BenQ EW2430 review

BenQ’s EW2430 is a Full HD 24in monitor with an LED backlight, two HDMI inputs and a four-port USB hub. What sets it apart from the vast majority of LCD panels out there is that it’s a VA (Vertical Alignment) panel rather than the more common TN (Twisted Nematic) type – the names refer to the way the liquid crystals are arranged inside each LCD sub-pixel. VA panels are known for producing better colours, deeper blacks and wider viewing angles and we were amazed that the EW2430 only costs £175.

You get a lot for your money. A Full HD (1,920×1,080) resolution is now the norm on monitors over 22in, but you also get a choice of VGA, DVI or two HDMI inputs, so you could have your PC, a games console and a media streamer all connected at the same time. A four-port USB hub means you won’t have to reach under your desk to plug in your mobile phone, MP3 player or flash drive.

The EW2430 doesn’t have an adjustable stand, so you’ll need to arrange your work space around it. It’s an attractive monitor, with a glossy black casing and a stand made with brushed metal and chrome highlights that give it a slightly retro look. The on-screen menus are controlled with buttons behind the right-hand edge of the screen with labels pointing to them on the front, so are easy to find and use.

The monitor has BenQ’s standard menu system, which is clear and logically laid-out. Picture controls include contrast, brightness, gamma and sharpness, and a Color section lets you choose between Bluish (cold), Reddish (warm), Normal and User – oddly, the Normal setting actually has Blue turned down to 88/100, making the image rather warm.

These controls are overridden for the most part by the separate Picture Mode setting, with Standard, Photo, Game, Movie and Eco presets, as well as an sRGB setting that locked down all other controls. The sRGB standard is meant to provide a baseline colour gamut, and we’d normally expect to see it under the Color section, but this way BenQ has made sure it’s a reference colour mode which can’t be changed.

Most of the picture modes resulted in extreme settings – the Eco mode was too dark, while the Movie and Photo options blasted colours out of proportion. The Game mode is meant to turn off image processing to improve response times, but we found it also over-egged the colours and turned on Sharpness, which highlights edges but adds a grain to the image that we found unattractive.

Sadly, the EW2430’s picture quality didn’t live up to our expectations. Viewing angles weren’t that much better than a normal TN panel, and in sRGB mode, the picture was dull and had a slight yellow cast. Switching to Normal picture mode and setting colours to User mode – with all colours set to 100/100 – made colours more vibrant, but blacks weren’t as deep as we’d hoped so contrast suffered. The backlight wasn’t as even as we’d like either, with horizontal bands visible in our white-screen test. Its 8ms response time is a bit sluggish, and we occasionally noticed some ghosting when playing games.

Image quality is no doubt better than a standard TN panel, but for the slight extra you’re paying we’d expect a more noticeable improvement. Granted, the 4-port USB hub and the dual HDMI inputs add extra value, so if image quality isn’t your priority then this added utility might sway your decision. However, the Iiyama ProLite E2409HDS has a single HDMI port, great image quality and costs about £30 less.