BenQ G2222HDL 22in widescreen monitor review

The 22in G2222HDL is the successor to the BenQ G2220HD. The latter won a Best Buy award thanks to its image quality at a low price, so we were keen to find out if the new model could take the crown from its now-obsolete sibling.

The newcomer looks identical – its stand has the same textured inlay, while a useful ridge along the top acts as a convenient handle for carrying the monitor. It has the same Full HD resolution, but rather than having fluorescent tubes for backlights, the G2222HDL uses LEDs.

Placing the two side by side showed that the new model is brighter and colours look richer. We tweaked contrast and colours using the Standard mode as a starting point to get the most natural colours, but other presets use dynamic contrast and boost colours to incredible degrees, which some people might like when playing games or watching movies.

As usual, BenQ’s menu system was clear and easy to follow although the slight delay when switching menu screens can be annoying. The menus include brightness, contrast and colour controls, plus a sharpness control that we found added too many artefacts to the image. Dynamic contrast is available using certain presets, but in Standard mode it’s disabled.

At its maximum value, dynamic contrast made colours overblown but retained a remarkable amount of detail. Impressively, there weren’t any sudden changes in brightness that normally plague dynamic contrast implementations. However, the setting did have a tendency to over-emphasise dark areas, making some scenes in The Dark Knight virtually unwatchable.

In our gaming tests we found response times to be great, with fluid motion during fast action. Image quality presets can be switched on the fly by using the menu system’s arrow buttons, so you can choose overblown colours and dynamic contrast in a game, and then switch back to more natural colours for work with photos.

The screen’s matt finish reduces reflection from overhead lights. On some monitors, this adds graininess to the image, but we noticed this only when we weren’t square on to the screen.

You won’t get many extras at this price – the screen doesn’t swivel to portrait mode and the stand doesn’t allow for height adjustment. There aren’t any internal speakers – not a great loss, though, as these are generally of terrible quality. With no HDMI input, you might need an adaptor to connect certain devices, but the DVI port does support HDCP copy protection so you can watch Blu-ray movies, for example.

If the lack of height adjustment is a problem you could always buy a monitor stand – or use a thick book to place the display at the right height. At this low price, the G2222HDL is fantastic value and it deservedly wins our Best Buy award.