BenQ X2200W 22" widescreen LCD monitor

Features & Build Quality

First up is Simulated Pulse Driving (SPD). It's a technique that will be familiar to HDTV aficionados and is more commonly known as black frame insertion. The basic process is simple enough: intersperse the sequential images that make up motion pictures with completely black frames.

The result, supposedly, is reduced retinal afterglow in the human eye and a sharper, more responsive LCD panel.

Complimenting SPD is Advanced Motion Accelerator (AMA). As sexy as that may sound, it's actually no more than BenQ's take on pixel overdrive. Widely used on several different panel types, overdrive techniques use increased voltage to force the liquid crystals to change state more rapidly.

Courtesy of AMA alone, BenQ rates the X2200W's pixel response at 2ms grey-to-grey, which pretty much puts it on a par with the bulk of TN 22-inch monitors currently available.


Where things get more interesting is in the combination of AMA and SPD. When enabled, the X2200W enters yet another mode called PerfectMotion. That, BenQ says, results in clarity and responsiveness that is unmatched in this segment of the market.

Proving that, however, is a little tricky. To do so, BenQ is quoting a Motion Picture Response Time (MPRT) of 8ms. Confusingly, that's a metric that differs from the typical grey-to-grey and rise/fall measurements that are typically quoted. For the record, BenQ reckons your average 2ms grey-to-grey LCD monitor delivers a Motion Picture Response Time (MPRT) of around 20ms. A big gap, therefore.

As if that isn't enough, the X2200W also sports BenQ's latest colour enhancement technology, known as Senseye+game. This combines conventional colour enhancement, which is designed to improved vividness and saturation on TN panels, with PerfectMotion for what is presumably a knock out combo. What's more, the X2200W even sports a wide colour gamut backlight, boosting colour support to 92 percent of the NTSC standard. On paper, that's puts it on a par with the likes of Dell's mammoth 3007WFP-HC.


Those features aside, this is a pretty ordinary 22 incher. The 1,680 x 1,050 native resolution, 300cd/m² brightness and 16.7 million colours (dithered, of course) are pretty standard for this type of monitor. Likewise, the HDMI, DVI and VGA inputs are predictable, if entirely welcome.

What isn't standard on every 22 inch monitor, but is becoming more commonplace, is the inclusion of a pair of speakers in the bottom of the display. Sadly, they're entirely predictable as well – in other words, they're uninspiring and rather tinny. That said, the benefit of their inclusion is the headphone socket on the right hand side of the screen's casing – it saves you having to reach around the back of your case to plug your headphones in every time you want to use them.

Less gratifying is the tilt-only stand and anonymous, you might say joyless, styling. This monitor is priced well above bargain basement levels, so a more luxurious and configurable enclosure and stand wouldn't go amiss. Still, at least it's solidly constructed.