24GN600-B Review
Introduction
With so many monitors being available today finding one that suits your needs can be a real chore and a minefield so it’s no surprise that many people consider finding a new monitor that suits them can feel like an impossible task. So I thought we would do something a bit different today for this people’s review and take a look at the LG 24GN600-B, which is one of three monitors I have for review in fact, to ascertain if this 1080p IPS based budget gamer orientated monitor with a 144Hz refresh rate and 1ms GtG response time is worth consideration among the forest of gaming monitors out there. Let’s get down to it then and see how the 24GN600-B fairs next to the competition.
Gallery
First impressions are pretty underwhelming to be honest, while the 24GN600-B looks very nice, there are multiple areas that are disappointing. Firstly the only USB port is for servicing should the monitor ever need it, the orientation of the HDMI and DP ports hamper your ability to have the monitor at the angle you would like as well as hampering getting the monitor as flush to the wall as possible if you are wall mounting or have a desk mounted arm, and there are no VESA screws included either which there really should be as VESA screws can and do vary in length a bit.
If all the aforementioned things are not a deal breaker for you this one might well be; the power supply for the monitor is a separate AC adapter rather than being built into the monitor as you’ll note from the shown ports meaning you’ll have a small brick to also contend with and find somewhere to place out of the way, absolutely not ideal when trying to keep clutter to a minimum and your system looking as clean and tidy as possible.
Just look at that ugly metal bump where the stand would otherwise go, this is yet another thing hampering the ability to have the monitor sitting flush against a wall if wall mounting or using a desk arm. It’s difficult to say if this is just a poorly and cheaply designed monitor or if someone at LG actually thought these decisions were a good idea. At least there’s a joystick for OSD navigation which is far easier than the old button style but this is a minor relief given all the other design choices at this point.
Specification
IPS Panel Size: 24” (23.8” viewable)
Resolution: 1920*1080
Typical Brightness: 350 nits
sRGB Coverage: 99% (typical)
Static Contrast: 1000 (typical)
Response Time: 1ms GtG (Gray to Gray)
HDR Capable: Yes, HDR10
G-Sync & FreeSync Compatible: Yes
Refresh Rate: 144Hz
Connectivity: 1x HDMI & DP, Headphone socket
Speakers: No
In terms of specification the LG monitor looks good however the 144Hz refresh rate is a bit disappointing with so many 1080p gaming monitors being 165Hz. For those of you concerned with image quality over anything else be sure to adjust the monitors black stabiliser as this setting heavily impacts static contrast. There are no speakers with this monitor but let’s be real here ALL speakers in monitors absolutely suck anyway so the lack of them here just means LG get to pass this saving on or improve in other areas in theory.
Usage & Functionality
I have to admit during testing the LG 24GN600-B performed superbly, the monitor needed some calibration adjustment along with adjusting the black stabiliser in order to maximise image quality, ghosting using Blur Busters UFO test is absolutely non-existent and overall lighting uniformity wasn’t bad either. The OSD is also comprehensive and easy to navigate thanks to the joystick and the FreeSync ability also worked flawlessly. However when setting a refresh rate at anything above 60Hz the monitor did exhibit a quite but audible buzzing, this might have been down to cheap capacitors, a poorly designed grounding solution resulting in a grounding loop, or this particular unit might have simply been slightly defective although that last possibility does seem the most unlikely. HDR support with the monitor is little more than a checkbox in this instance and does not perform particularly well, if you are looking for good HDR support in your next monitor you need to look toward the HDR600 standard at least.
I know many of you quite possibly still use the included stand with any monitor you might buy so know this; the adjustability of the stand with the 24GN600 is practically zero, and it’s quite a low stand. This isn’t something that should be much of an issue as a quick trip to ebay and you’ll find countless generic desk arms for under £10 you can purchase which are better than even the best made adjustable stands but I know some people really like to keep the “theme” of the monitor going by using the included stand.
Conclusion
It’s not very often I get to write a conclusion that isn’t full of twists and turns with balls out of left field but fortunately today we all get one of those conclusions so let’s get right down to scoring.
Build Quality & Aesthetics 15 / 25
In terms of looks the LG 24GN600-B looks great, it’s probably going to make most people’s top 3 in this regard however you really can’t ignore the awful metal lump that sticks out when this monitor is mounted to either the wall or desk arm along with the orientation of the limited number of ports the monitor does have which hampers any flush, snug fit against any wall impossible. The buzzing this particular unit exhibited also cannot be ignored and raises questions as to the quality of component choices and Quality Control. Lastly I absolutely abhor any monitor that takes the approach of not building the power supply into the monitor, most people’s desks are cluttered enough without having to try and find a discreet place for a separate power brick, LG could have at least added some sort of clip mechanism to attach the AC adapter to the rear of the monitor, there’s space to.
Functionality 17 / 25
The 24GN600 offers just about every option you will ever need via the OSD and is a proper monitor in this regard offering features such as Motion Blur Reduction, Response Time adjustment, fine tuning of Brightness, Gamma, Contrast, RGB channels, Hue, Saturation, and many more options. The inclusion of HDR10 capability is merely a checkbox here the panel just isn’t capable of HDR to any worthwhile standard and the amount of OSD options you are locked out of when enabling HDR far outweigh the benefits of using the monitor in SDR mode.
Connectivity Features 12 / 25
Connectivity for the LG monitor is one area it struggles with having just a single HDMI and Displayport connection, the lack of any USB ports outside of the servicing port is also disappointing given the fact the monitor drops having any speakers at all you would have thought this is one area LG would have taken that saving on not including speakers and not skimped on USBs...
Image Quality & Performance 25 / 25
Thankfully one real redeeming quality of the 24GN600 is the image quality of the IPS panel I’ve used quite a few IPS panels and can safely say this panel is certainly one of the better ones you will not be disappointed by the image quality here. The refresh rate of 144Hz is a little disappointing it would have been nice if the monitor were 165Hz but the overall quality of the IPS panel here makes up for this slight shortcoming.
Final Score: 69%
In closing LG have a capable more budget orientated monitor here held back by some bad design choices, very limited connectivity, and potentially questionable component quality and/or quality control. There’s better designed very similar quality budget orientated gaming monitors out there, and we’ll be looking at one such monitor in the next review; the Iiyama G2470HSU. You can do better LG, much better.