BenQ G2411HD review

BenQ's G2411HD is the latest 16:9 ratio, 24in monitor to arrive in our labs.

If you removed the badge, though, you'd be hard pushed to tell it apart from Iiyama's E2407HDS (What's New, Shopper 254). The two are almost identical on paper as well. They have the same inputs (DVI, VGA and HDMI), full-HD 1,920x1,080 resolution and claimed brightness.

In our tests, it became obvious that the G2411HD isn't quite as bright as either the Iiyama or other 300cd/m² monitors we've tested recently. This meant that shadow detail wasn't as evident in our test photos, and also that colours occasionally looked a little muddy. Fortunately, the backlight is even and viewing angles are good. Response time is perfectly adequate for gaming, and motion in videos was crisp.

The G2411HD claims a dynamic contrast ratio of 40,000:1, compared with the E2407HDS's 30,000:1. Both panels have a native contrast ratio of 1,000:1, though, which is far more representative of the actual image quality. Don't get us wrong, the G2411HD has good contrast, but these soaring dynamic figures are misleading - your new monitor simply won't match up to a plasma TV.

BenQ calls its image presets Senseye+Photo, and its onscreen menu is dubbed Q-Pilot, but despite the fancy names there's nothing to get excited about. Unlike many other monitors we've seen, the presets aren't terribly useful. The Photo mode applies an unhelpful blue tint, while Movie and Dynamics both dim the brightness and increase saturation. We preferred the brighter Standard mode, which was indistinguishable from the sRGB mode. You can adjust the red, green and blue levels, but the preset colour temperatures of Normal, Reddish and Bluish aren't very useful if you want to select 6,500k for editing photos.

Dynamic contrast is available only in Photo, Dynamics and Movie modes and was annoying when watching a movie or playing a game. The changing backlight levels were rather distracting. We found it preferable to keep the monitor in Standard mode in both cases. There's no Eco mode, but you can reduce brightness for the same effect. Halving the setting reduced power consumption from 40W to 30W.

As with the Iiyama E2407HDS, the G2411HD has limited movement on its stand. It sits just 95mm off the desk, which means you'll probably need an extra stand to raise it nearer to eye height, the most comfortable working position.

With a two-year warranty against Iiyama's three years, no speakers and a higher price, the G2411HD trails behind its rival. However, a bigger problem for BenQ is Iiyama's newer B2409HDS which has a height-adjustable stand, better image quality and costs just £2 more.