The BenQ EW2440L is the latest monitor offering from BenQ. This is a 24inch VA panel monitor which has a resolution of 1920x1080 and it is LED backlit. I'm quite picky when it comes to monitors but luckily this comes with a matte screen instead of glossy.

Thank you to BenQ Malaysia and goldfries for the review unit.

You can get the full specifications over here: http://www.benq.com/product/monitor/ew2440l/



The packaging that comes with the monitor are as follow:

1) The monitor itself and the stand
2) Power cable with an adapter
3) VGA cable
4) MHL cable to connect to mobile devices

I'm a little disappointed that HDMI cable was not included as it is quite commonly used nowadays.



In terms of connection options, you have a

1) HDMI-MHL
2) HDMI
3) VGA
4) Power cable
5) Line in
6) Headphone jack

The amount of inputs/outputs is generous but DVI is not there.

There is also a dual speaker setup at the back of the monitor. The quality is decent for such small drivers, probably about the standard of a good laptop speaker. It is very convenient because you just need to use a HDMI cable to make use of the speakers, very handy for those who do not have or do not wish to setup speakers in order to listen to audio. Nice touch from BenQ...

The MHL-HDMI cable to connect your smartphones to the monitor is a nice feature when you have something display on your smartphone when it is much better viewed on a larger screen. There is a small dedicated stand for the phone just at the stand.

The menu system to navigate through all the settings is via touch sensitive buttons. The buttons are not tactile and it certainly isn't that user friendly. Definitely prefer real buttons here.





The first thing you would notice about the monitor when you power it on is the really thin bezels. It may not make a difference to the screen quality but it does really make the monitor look much "slimmer" and more attractive. I feel that it does equate into a more immersive experience when watching a move for example, or playing games.



One of the main features of the monitor is the flicker free display. Credits to Goldfries for his video.

Another main feature of the BenQ EW2440L is the option of reducing blue light. It is said to reduce strain to the eyes and for better health of the eye. Read more here:

http://www.benq.com/microsite/eye-care-monitors/lbl.html

And now here's the most important part, for me, as I'm a hobbyist photographer and editor, I place quite a lot of emphasis into colours.

I would be basing my judgement using the standard settings except for brightness settings.



The colours have a little cold White Balance (bluish) because there is a bluish/purplish tint on the screen. Thus, whites do not appear white, it's more of like bluish whites. Anyway, this is understandable because this monitor has not been properly colour calibrated as I no longer have the tool. Sadly without that, I won't be able to bring out the best of this monitor and also won't know the sRGB and AdobeRGB colour spac.

Out of the box, the colours are still nice for general picture viewing and media consumption but as for photo/video editing, I would like to stress that any uncalibrated monitor is unfit for such work especially when you are doing it to cari makan (meaning: your job depends on it). Generally for the normal user, the colours are alright and nice for the usual gaming, web surfing, picture viewing, etc.



As for the black levels, do not expect anything extraordinary from the VA panel. It is probably slightly better than my U2311H which is using an E-IPS panel. Here's the "glow" which you would commonly get with LCD screens. Picture is displaying a black wallpaper in a dark room (lights shut off). If you want something that displays black as pure black, instead of grey, you're better off waiting for those OLED monitors.

But if you are watching videos with the lights on, the black levels look good actually, seems better than my U2311H even though both have similar black levels.

Regarding backlight bleeding, I did not notice any. The backlight is quite uniform through out the panel, no bleeding from any corner/edge.

In conclusion, I found this monitor to be an interesting one especially when BenQ is trying to promote it as a "healthy" monitor and I really like the thin bezels. I think BenQ is going in the right direction with this monitor and I hope they can come out with more great things in the future!

SRP RM799

This post has been edited by -kytz-: Feb 9 2014, 09:44 PM

Interesting monitor.
Perhaps you could take a picture of your U2311H beside the EW2440L so people could see the difference between the two.

expected price?

Hi, here it is:



Sorry forgot to include it, it's SRP RM799

Nice, wish i can get one but i have too many monitors already.

just curious, is your U2311H colour calibrated?

Yes it is, using a Spyder 4 Pro

-kytz-good job for reviewing the benq ew2440l, i had mine and the black level is really good after calibration (much better than my u2311h), i use gamma 2 setting, brightness at 8(lower than this and the black crushes a lot) and contrast on 50

Just make sure that hdmi rgb pc range is on full rgb (0-255)(benq didnt enable this by default) and you should be able to differentiate all gray box on picture below:
http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/black.php
if the gray box are not appear for range 1 -15, the hdmi is not sending full rgb signal

i dont have much issue with the VA glow (maybe because i already get use with IPS glow which causing brownish black), maybe because im using low brightness setting, however the semi-gloss coating reflect light more compared to the common anti-glare coating, so you can see the glow reflection of your body when viewing dark image/when the monitor were off

as for the white, well it looks alot like white for me,maybe because of colour temperature calibration, running with normal colour temperature does look bluish to me as well. viewing angle is disappointment for ew2440l,the gamma shift is obvious (not a problem if use straight on), it doesn't have the same gene as 27" AMVA panel which promote color-shift tech, well you need to sacrifice a lot just to get slim bezel

This post has been edited by zerorating: Feb 12 2014, 06:49 AM

Do we need to press the power button when the AC switch is turn on?

I have one benq monitor which requires one to press the power button located on the side of the bezel every time the AC power switch is flipped.

no need, you can make it standby from the time your turn on the AC switch (if the monitor was stay on/standby before AC switch were off), however there is setting for auto turn off after some time when there is no signal thru hdmi (not sure about VGA) that will make the monitor turn off completely

the price is not bad with its sexiness.

Where to get this bad boy...???

Hello,

Can check out places like Viewnet and All IT.

Thanx bro...

Anyone use this monitor for gaming? Good?

Yes, I use this monitor for gaming. Lovely monitor, flicker-free helps. I don't use the Low Blue Light feature though.

I have a question. How you calibration this monitor? How many using brightness, gamma etc??

Benq has been producing high lifespan monitor. At RM799, which can be used for more than 5 years. It's a very good deal. *i have been using mine benq monitor for 6 years.