BenQ XL2420T v Samsung S23A750D v Dell U2412M

[TW]Fox

[TW]Fox

[TW]Fox

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Hi chaps,

Further to my previous thread I've been doing some research and I think I've narrowed my shortlist down to 3 monitors.

I'll be using my monitor for gaming, web browsing and films etc. I also wish to connect both a PS3 and an Xbox 360.

Which of the above would you chose and why?

BenQ: I like the fact this is 120hz. Everyone tells me this is a good thing. I also like the fact it appears to allow a range of resolutions, too - useful for playing older games or in the future for when my graphics card can't cope on a certain resolution. It also has a huge range of inputs - 2 HDMI for the consoles and DL-DVI for the PC.

But who are BenQ? I've been a strict Iiyama only person for the past 10 years and have been largely very happy. Are BenQ a top player? Is the build quality good? Does it feel like a near 300 quid product? The older 2410T has Picture By Picture. Why doesnt the 2420?

This is the most expensive screen in my shortlist - £280 on This Week Only - is it worth it?

Dell: I've always been told the Dell IPS screens are absolutely great. This one is in the right sort of pricerange, is also 16:10 (Though is that a big deal?) too. It gets a lot of positive reviews and it's an IPS and not a TN panel. Is it right for me? The lack of inputs is a bit annoying - it has only VGA, DP and DVI so I'll need to connect the Xbox through VGA, the PS3 through DVI and the PC through DP using convertor cables.

IPS is better than TN - I understand that. But for my usage, am I going to get the most out of an IPS panel? Will I appreciate its better? I sit straight on to the screen so viewing angles are not a huge issue.

Samsung: This is here because I love how it looks. It looks how I expected monitors to look these days whereas everything else in my shortlist looks pretty much the same as my 4-5 year old Iiyama. Really stylish, lovely thin panel. It's also a 120hz panel like the BenQ, but it's only 23".

HOWEVER - it has no DVI in. Only Displayport. My GTX570 has no DP, only DVI. Is this a problem? Is there a simple adaptor?

I'd really appreciate your thoughts on these 3 monitors :)

Thanks!

Oh, also - I will run whichever monitor I get alongside my secondary display - an even older Iiyama Prolite E438S. I can't really replace it becuase it fits perfectly into a cubby in the desk, so it stays - its only used for MSN etc anyway. If I get an IPS will I immediatly notice how utterly crap the 438S is? I currently think its fine... which perhaps says a lot about my standards!
 
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I use an LG D2343P 23" IPS 3D screen for pretty much the same use as you. I also run a Dell 2412 as a second screen.
The LG is a superb screen and is IPS so much better colour production and viewing angles than a TN. I actually prefer it to the Dell it seems much more vibrant and for gaming it feels smoother.

I have my PC connected by DVi, Xbox 360 via VGA and PS3 using HDMi and it all works perfect.

http://www.lg.com/hk/it-product/monitor/LG-D2343P.jsp

They also do the same screen without the passive 3D for about £120-£130.

http://www.lg.com/uk/monitors/lg-IPS235V-led-monitor

The only bad point really is the stand is pretty rubbish. It does the job but not much else. I replaced mine with a desk mount, As with all IPS screens it's 60hz.
 
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You seemed to be a quite a heavy gamer from what i see, get the BenQ it's brilliant for it and you have a GTX570 too so you can also enjoy 3D Vision if you wish to.(it's pretty good once you tweak it and really shines in titles like Metro 2033/Witcher 2/Just Cause 2/Arkham City)

The build quality is amazing, stand is probably the best i've seen as it's really easy to adjust and feels sturdy not cheap/tacky.

If you are gaming a lot on the pc rather than the consoles you will notice the 120hz a lot since your gfx card will benefit it good.(even at 60fps the motion feels more smoother than my old ips panel at 60fps.)

I would only get one other monitor than this and that's the Samsung 120hz model but that's if i was on an AMD card.
 
If you're going to hook up consoles stay clear of the Dell, as can be read in the tftcentral.co.uk review the u2412m does not support 1:1 pixel mapping. So the console input will be stretched at it outputs 16:9 rather than the 16:10 the monitor needs.
 
Cheers for the feedback guys. It keeps coming back to the BenQ.

Hadn't though of the console input stretching on the Dell - though my current Iiyama is a 1680x1050 16:10 screen and I've never noticed it so perhaps I wouldn't on the Dell, or is it more pronounced with the bigger resolution?

I like the Samsung's asthetics a lot - but I'm now reading that actually the fact it has no DVI-DL in makes it physically incompatible with my GTX570 and if I use a convertor I won't get 120hz @ 1920x1080, is this true?

Which kinda leaves the BenQ as the only option if the Samsung physically wont work and the Dell will stretch my console input.

Plus I keep reading how epic 120hz is. Is it?
 
120hz is brilliant for gaming and i would never go back to 60hz.

I am not sure if that's true about the Samsung however you will not be able to use 3D Vision on it unless with a hack i think? but still i remain by what i said. :p

Best person to ask about it would be PCM2 maybe send him a trust message or hopefully he sees this.
 
