HannsG HH229DPB review

22in monitors are the current minimum size you’d expect with a new PC, and HannsG’s new HL229DPB, which costs only £91, looks like it might become a common review PC peripheral. It’s a standard TN TFT panel and only has VGA and DVI inputs, but its image quality is superb.

The monitor has a low-power LED backlight, and draws only 20W when active. Unlike those of some budget monitors we’ve seen, the HL229DPB’s backlight is bright and even, although it has a slightly cold cast which makes reds seem duller. We also noticed a bit of bleed-through from the backlight when viewing a black screen, but generally black levels are good for a budget display.

Although the glossy black plastic that makes up the stand and bezel feels a bit cheap, it looks smart and feels sturdy enough. The rear casing is made of an even cheaper-looking matt-black plastic, but you won’t have to look at it very often. There are VESA mounting points, so you can attach your monitor to a wall or an adjustable desk stand.

We were really impressed by the HL229DPB’s image quality. Some budget monitors have uneven backlights, poor black levels and washed-out colours, but the HL229DPB’s image was sharp, with decent contrast and vibrant colours – apart from reds, which seemed a bit orange in side-by-side comparisons, but not so much as to spoil the picture. In our test photos, colours were vibrant and contrast deep. Skin tones were a bit warmer than usual, but this worked well in movies. When playing Crysis, the jungle foliage was lush and foreboding – the HL229DPB’s deep blacks do more to improve image quality than anything else, adding depth and punch to the colours around them.

There are only four preset display modes: PC, Movie, Game and Eco. Choosing any of the modes other than PC will disable the manual Brightness and Contrast controls. The Movie and Game modes pumped colours and contrast up way too high, while the Eco mode simply dimmed the image. We found PC mode had the best balance of colour, brightness and contrast.

There are few other options: the simple menu system is easy enough to use. As well as Brightness and Contrast, you can choose dynamic contrast (labelled as Active Contrast) which also disables the other controls. Dynamic contrast is meant to adjust contrast based on a scene’s overall brightness. We found the changes in contrast could be distracting, and we preferred using the monitor with it disabled.

You can also change colour temperature, and you have a choice of Warm, Nature, Cool or User – we chose Warm to counteract the natural coldness of the backlight, but if you’re working with photos and need accuracy, you can always tweak the User controls to get the desired balance.

You shouldn’t need to tweak too much, though, as the HL229DPB has the best natural image quality we’ve seen on a sub-£100 monitor, and easily deserves our Best Buy award. It really is a bargain, and if you’re buying a new PC on a budget it should be at the top of your wish-list.