Which 24" monitor - Dell G2410, BenQ G2420HD or G2420HDBL?

esuhl

I've spent the last year (!) trying to decide which monitor to buy and, after reading lots of contradicting reviews, I've narrowed it down to one of these:

Dell G2410 - LED backlit ~£230
BenQ G2420HD - CCFL backlit ~£145
BenQ G2420HDBL - LED backlit ~£155

I just wondered if anyone has any experience of these monitors? The most important thing for me is the clarity of text (and not getting eyestrain!), although I do look at photos occasionally too.

Can anyone help? Any advice would be really appreciated!

outlaw777

From past experience I know that BenQ is a good solid make.

savemoney

Dell are good I have one now for 18 months its 24" costs me over £400

Ditto

This 23" monitor is getting a good write up on hukd's - Philips 230C1HSB 23" Full HD LCD Monitor 1920x1080 12000:1 (Dynamic) 300cd/m2 5ms VGA/DVI-D/HDMI/USB Multimedia Glossy Black £154.99 @ Ebuyer

http://www.hotukdeals.com/item/598305/philips-230c1hsb-23-full-hd-lcd-mon

esuhl

Thanks all - after much deliberation I've gone for the BenQ G2420HDBL as it sounds like LED backlights are easier on the eyes. Dell seem to get erratic reviews - sometimes really good and sometimes really bad. There doesn't seem to be much in it, but the BenQs were cheaper! :money:

I was tempted with the Dell U2711... till I realised it cost over £1k. I use my PC a lot, and was very nearly tempted... but that is waaaaay too much money for a monitor! At least the one I got was only £160, so if I don't like it I can bin it! (Hopefully not, though.)

Robgmun

OK, if you want pure picture quaility and don't care about money then the Dell is the best

BenQ is the better 'value for money' make i.e not quite as good as the dell, but still great and a lot cheaper

I can also recommend the Samsung 245B, i've had one and has been wonderful.

savemoney

I paid £400 for a ultra sharp monitor it uses the best panels as I believe there are 3 different types, you get what you paid for

esuhl

Robgmun wrote: »

OK, if you want pure picture quaility and don't care about money then the Dell is the best.

Oh no - I've already ordered! :eek: What makes you say that Dell would be best? I haven't managed to find any comprehensive reviews of the LED backlit BenQ, but the reviews I saw of the Dell were very mixed - a great one on CNet, but quite a few users reported problems on other sites... It sounds like the quality of the Dell panels is really hit-and-miss. The comments on the BenQ were at least consistent.

savemoney wrote: »

I paid £400 for a ultra sharp monitor it uses the best panels as I believe there are 3 different types, you get what you paid for

Yeah. The Ultra Sharp ones tend to use PVA or IPS screens.

TN panels are cheap, poor viewing angles, highly responsive and pixel colour values are usually 6-bit instead of 8-bit

PVA panels are more expensive, but have better colour accuracy and wider viewing angles, but poor text legibility.

IPS panels have the best colour accuracy and the sharpest text.

I would have spent around £700 max. for the perfect monitor. I was looking at the Dell U2711 till I realised that it was over £1000 (about the same in £ as it is in US $!). I also liked the look of the NEC 2490WUXi... (IPS panel, 16:10 ratio, sRGB colour space) but I wasn't convinced it would be perfect, which it would have to be at that price!

As long as the BenQ looks okay for casual photo viewing and can display sharp, clear text without giving me eyestrain... I can put up with the fact that the colours are a bit off and it's a 16:9 ratio. And it's cheap enough to replace in a year if necessary.

It was delivered today so I've got my fingers crossed that the image will be decent and I can get over the horrible shiny stand!

esuhl

Well, just in case anyone else is thinking of getting the BenQ G2420HDBL, I thought I'd let you know my thoughts.

The horizontal viewing angles are good enough that you can see the screen clearly at an angle, but there is an obvious colour shift, so this wouldn't be great for professional photo editing. I'm not convinced that the colours are particularly accurate either, but they're pretty good for casual use. There is some obvious dithering too.

Blacks are really dark and it's easy to see small changes (2% or 3%) in dark colours. Whites aren't pure white (not bad, though) and it's harder to detect even a 10% change in brightness. The screen is excellent for minimising glare, though - this is a brilliant screen (!) for minimising eyestrain. Text looks pretty sharp. Oh, and the glossy stand looks a lot better in real life than in photos.

So... overall, I'm moderately impressed... until I remind myself of the price, and then I'm VERY impressed! It's not perfect, but it does what I need it to. I'll keep my eye out for a decent 27" 16:10 IPS screen, but this'll do till then.

savemoney

I find my Dell perfect and do a lot of text on it, granted it isnt cheap. I paid extra because my eyes are letting me down, need specs I think

You get what you pay for I am sure cheaper monitors are fine for gaming and normal usage up to a point. I sue pc a lot so hence spend more to reflect usage

Mickey247

I use a Dell monitor and it's worth the money. Just make sure you don't take any crap from their customer services who aren't the best and are usually based in Mumbai.