BenQ FP241W 24" VA panel review

[Robbie Khan Reviews]

I've had my Dell 2007WFP for several years now, revision A04 after a replacement or 2 and have for the past month or 2 been looking for a worthy 24" replacement. I read reviews of every suitable model out from the big brands and the one I wanted (The Hazro 24" IPS) was not available for sale anywhere online, the Hazro site says they are looking for resellers....ah well.

The Dell 2408WFP and 2407 reviews were great but left a bad taste after hundreds of threads all over the net about inverse ghosting, mouse tracking ghosting - as a gamer, photo editor and movie watcher I need a screen just like the 2007WFP, something that doesn't have the issues the 2408/2407-HC have.

Couple weeks back I bit the bullet and bought the Hyundai VA panel 24" monitor for a decent price from Novatech, it was "ok" in the flesh, not what I was expecting, had blurry text and monitors with fat bezels now put me off seriously, makes my desk look...odd and makes me feel like it's just...wrong! so I returned it the next day and since then have continued the search.

So today OCUK delivered me the BenQ for 410 notes, I read many reviews of this screen and virtually all of them praised it for colour accuracy, performance and connectivity/features.

Out of the box the BenQ reminds me of my Dell, if only the bezel was black then I'd be 100% complete, I have a plan for this though, once the warranty is up I will spray the bezel matt black and be happy again :)

I also bought a Spyder2Express calibrator for ?50+postage as I read one review where the owner got excellent colour accuracy after a calibration. The 2007WFP was pretty accurate out the box so I never bothered with that but the BenQ really did need it but you wouldn't be able to tell unless you did a before/after check and it's only critical for photo work so don't be put off if you don't have a Spyder!

So far I've watched a movie, watched some DVB TV, Played some R6 Vegas2, TF2 and Assassins Creed and all have shown excellent performance, no ghosting, no issues.

Photo editing saw similar performance but I will note the viewing angles are not as good as the 2007WFP even though the figures are the same (178/178) - this is down to the VA panel being used as the 2007WFP uses IPS and is 100% from all angles. Not really a huge issue again as the difference is small and the screen so huge...

Backlight bleeding is also pretty good with a fairly faint bleed from each corner, nothing distracting when watching a movie or playing a dark game, I have emphasised it in the below photo a bit by using a low exposure and high ISO:

One thing about the Dell was that out of the box the brightness was way too bright, the same stands for the BenQ with a value of 90 after a factory reset, I have this set to 75 after calibration and seems very good now, not too bright or dark, just right.

Connectivity wise it has every connection you need inc HDMI and the 1:1 pixel mapping works nicely too. One thing I do like is the top mounted USB port which can be used for various devices and BenQ has a USB webcam just perfect for it:

It's worth noting the FP241W comes with the following cables: DVI, VGA, Power, USB upstream. No HDMI cable is included.

The screen coating is similar to the Dell's matt screen finish, it is not glossy like the HP 22" monitors or the NEC 20WGX2 but is semi glossy at an angle:

After a few hours of usage the monitor generates a fair amount of warmth, putting you palm in front of the 24" screen you can feel the warm air surround your hand. I also found an issue where if you set the brightness below 70 then there is a very slightly audible hum that comes from the monitor's power connector area, obviously a power regulation noise. My Dell 2007WFP had a similar hum but only when the screen was filled with black text on white backgrounds. I think nothing of this really as it's common on many screens but most people don't notice due to the the fan noise of most systems.

I give this screen a 95% rating, less 5% for the humming that is very slightly audible in certain brightness settings.

[+Warwagon MVC]

God I love 24 inch Monitors They are the prefect size.

UPS just delivered my 2nd 24 inch monitor yesterday

No I have dual 24's

[Impact]

That's what I really need now. A 24 inch lcd lol. My 17 inch widescreen leaves a little something to be desired.

[instant.human]

off topic: would you mind sharing that wall?

other than that: nice review. im about to buy myself some external monitor atm and was considering the benq too. thanks!

[Warbucks81]

Awesome choice! Im picking mine up on Monday!

[Smigit]

I've had an FP241W since around when they were released maybe 18 months ago. Definitely a nice display. Only issue is a few firmware issues such as not scaling images if you say have an Xbox (stretches it rather than retaining the 1080 height over VGA) and some people report overscan. Largely depends what firmware release you have as to whether you get any of tose issues. But yeah, nice monitor and good choice.

