Hardware BenQ XL2410T Zowie Special Edition Review

BenQ's latest is built for pro-gamers, with features to match. Does it suit the rest of us though?

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/monitors/2011/02/09/benq-xl2410t-zowie-special-edition-review/1

 

i don't see the point in being able to change the size and aspect ratio of the monitor for competitions

when the pro-gamers will presumably be moving from 120Hz to the standard 59/60Hz for their competitons.

In which case they will have to drop the refresh rate on the monitor anyway which is awful considering this

is the only thing it has going for it.


Actually, considering that 3D glasses warrant the need for a higher brightness level is 300cd/m2 even high

enough for this purpose ?

 

1920 x 1080.... Yawn.... enough of these cheap screens already.

All you have to do is look at the 1920 x 1080 res and you know its gonna be crap.

 

I think we are missing the point here.. its a 3D screen. yes compared to the Viewsonic IPS it has awful picture quality but its screen quality is not its sell point. The 3D facility is. I would personally have the IPS panel any day as 3D is not for me but if 3D is required the Viewsonic just cannot be considered.

A good review but a point well missed for such a good review site.

Review it against an Acer or ASUS 3D monitor and it will score far more admirably which is the whole point of the screen. Reviewing like for like.

If we want to go down that route why dont we review the U2410 against the viewsonic? The reason we dont is because the Dell will score far higher making the Viewsonic look awful when in reality its far from it.

 

These panels are actually pretty good when calibrated correctly - according to the far more in depth reviews available. Out of the box setup is naff and as this is predominately what this review is based on it doesn't accurately represent the panels capabilities.

 

+1. The context of its competition needs to be taken into account. We can trash 3D TN panels everyday comparing the colour accuracy against its expensive 2D IPS counterparts.

 

The recommendation of the viewsonic doesn't make sense. This is a gamers screen, which means it's designed for people to win computer games not admire the scenery. Hence sure better colours and contrast would be nice, but it's the responsiveness and 120hz refresh rate that are key. The 60hz viewsonic can't compete - it's not really even a competitor, they are designed with different users in mind

 

I am tired of LCD at 1080p claiming they are 24inch when clearly they are 23inch. What they decide to count the frame on the 1080p displays or what?

That's how you push the companies to do a better a job.

 

Is that true? My Dell 24" (1920x1200) is exactly 24" of visible screen (on the diagonal), which is a hell of a lot better than the old CRT days when it was the tube sized they measured.

Anyone with a 1920x1080 screen care to take a tape measure to it?

 

Perhaps BenQ's much raved about £170 VA panel would be a good monitor to review and compare to the Viewsonic?
A £350 3D monitor has a limited target audience, even among gamers. Whereas a quality, budget conscious 24" would probably appeal to far more Bittech/CPC readers.

 

Forgive my ignorance, but where does it say the main purpose of this monitor is that is does 3D? I'm looking down the BenQ website and the fact it's nVidia 3D ready is 3/4 of the way down the page and warrants a single sentence.

Surely it's main selling point is that it's an FPS gaming monitor? And as a gaming monitor, you'd be buggered if you played any night time levels (and that's even ignoring the fact that the number of people who would use it purely for FPS gaming is pretty small)

 

You did not get me. It's not supposed to. But it's impossible (assuming each pixels are square and have the same distance between each other in all directions) that at 1920x1080 is the same size of your 1920x1200. I know what they do... they simply round up. But, the reality of things, that is cheating. It's 23inch.

 

Well, I just measured my 1920x1080 24 inch monitor and the screen is precisely 24" in diagonal. Each pixel is perfectly square too, so I'm not sure where you got your information from, but I'm afraid it's not right.

 

120Hz and monitor stand aside, it looks suspiciously like a G2420HD. Heck, if you put them side by side (without the XL2410T's stand) you'd really struggle to differentiate the two.

 

Yawn, oh look, another overpriced monitor test.
I vote for a low-end-of-the market-test.
The "El-Cheapo" gamer special so to speak.

Actually, this is quite handy when compared to a screen that auto-scales or interpolates.

 

BenQ site shows the correct dimensions: 23.6"
Actually you are kinda right... it's because they have a huge 0.2715 dot pitch, and not the traditional and proper (for an up-close screen) 0.265 dot pitch. Text will be hard to read on the BenQ screen (assuming you use is a desktop monitor, so you are up close to it).

 

Beat me to it, that was pretty much exactly what I was going to say.

Different monitors have pixels of different sizes, they're not all the same. I've seen 1920x1080 monitors advertised at 22", 23" & 24" in almost every online shop I've looked at. Then there are laptops with smaller screens at the same resolution...

 

Yes, I agree... if the resolution is high for a small screen, that's perfect. In fact better (sharper and smoother image). But doing the reverse... is not good... it make things blurry.

My point was that 24inch monitor.. is 24inch... a 23.6inch monitor or 23.1inch monitor is 23inch, or 23.6.. NOT 24. I don't know.. for me it's very important information, and allows you to know if the monitor will be a good or not in term of sharpness and readability level of text.

 

What the hell are you talking about? And it looks like my Alienware OptX Aw2310 is still the king of gaming monitors

 

Monitor reviews seems to be one of Bit-Techs weaknesses, and I'm just left with a bunch of questions. Why couldn't you review the normal BenQ XL2410T instead of the Zowie edition? Why are you not comparing it to other 120hz monitors? Why didn't you test it's 3d capability? Why are you comparing it to an IPS?