After launching the world's first flicker-free VA Panel Monitor back in 2013 (GW2760HS - courtesy of goldfries.com), BenQ now releases the gorgeous BenQ EW2440L and EW2740L that inherits the flicker-free features and the company's Eye Care initiative to bring better experience to the end users.
Great thanks to goldfries and BenQ Malaysia for making this review possible, providing us such great opportunity and the EW2440L review unit. Without any further ado, let us see what does BenQ has to offer with their new EW2440L, retailing at the price of 799 Malaysian Ringgit each.
Technical Specifications
Aspect Ratio | 16:9 |
Resolution (max) | 1920 x 1080 |
Dimension | 421.6mm x 545.66mm x 191.32mm |
Weight | 3.74kg |
Native Contrast | 3000:1 |
Dynamic Contrast Ratio | 20M:1 |
Panel Type | VA Panel |
Response Time(Tr+Tf) typ. | 12ms, 4ms (GTG) |
Display Color | 16.7 Million |
Audio / Video Input / Output | D-Sub/ HDMI x 2 (MHL) |
Compatibility | Windows 7, Windows 8 |
Features | Low Blue Light Flicker-free Technology Senseye® 3 Smart focus/Super resolution |
Overview
The main body of BenQ EW2440L unboxed and the first thing that caught our attention is extremely thin bezel of the monitor itself.
A closer look at the BenQ EW2440L - the thin bezel will definitely gives better and immersible viewing experience when paired with the AMD Eyefinity.
Don't be fooled by these little dots, these aren't LED indicators but touch controls for you to adjust the monitor settings. Personally we think that there's both pros and cons for having this type of controls:
- The gain? No worries of buttons failure due to worn out contact point in the switches
- The loss? As these tiny dots doesn't comes with any form of visible indicator, getting it to work right in a low light environment could be a painful experience as you can't really tell the exact location of the controls you're looking for.
The included accessories is pretty much what you will be needing for everything (VGA, MHL, Power Adapter, the monitor stand), it'll be better if BenQ included a piece of HDMI cable.
There's 2 speakers at the back of the BenQ EW2440L that can be used with the HDMI/MHL connector.
The I/O connectors are placed vertically at the back of the monitor which allows easier access compared to most monitors we've seen on the market with the I/O connectors placed at the bottom side of the monitor. The only downside of having such design is that you will not be able to install it on custom monitor mounts.
Assembling the BenQ EW2440L is pretty easy and straight forward. The neck of the monitor is secured to the main body with the screws right below the I/O connectors.
The neck of the monitor is then secured to the base that comes with these screws that comes with a small handle-like structure and can be easily secured without needing any tools.
The outcome - one gorgeous looking BenQ EW2440L ready to be used.
Another extras to highlight - it's not something really special but... there's a mobile phone mount that can be accessed from the base of the monitor. It's rather limited to mobile phones that is similar in size of the iPhone, as seen in the photo above. Anything beyond that size will render it useless.
Features Highlight
Here's some features of the BenQ EW2440L which we think is rather unique compared to the other brands we've came into previously.
Flicker Free
The official Flicker-free demo video from BenQ:
Our method in determining whether the flicker-free feature:
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The photo above shows a 120mm case fan placed in front the BenQ EW2440L, there's some dark lines which is only visible under photo capture but not to our naked eye.
On the other hand, we can see visible dark lines on the screen and thicker dark lines on the 120mm case fan when placed in front of a laptop monitor.
It's a great feature that comes very helpful for those who often capture video of gameplay with their camera instead of using screen capturing softwares, no worries of flickering that will destroy your video of quality gameplay.
Low Blue Light
The official Low Blue Light demo video from BenQ:
The Low Blue Light feature seems legit. Although we weren't able to present it to you all with mere photos, but we can really tell the difference from our experience in using it for hours with the Low Blue Light feature in preparing some of our reviews - less fatigue to the eyes.
Some might questioned this as the same result can be achieved by lowering the blue channel level in your monitor display. BenQ has taken the approach to save your time from all the hassle by having it preset to the monitor and you can easily switch it on-the-fly.
HDMI - MHL Display
HDMI - MHL Demo video, courtesy of goldfries.com:
Mobile gamers who wish to have a more immersive gaming experience, here's a great option to go for - this is limited only for Android Smart Phones.
Final Thoughts
Our experience with the BenQ EW2440L throughout the review is pretty good in overall, for a 24" VA Panel monitor with a near borderless design along with BenQ Flicker-Free and Low Blue Light features at the price of 799 Malaysian Ringgit, it's almost a too good to be true offer.
Along with the pros, we did spotted the cons as well throughout the review and it's listed as below:
Pros
- Easy to assemble and disassemble without any worries of breaking any parts
- Very thin bezel that gives a great viewing experience
- Touch controls for adjusting monitor settings
- Easy to access I/O connectors
- Flicker-Free to naked eye and even (some)camera
- On the fly Low Blue Light adjustment
- Included with HDMI - MHL cable
- Comes with mobile phone holder at the base of the monitor
- Built in speakers at the back of the monitor
Cons
- The mobile phone holder is limited to something at the size of an iPhone
- The vertically placed I/O connectors somewhat sacrificed the option for mounting the monitor to any form of mount
- No HDMI cable included
- No visible indicator for touch controls, especially under low light environment
Before calling it a day for our review, the BenQ EW2440L is awarded with our Silver award and Recommended award.
How is the sharpness of this monitor?
ReplyDeleteLooks great here I'd say, been working on photoshop very often with it and feels much better than my current Dell U2311HB :)
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DeleteSounds good. Perhaps the review I saw was of a bad apple or some other anomaly.
ReplyDeleteSo text is nice and sharp? I have to see one in person I suppose. Saving that, I'm looking for photo's of text.
BTW .. is the actual measured viewable screen area 24" or 23.6" ? Smaller 23.6" is not bad, I'm just curious what it is.
Thanks for the feedback :)
What about the gamma shift from off angles that VA panels suffer from? How is that aspect of this panel?
ReplyDeletewell, there's noticeable gamma shift as you move your line of sight but it doesn't really causes much issue for gaming. :)
DeleteThanks for the review. Did you do any gaming on it? Just wondering what the performance is like under high FPS?
ReplyDeleteI've been playing Far Cry 3 and Assassin's Creed III on the EW2440L and I have to say that my eyes aren't as fast as a high speed camera :P
DeleteOverall experience is very good as the thin bezel gives a great viewing pleasure compared to the U2311HB I have.
What about the viewing angles?
ReplyDeleteAlso screen reflection?
ReplyDeleteNo worries on the reflection (anti-glare) and viewing angles (no negative view). :)
DeleteMeasurement of the bezels?
ReplyDeleteIt's roughly around 4mm plus minus
Deletemy question is about Response Time(Tr+Tf) typ. 12ms, 4ms (GTG) i dont get it why it is like that or if you can do something in settings
ReplyDeleteIt's actually something like this:
Delete12ms is the response time for Black-White-Black color transition, whereas the 4ms is the response time for Gray-to-Gray color transition.
What is the refresh rate?..
ReplyDeleteIt's a standard 60Hz refresh rate :)
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