BenQ PF93V review

BenQ's FP93V is a TFT monitor aimed at Apple Mac owners, although it can equally be used by any Windows user who likes the bright white look.

The square plastic base is just the right size for sitting a Mac mini on and the setup menu even has a 'Mac Standard' colour option.

A DVI port is provided for PC graphics cards and high-end laptops, and there's a standard D-SUB VGA input for older PCs and standard laptops, too. Cables can be fed through a hole in the support arm to keep them from sprawling across the desk.

Performance as a computer display is fine, on both DVI and D-SUB inputs. It's even hard to improve on the factory default settings, which get the best balance out of the FP93V with no further adjustment. With our test images, we could see fine details in both near pure white and near pure black, showing the contrast and brightness settings were nicely balanced. Gamers should be satisfied with the response time of 8ms - we played Far Cry, with no evidence of smearing on fast movement. It isn't a particularly bright screen though, and lacks punch in strong ambient lighting.

It also isn't great for watching DVD movies, although given its standard 4:3 aspect ratio rather than widescreen, that's not intended to be its primary function. Narrow viewing angles mean it's hard for more than one person to watch the screen at one time and without a movie mode colours are too harsh.

Adjustments are made through menu buttons on the left side, which gives the display a clean look front-on, but makes for trickier adjustment. If you don't lean over to look at what you're doing, it's easy to press the nearby power-off button instead. The are also of the basic variety - there's a tilt screen adjustment (forward 5, back 20), but no height adjustment, swivel or pivot. Taller users will fid themselves hunched over the screen.

The PF93V is a good screen for standard PC use, especially if you like the crisp white styling or have a Mac mini. Given its lack of flexibility elsewhere though, it's worth saving some money and buying something less flashy.

Author: RK