Benq FP241W 24" widescreen monitor

Testing

We ran the monitor through a series of real-world and synthetic tests to see whether or not the FP241W can stand up to hardcore geek use.

Displaymate: This is the only synthetic test we use because it can reveal some things that other real-world tests don't show up quite so well. We found that there were no real issues with this display, and the monitor produced about as close to perfect results as we've seen on consumer-grade displays.

Both the colour ramp tests for greyscale and for colour delivered smooth grading and no colour imperfections, even at the furthest ends of the scale. In this respect, the Dell was definitely outclassed and this monitor established as a cut above the rest - it was at least on a par with the Samsung 215TW, if not better.

High-resolution photos: We found the display excellent for checking out the reference stills in our collection. Blacks were well represented, and the images were vibrant without being over saturated. Details in close-ups were as sharp as you would hope and the even lighting across the display means that reproduction is accurate.

High-definition video: We tried out SWAT on Blu-ray on this monitor. Unfortunately, the first batch of Blu-ray HD titles aren't mastered particularly well, so the monitor looked good insofar as the source it had to deal with wasn't awesome. However, cranking on the Casino Royale trailer in HD was an altogether different proposition - the initial monochrome introduction looked stylish and well defined, and the later, fast-moving scenes were ably coped without without a hint of motion blur or lag.

Gaming: Gaming on widescreen will sometimes require a bit of a hack to get the resolution working happily - EA games is particularly bad at providing widescreen support out of the box, with new release BF2142 being an obvious candidate for chastisement. However, with the command line duly hacked, we found that the game looked fantastic on the display, with the grimy world of the future looking appropriately so.

Fast-paced games such as FIFA 07 were no trouble for the monitor either. The acid test, however, is F.E.A.R. - which is full of shadows and incredibly dark scenes that are great for testing out this monitor's blacks. We hooked up Extraction Point, the new expansion, and found that the game was easily navigable even with a large amount of ambient light. We also found that the HDR-enabled scenes of Half-Life 2: Lost Coast looked spectacular, with the contrast ratio of the monitor easily coping with the brightness differences across the level.

General Desktop usage notes: We had no worries in general usage, hooked up via DVI. Windows Vista looked pretty good with its new Aero interface, and OSX also looked sharp and crisp. The bit-tech homepage, as ever, looked frickin' awesome. But then, we would say that.