HannsG HT231HPB review

The HannsG HT231HPB is one of the cheapest 10-point touchscreen monitors we’ve ever tested. This is possibly because the 23in HT231HPB uses a TN panel rather than a more expensive IPS panel. The colour accuracy and viewing angles of TN panels are typically not as good as IPS panels. This isn’t the case for all TN panels, though, and the HT231HPB has one of the best TN panels we’ve seen in recent months.

You’ll need to calibrate the monitor to get the best out of the HT231HPB because its initial colour accuracy was disappointing. The screen looked blue when we first turned it on, and our colour calibrator showed it was only displaying 87.8 per cent of the sRGB colour gamut. The HT231HPB’s main area of weakness was its red and magenta coverage, which were both short compared to its strong blues and greens.

Fortunately, we were able to increase its coverage to a much more impressive 97.7 per cent once we’d calibrated the HT231HPB, which is excellent for a TN display and made colours look more natural.

Our subjective image tests definitely benefitted from this increase in coverage, with reds, greens and blues looking much brighter and more vibrant than they had pre-calibration. They were still a couple of shades darker than our reference monitor, but all were uniformly lit across the screen. Whites were a little grey, but we were very pleased with the HT231HPB’s deep blacks. Its black level reading of 0.18cd/m² is one of the lowest we’ve seen from a 23in monitor and the monitor’s excellent viewing angles meant we didn’t see any noticeable shifts in colour as we tilted the screen up and down.

Contrast levels were also promising. We recorded a contrast ratio of 946:1 post-calibration and could see a great level of detail in our high contrast test photos. The monitor’s glossy finish did make it a little tricky to look at photos shot at night, but we were still able to pick out fine shadow detail without too much trouble.

Its angular 23in chassis is quite large, so it will take up a fair amount of space on your desk, but unlike other height-adjustable touchscreens that require a lot of room at the back, you’ll need to pull the HT231HPB towards you to take advantage of its 60 degree screen tilt. We actually prefer this method of tilting as it means we don’t have to keep a lot of empty space behind it.