I can't really reccomend the BenQ if your doing much beyond FPS gaming on it, tho it might vary for you I find (and quite a few others) that the LED backlighting on its quite tiring on the eyes if your viewing static images or playing slower paced games for long periods on it. Its also a pain in the behind to get good looking colors and balanced white/black points out of it. While it works fine from DL-DVI if you have any reason to use displayport its a bit hit and miss how well its supported - some GPUs seem to have trouble with it (it'll work fine with one card but not another despite both using the same driver version) and some nVidia driver versions just result in a black screen and some AMD drivers result in random flickering.
 
Rroff said:
I can't really reccomend the BenQ if your doing much beyond FPS gaming on it, tho it might vary for you I find (and quite a few others) that the LED backlighting on its quite tiring on the eyes if your viewing static images or playing slower paced games for long periods on it. Its also a pain in the behind to get good looking colors and balanced white/black points out of it.
Click to expand...

This is a direct contrast to everything else I've read on it. Everything I've read sings its praises and reckons its about as good as a TN panel gets. To read this is therefore a bit worrying as I was about to go for it...

I currently use a TN based Iiyama Prolite E2200WS which I find absolutely fine. So if some of these criticisms would apply equally to my current monitor I'd imagine they won't be a problem..
 
There are very few people that have a problem with pwm backlight dimming so I wouldn't worry about it. If there's any manual tinkering that needs to be done with the colour/contrast settings I'm sure the pcmonitors.org review will point out how to do it.
 
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I've had no issues with mine, i came from a HP LP2475w too which was one of the best monitors and still is.(calibrated the BenQ doesn't look as good but it looks very good for a TN panel.)
 
Axeia said:
They are very few people that have a problem with pwm backlight dimming so I wouldn't worry about it. If there's any manual tinkering that needs to be done with the colour/contrast settings I'm sure the pcmonitors.org review will point on how to do it.
Click to expand...

I did come from a Samsung 2233rz which when calibrated produces very good results - the CCFL backlight is easy on the eyes, color reproduction is good and blacks are gorgeous so to me its a step backwards to the XL2420T. When properly calibrated it is good for a TN but you still have that hard white/blue LED type glare to it thats quite harsh on the eyes for long periods, the PWM rate isn't the main problem tho it could be better.

EDIT: Very hard to show it with the equipment I have and lighting conditions here

20120916_170401.jpg


Despite looking a bit red in the pic the panel on the left is calibrated about as good as a TN gets color accuracy wise and has almost perfect 2.2 gamma, the BenQ is about 5% off 2.2 gamma with the settings I'm using but thats about as good as it gets - also the panel on the left has a solid image in the viewfinder/preview the benq's image has a constant vertical running flicker.


EDIT: End of the day you can DSR it if its a problem tho thats a bit of a pain, in many regards its a very good monitor - but theres a reason I have 2 panels up the BenQ for FPS gaming and the other for everything else.
 
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Ive got the BenQ, its pretty special tbh.

With the S Switch thing, i just swap to a lower brightness, different colour setting when im not gaming.
 
Rom said:
Ive got the BenQ, its pretty special tbh.

With the S Switch thing, i just swap to a lower brightness, different colour setting when im not gaming.
Click to expand...

Yeah theres a lot of great features - the remote is especially good for making it a lot easier to change settings - but even with the best possible settings it still has that ultra bright LED hue to it that personally I find really bad on the eyes for prolonged desktop/general useage tho its not as bad with fast paced games.
 
Rroff said:
I did come from a Samsung 2233rz which when calibrated produces very good results - the CCFL backlight is easy on the eyes, color reproduction is good and blacks are gorgeous so to me its a step backwards to the XL2420T. When properly calibrated it is good for a TN but you still have that hard white/blue LED type glare to it thats quite harsh on the eyes for long periods, the PWM rate isn't the main problem tho it could be better.

EDIT: Very hard to show it with the equipment I have and lighting conditions here

20120916_170401.jpg


Despite looking a bit red in the pic the panel on the left is calibrated about as good as a TN gets color accuracy wise and has almost perfect 2.2 gamma, the BenQ is about 5% off 2.2 gamma with the settings I'm using but thats about as good as it gets - also the panel on the left has a solid image in the viewfinder/preview the benq's image has a constant vertical running flicker.


EDIT: End of the day you can DSR it if its a problem tho thats a bit of a pain, in many regards its a very good monitor - but theres a reason I have 2 panels up the BenQ for FPS gaming and the other for everything else.
Click to expand...


That benq can't be calibrated, it looks awful imo.
 
Like you can judge how well something is calibrated off a photo, one most likely made on a digital camera to make things worse. If the screen is tilted down slightly or the camera isn't perfectly level it's going to affect colours quite a bit to with TN-panels.

Digital Camera's tend to make awful photos of light sources (like monitors). If I snap a pic of my Hazro it has a blue'ish tint to it that I don't see myself at all when I'm using it.
 
Yeah camera on my phone makes it worse but does show somewhat the white/blue LED hue on the benq which atleast for me isn't comfortable for extended general useage.
 
It turned up today. Have spent ages fiddling with the settings but still can't get it right. Even with brightness on 0 its very bright and the colours are washed out too. The blue of the forums is a sort of dull purply blue.

As I've got two screens its easy to compare - the second screen is a cheap, worthless bottom of the range TN panel - an Iiyama E438S. Yet it reproduces the blues on the forums perfectly in a way the BenQ cannot.

Really not sure how to fix it.
 
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