BenQ uses LEDs for lighting up the screen as compared with a lot of other manufacturers which run on cold cathode fluorescent lamps to light up the panel. As a consumer you get a better lit screen and hence the video quality is slightly better. Other advantages of LEDs include more precise reproduction of color, superior energy efficiency and thinner body. BenQ hasn’t used the exploited the potential of LEDs like Samsung did on XL2370
In power consumption test we found that the unit consumed 23.52 watts and the standby power requirements were about 0.3 watts which is quite low. You will spend about $7.22 per year on power of this product, XL2370 and SP2309W’s uses $9.96 and $12.98 per year respectively.
Nitty Gritty:
We will again say what we have said in the beginning, Samsung SyncMaster XL2370 is the best and also a lot cheaper than BenQ V2400 Eco. Everything that this monitor gives, Samsung’s counterpart can deliver better. So why would you buy this?
