Here’s a comparison between BenQ XL2430T and the U2414H on the desktop, vibrance setting at default.
I guess I need not point out which one is the BenQ XL2430T. You might be asking – which one is better? I can’t give you a definite answer because it’s all about preference. The photographer / artist side of me will always go for the path of accuracy but in terms of gaming, who cares right? You just want to immerse yourself in the experience, same reason why I play PlayStation 4 games on my LCD TV.
One thing to note is that while BenQ says it’s 20 levels of vibrance settings, there’s actually 21 levels. NOTE : If the starting level is 0 and maximum is 20, then there’s actually 21 because 0 is consider one of the setting.
Besides being gamer oriented, the BenQ XL2430T comes with eye-care features as well such as the low-blue light setting. Here’s a comparison between settings.
User Experience : Software
Every good product should come with a good software, BenQ did it right with the Display Pilot software. It’s polished and the interface is good.
The AUTO GAME MODE feature allows you to have pre-defined settings for each game and it’s certainly great if you’re really that picky when it comes to game settings. For me, I just take the display as it is but well, whichever floats your boat. I’m just surprised how a title like Battlefield 4 isn’t in there, that game isn’t new either. I know there’s a function to ADD but it’ll be best if BenQ updates the list of games.
GAME MODE LOADER allows you to load settings into a preset, neat feature too but I think it’s best if the profiles were provided the actual game name instead of being abbreviated. Not a bad thing, I guess it’s expected that gamers should know the abbreviation by heart. 😛
GAME MODE TO GO feature allows you to import and export settings, a great way to go about if you’re always gaming at some Cybercafe that has similar models of BenQ monitors.
Despite the game mode being highlighted as a key feature, it’s disappointing that there are no Game Modes available for the XL2430T at the time of this article.
The BenQ XL2430T comes with Motion Blur Reduction feature of which I tested and found it to be horrible, what the product page doesn’t tell you is that Black eQualizer and Color Vibrance are disabled once Blur Reduction is enabled.
What annoyed me the most is that the display brightness is lowered beyond comfortable level. Yes, you read that right, it’s automatically lowered with no means of adjustment. So is there any blur reduction? I can’t tell, not when the brightness is lowered by so much that I felt like I’m playing on a dying monitor.
As to the claims of fast 1ms GTG Response Time – there’s no way for me to test this but I can assure you that it’s plenty fast. I was not able to test the Gaming Refresh rate Optimization Management (GROM) either due to eye limitations.
Lastly the monitor drains around 28w from the wall, just in case you’re interested. 😛
The Verdict
The BenQ XL2430T Gaming Monitor is one awesome monitor, I have no complaints about the design so physically the product is great.
Feature wise the BenQ XL2430T does not lack and it comes with software support too which is something that I’ve never seen in other monitor brands as well.
So is the BenQ XL2430T a good product? Yes, in fact I think it’s an excellent product. As to whether it’s worth the price would depend entirely on the user.
The XL2430T retails at a whopping RM 1,699 and comes with a Virtus.Pro (gaming team) Jersey worth RM 200. (Details here).
If you’re not into making changes for every game you play then this wouldn’t be the monitor for you. The value is even less if you don’t play at Cybercafes and your Cybercafe does not have a monitor that allows game mode transfer.