[Brodel]

Nice, I went from a 19" to a 24" widescreen VA panel for only 200 quid and am very happy so far. Glad I chose it over the 22" I had been considering.

[clx]

Gah, i have a 22" Dell widescreen at the moment, it was one of their first ones so its about 5 or 6 years old :dizzy:

I have been looking at a few replacements for it, including the array available from Dell (as i have had such a good experience with my current one) but having read some negative reviews on bleeding and ping tints i may seriously consider this one from BenQ

then again im also looking at building some nice raids in this pc... cant have everything at once can i :) ... or can i... mmm..

cheers for the review

[+Tantawi Subscriber²]

Awesome review, congrats for the screen!

[KeeperOfThePizza]

Nice review. I have 2 2407's and I have no ghosting or banding, it was on only certain revisions. I believe it was anything early than revision a03

[Robbie Khan Reviews]

off topic: would you mind sharing that wall?

other than that: nice review. im about to buy myself some external monitor atm and was considering the benq too. thanks!

Here ya go mate!

http://wallpaperstock.net/coffe-flavour_wa...3_1920x1200.jpg

I also did seriously consider a used 2407 (non HC) but the chances of getting a decent one may be slim as people don't tend to sell such a screen if it's a good one if you know what I mean as stores don't sell the NON HC model anymore!

And wow! after 2 days of calibrated usage I still am getting used to a huge 24" screen in my face lol, the whites are crisp white and it's just weird having so much screen space blasting you in the face, will get used to it soon enough :p

[KeeperOfThePizza]

Here ya go mate!

http://wallpaperstock.net/coffe-flavour_wa...3_1920x1200.jpg

I also did seriously consider a used 2407 (non HC) but the chances of getting a decent one may be slim as people don't tend to sell such a screen if it's a good one if you know what I mean as stores don't sell the NON HC model anymore!

And wow! after 2 days of calibrated usage I still am getting used to a huge 24" screen in my face lol, the whites are crisp white and it's just weird having so much screen space blasting you in the face, will get used to it soon enough :p

crap, i was looking to sell one of mine too......fairly new.

and yeah i went from a 1280x1024 monitor... to 3840x1200 I was overwhelmed by this haha.

[SirEvan]

How does this VA panel compare to a S-IPS/H-IPS panel? I was looking at the Lacie 324 or maybe one of the new NEC's that are around 1100$...but if this is comparable, Id go for this one. I see you calibrated it. How far off was its readings from before/after?

[Robbie Khan Reviews]

How does this VA panel compare to a S-IPS/H-IPS panel? I was looking at the Lacie 324 or maybe one of the new NEC's that are around 1100$...but if this is comparable, Id go for this one. I see you calibrated it. How far off was its readings from before/after?

Well colour vibrancy wise I'd say the BenQ is a little better than my Dell 2007WFP which was an S-IPS panel, as mentioned in #1 the viewing angles are a small amount worse than IPS but still very good especially for the size of the screen as it means the viewing angles won't affect you too much if at all.

As for the calibration before and after, I recalibrated again to give you a before/after of how it is at default and how it is after, I don't know how a photo portrays the difference but in person the difference is visible somewhat :)

(left is before, right is after)

[redeemed]

Great review. I really like the pics of the monitor. Very well done :)

[Robbie Khan Reviews]

Thanks! all is not as well as thought though! I noticed tonight that the backlight bleeding mentioned earlier has for some reason increased!

I've posted about this on ocuk's site and am awaiting to see if it can be swapped, I may have a faulty monitor :( thankfully ocuk are normally good with stuff like this so I have good hopes of getting it swapped easily :)

[Premgenius]

Oh....please keep us updated on this

[sullysnet]

reminds me of the 2408..... this is an issue with VA panels and why I am trying to return mine for the H-IPS panels

[Ikshaar]

I wish there was more BenQ in the US. Only the crappy TN are sold here it seems. Newegg discontinued the good model to keep only the crappy one :(

[Robbie Khan Reviews]

I have updated my Hazro trhead now, the BenQ is history!

[Ikshaar]

Well at least BenQ is real - Glad you got your Hazro monitor - they look good on paper !! - but they really need to find some resellers ... I am very close to set them in vaporware category for having announced those monitors ages ago and still not being available in US.