The computer monitor, this is the place where I usually look for cheap options or the options which will just work. Currently, I have a Samsung 22′ with a max resolution of 1680×1050 (16×10), 2ms response time and 20000:1 dynamic contrast. The monitor worked great for me, produced true colors and games looked excellent on the Samsung monitor. Until I got my hands on the BenQ XL2411Z LED gaming monitor.
I honestly was not prepared for how much better this was going to make everything look. The BenQ monitor just blew me away with excellent image reproduction and crisp 1080p resolution. The MRP of the monitor is 25,000/- and the Monitor totally deserves the price tag and here is why.
Let’s start with the basics. The build quality of BenQ Xl2411z is fantastic. The base of the stand is nice and solid, provides height adjustment which is really helpful when adjusting the screen to your height, and stand also includes the option to pivot the monitor 90 degrees, for both viewing, and for much easier access to the input ports on the bottom. It also comes with a dual link DVI cable, which is required for more than 60hz, something I would expect at this price, but am happy to see just the same. The physical buttons used to navigate the settings menu are well placed, but just a little too close together for me, I have to feel around a bit more than I’d like to be sure I’m on the button I want to be on, but I can understand the need to save space. However they do have what they call, Display Pilot, which is software that allows you to do all of this with your mouse and keyboard instead which is something I really liked because mouse will always be faster than multiple button press.
The menu buttons are well placed, if a bit cramped.
Ignoring, for now, all of the extra bells and whistles, this monitor is gorgeous. I connected my old monitor to see the difference and it is night and day. 100% brightness feels about twice as bright as on my old monitor, and all of the colors are much more vibrant, and that’s just on the default settings. You do have the option to customize multiple color and brightness profiles, in addition to the ones that come preset. So you can have one set up for gaming, one for daily use, another for movies, whatever you want. Not only that but they have the option to download color profiles from other users, including some big name gamers, and then use them. It’s a great feature to be able just download the preset and use it.
So what does your money get you for extras? Quite a bit for the Hardcore Gamer. You’ve got Motion Blur Reduction, which reduces the blur when a fast paced scene appears, a low blue light option, which has a similar effect as gaming glasses, such as Gunnar Optiks, reduced flickering regardless of brightness settings, “Black eQualizer”, which helps brighten up dark areas without washing them out, and on top of it all, a 1ms response time.
Everything worked flawlessly, all the extra features clicked at right spot and at right time. The monitor was built with FPSs in mind. FPS gamers, at professional stage, require super low response times, and as much sharpness and as little blur as possible, making this perfect for that use. However I’m a casual FPS player, at best, though this provided better visuals in my Counter Strike Global offensive matches, but that was mostly because this is a better monitor than my previous monitor. All features execute their task perfectly to warrant this price.
With a monitor this focused on gaming, I was curious if it would have any negative impact on daily use. Videos, typing, general web surfing etc. I was very pleased to find out it did not. My gaming settings worked just fine for everything else as well. Even if some of the settings do cause issues for others, it’s very easy to just change your profile over to a “daily use” profile and you should be problem free as well. The monitor is very easy on the eyes as well. During my exams I studied for 8 hours continuous on my computer for 5 days straight, I suffered no eye sore or headache.
However there were a few problems overall. First, as stated you need a DVI dual link cable to go above the 60hz settings to either 100, 120 or 144. However this is provided, so really the only problem is swapping out the old cable, if you don’t have one already. Likely not a big deal depending on your setup, but worth mentioning. Also there is lot of navigation to do via the buttons, although Display Pilot makes it easier but still lots of menus and navigation to go through to get the job done via buttons.
