BenQ GW2270 – Image Quality

Out of the box this monitor
comes set to full brightness, which is too bright for my liking – even if
it isn’t as high as some competitors. While I generally expect to see
300 nits and above, the GW2270 can only hit 244 nits.

Elsewhere,
this monitor is also a little off the mark with its normal colour profile. Colour temperature is measured at 5,436K, which is some way off the
ideal of 6,500K, and a gamma of 3.04 is also far from the 2.2 ideal.

However,
these are all easy to tweak by choosing the manual colour setting,
changing the gamma to 2 and reducing the brightness to between
150-200 nits (about 50% on the OSD scale).

What’s more, the GW2270’s
contrast is phenomenal. With a black level of 0.0798 nits, its contrast
ratio is 3,062:1 at maximum brightness. The secret lies in the
display’s use of a VA LCD panel that offers inherently higher contrast
than IPS, which normally tops out around 1,000:1.

Following full setup and calibration, this monitor generally puts
in a good performance. At 152 nits brightness, it measured a black level of 0.0457 nits, contrast ratio of 3,322:1, colour temperature is
6,550K, gamma is 2.69 and sRGB colour space coverage is 90.6%.

These
aren’t record-breaking figures, but for such a cheap display they’re
impressive. In addition, the VA panel makes for largely excellent viewing
angles, with little colour and contrast change as you move off
perpendicular.

The screen is also reasonably uniform, hitting a
maximum of 7.31% brightness deviation and 6.67% colour deviation. Input lag, too, was a perfectly acceptable 13ms. That’s just less than
one frame of lag from this 60Hz monitor, so there should be little
chance of it affecting your gameplay.

Should I buy the BenQ GW2270?

The
GW2270 is a good option for those who are simply looking for decent image
quality and have no need for a huge screen, high resolution or any other
fancy extras.

Its 1080p resolution and 22-inch size is the perfect combination for easy visibility and reasonable sharpness, while its VA panel offers good viewing angles and contrast. Colour accuracy and
range is good too.

For use in anything other than a fairly clean
and tidy office the soft screen surface will be a concern, and if you
think you might want to adjust the height of your monitor without
getting an extra mounting arm then clearly this isn’t the model for you, either.

Verdict

An
ideal upgrade for those wanting a simple monitor, the BenQ GW2270 is capable of providing image
quality that’s a step above the most basic displays available.

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