BenQ FP231W

With BenQ continuously on the bleeding edge of fast monitors, it’s only natural it jumps into the ‘largest’ arena.

With BenQ continuously on the bleeding edge of fast monitors, it’s only natural it jumps into the ‘largest’ arena. And here is their 23-inch beast, sitting at 1920 x 1200 (healthy aspect ratio of 16:10).
 
If you’re worried about the 16ms grey-to-grey response time, we’ve found that our eyes could barely tell the difference, and for gaming, it’s quite safe whether on FPSs, MMORPGs or RTSs. It does them all a great deal of justice, with ghosting barely visible.
 
With a 500:1 contrast ratio, its brightness is rather low at 250cd/m2. Nonetheless, in a well-lit environment, this monitor shines through beautifully thanks to the highly effective antireflective surface.
 
With inputs for DVI and D-sub, BenQ went a few steps ahead and also included S-Video and composite inputs for picture in picture.
 
Component would have made for a double treat, but this is still a nifty step forward. The advantage of having these inputs on the display itself instead of going through video-in on your video card is the latency involved with processing that video feed. But given it can only double the size of said input, it’s more of a novelty.
 
Probably one glaring annoyance about this display was its incessant need to keep telling us what input it was using when switching resolutions. Unfortunately this can’t be disabled.
 
If you want the biggest damn monitor out there, sporting a full 16.7 million colour palette, this is an awesomely good option, featuring a good dollop of inputs and a four-port USB hub. This monitor is a hotbed of beauty.