20" LCD Monitors: XXL Displays
BenQ FP202W
BenQ has long had a reputation to uphold in the field of 16:10 monitors, so we were somewhat impatient to see their new 20" unit. And when you notice that this unit is available at an average price of $330, a little impatience is understandable...
| Diagonal measurement | 20 inches |
| Native resolution | 1680x1050 |
| Contrast | 800:1 |
| Brightness | 350 nits |
| Latency | 8 ms (GTG) |
| Colors | 16.2 M |
| H/V viewing angles | 170/170 |
| Loudspeakers | None |
| Connectivity | VGA, DVI |
| Average price | $330 |
Design
As far as design goes, we've already seen better work from BenQ. Coming from a manufacturer that debuts high-fashion monitors at Milan Fashion Week, the FP202W is a bit of a disappointment when you take it out of the box. The lines are nondescript, and so is the base. Still, while the materials are "plastic" in appearance, they are very robust.
Ergonomics
The ergonomics of this monitor are mediocre. The panel has only a tilt adjustment, with a fairly limited range. The OSD is practical, but the presets weren't very convincing.
Connectivity And Equipment
The monitor has only DVI and VGA inputs. The transformer is built in.
Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
Not Expensive Enough
What can you expect in a 20" monitor going for $330 on today's market? For that price, you can find 19" monitors in standard format with excellent color rendering. So how much of a compromise should you be willing to make to get the extra inch of width? The fact is that the BenQ FP202W's color rendering isn't exceptional by default, but once properly adjusted, we have to admit it was pretty good for a TN panel.
The problem is that you do have to adjust it - the user-mode trick, with default adjustments, just doesn't work here. So you have to tweak settings, spend time with the test patterns, etc. It's finicky, but it's worth the effort. People are printing their own photos more and more nowadays, and without a well-adjusted monitor, what comes out of the printer can be an unpleasant surprise. Or worse, say you send 100 shots to an online print service; if your display was set too cold or too warm, you might not be too happy with what is sent back to you. So it's better to be in control of things. Buy a calibrator, ideally, or at least use the test patterns - they're better than nothing.
| Black spot | White spot | Contrast |
|---|---|---|
| 0.51 | 292 | 576:1 |
TN panels have never been known for great black depth, and that's the case again here. But the high brightness will let you achieve good visual contrast.
Contrast was fairly stable, but you can see that this monitor is more at home with high brightness values.
The monitor's color gamut showed nothing extraordinary. We also noted that the monitor was a little warm, since the blue was slightly behind the other values. It was also a little short in the green area.