Iiyama ProLite E2210HDS-1 review

The Iiyama ProLite E2210HDS-1 may not have an LED backlight, but in our side-by-side tests it showed better contrast than certain LED-based rivals while drawing just 4W more. At 50mm thick, it’s not quite as svelte as some LED monitors, but this will be irrelevant for most people.

Its design is plain, with a thin bezel and a simple, glossy black stand. Four buttons to control the menu system are mounted underneath the screen, with only two small icons – for Eco mode and volume – to mark their whereabouts. We wish manufacturers wouldn’t try to hide the buttons to improve aesthetics.

The menu isn’t very easy to read. It uses white text on a light grey background – if an option is greyed out it’s almost invisible. There are brightness and contrast controls as well as image presets and dynamic contrast – the latter isn’t as harsh as on other monitors we’ve reviewed, but it tends towards darkening the picture and – as usual – we preferred to leave it disabled. There are also colour and gamma controls, including an sRGB mode. In side-by-side tests we found the E2210HDS-1’s contrast superior to two LED-backlit rivals.

However, the colour balance was slightly skewed towards red tones – especially noticeable with flesh tones – and we found it hard to remove this by adjusting the separate red, green and blue controls. Colours looked deeper and more convincing on the second gamma setting, but this in turn ruined the contrast, hiding detail in dark areas.

The E2210HDS-1’s speakers sound tinny and project upwards and backwards, making everything sound eerily disconnected. Unlike some rivals, the ProLite has an HDMI port as well as the standard VGA and DVI ports, giving you more flexibility.

While the E2210HDS-1 isn’t a bad monitor, lots of minor flaws combine to make it less appealing than its rivals. Overall, it can’t compete with the excellent picture quality and low price of the BenQ G2222HDL.