Iiyama ProLite XUB2493HSU-B1 review: Great image quality at a fantastic price
Not the perfect 24in monitor, but image quality is astounding for the price
Pros
- Great value
- Good image quality
- Flexible stand and portrait mode
Cons
- Fiddly, rear-mounted OSD buttons
If you’re on a tight budget, we can cut to the quick: the Iiyama ProLite XUB2493HSU-B1 offers unmatched value without making any obvious sacrifices. Indeed, you could place this 24in monitor next to some competitors that cost twice as much, and wonder why they aren’t the same price. While not perfect, the wallet-pleasing price here makes it much easier to overlook a few slight design flaws.
Iiyama ProLite XUB2493HSU-B1 review: Design and features
Cosmetically, the Iiyama employs slim bezels to give an edge-to-edge appearance, with the only blemish being an ugly sticker that proclaims all of its features. Luckily, it’s easy to strip this off. And, in Iiyama’s defence, there’s quite a feature list: you can flip it into portrait mode, it provides VGA, DisplayPort and HDMI inputs, and there are two side-mounted USB 3 ports for easy access.
The Iiyama uses IPS LCD panel technology, which delivers strong image quality, achieving 93.6% of the sRGB gamut with an outstanding average Delta E of 0.81 and a contrast ratio of 1,192:1. All of those results came in the monitor’s preset sRGB mode, which bizarrely locks you into 100% brightness – and it’s bright at 278cd/m².
We assume that Iiyama was aiming for a 6500K colour temperature with this setting, but it actually measured at 6367K, which isn’t a disaster, but if you’re sensitive to such things then you’ll need to create your own profile using the onscreen display (OSD). This is where the Iiyama falls down slightly: where other models utilise context-sensitive controls that show you what each button does before you press it, the Iiyama relies on the time-honoured and highly annoying system of rear-mounted buttons, but with no onscreen cues explaining what each does, it’s far from intuitive. It’s also too easy to accidentally switch off the panel by pressing the bottom-most button, which is the power switch.
READ NEXT: The best PC speakers you can buy
Iiyama ProLite XUB2493HSU-B1 review: Verdict
There are signs of cost cutting here, but the Iiyama ProLite XUB2493HSU-B1 pulls it out of the bag with a flexible stand – it even offers 130mm of height adjustment – and a price that none of its equally reputable rivals can match. Delivering incredible picture quality for such a modest price tag, the Iiyama ProLite XUB2493HSU-B1 is a solid 24in monitor and great value.