BenQ X2200W

The X2200W being a 22” panel offers a native resolution of 1680x1050. This 16:10 screen comes across as quite unassuming, and frankly we had no a clue how it would look – the kind of situation that throws up some surprises in performance. Once we started checking the screen, though, all went well. The initial calibration was all wrong (as usual), so we got everything down to flat first, then put on calibration videos from our DVE test disc, and Display Mate software (for static images).

The sharpness and uniformity in geometric shapes seemed very fine, no problem there. The brightness required some tweaking but even the final result image was a little soft to look at. This is also due to the contrast, which was again not spectacular. After a little tweaking we got a crisper image, and this was satisfactory in terms of brightness and contrast, though it doesn’t reach greatness.

There are modes, presets, or whatever else you want to call it, out of which ‘action game’ is the brightest, and causes a lot of unwanted emphasis on the hue, making fine gradations difficult to observe – and in some parts, plain patchy. This happens when you turn up the contrast and brightness. Even the color suffers a bit due to this restraint, so we used a normal untouched mode for our test, as there is no calibration like self-calibration.

One of the things BenQ has boasted about is its Perfect Motion technology, which aims to reduce artifacts on screens and improve the viewing experience. We tested this using a Blu-ray drive that was played through an Acer 8920 laptop which has an HDMI out. The effect we got was not very good. The brightness, contrast, and picture quality was sucked right out of the window and it looked like a washed-out painting or someone viewing the world through a pair of ancient spectacles.

Now, on to gaming. We loaded Crysis and COD4; and set it till the CPU can take it without coughing. The gaming experience was actually pretty good, as this monitor has accurate timing in motion and really not much artifacts and color patchiness in this realm. The response time also seemed good, as a corollary. But here too, you cannot increase the contrast after a certain amount, and that amount is not that large, signaling low headroom.

At Rs 16,500, the X2200W is priced quite decently. Though it offers HDMI, its lack of competitive contrast options and customization make it just another average monitor. We suggest you look at Dell’s range of 22” options. Not only do they offer HDMI, they have better customization with regards to their height adjustability, offer USB, and fall in the same price bracket.