By For those on a tight budget, the BenQ GW2486TC ($199.99) is the perfect home-office monitor. Although its screen is small and its resolution is poor for a desktop display, it nevertheless boasts a number of features that we would expect to find in a much more expensive monitor. It has more features than other inexpensive monitors we’ve examined, including built-in speakers, port selection, ergonomics, and a refresh rate of 100 Hz. It is our most recent Editors’ Choice selection for a general-purpose budget monitor, outperforming the HP 24mh in a number of categories.
Specification
The white-framed GW2486TC boasts a 23.8-inch diagonally measured screen with a 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio and 1,920-by-1,080-pixel FHD (full HD, often known as 1080p) resolution. This is the standard configuration for an inexpensive display. The pixel density of 92 ppi (pixels per inch) on a monitor of this size and resolution is adequate for everyday use but a little low for pixel-precise photo editing.
The in-plane switching (IPS) panel of the GW2486TC has a rated contrast ratio of 1,300:1. (The contrast ratios of the majority of less expensive IPS screens reach a maximum of 1,000:1.) 99% of the sRGB space is covered by its color coverage rating. Both vertical and horizontal viewing angles are up to 178 degrees, according to its rating. IPS panels are known for their extremely broad viewing angles, which allow you to watch the screen almost sideways without experiencing noticeable color shift, posterization, or deterioration.
Design and Build Quality
Many budget monitors have basic stands that, at best, allow you to tilt the top of the screen away from or toward you. The GW2486TC isn’t so limited; along with such tilt control (up to 20 degrees away from or 5 degrees toward the user), it supports up to 5.1 inches of height adjustment, 45 degrees of swivel to either side, and the ability to pivot the screen from landscape to portrait mode and back. It also has a square array of holes spaced 100mm apart to fit a VESA bracket (not included) for wall or arm mounting.
With its multitude of holes to accommodate VESA mounting hardware and support for height, tilt, and pivot (but not swivel) adjustment, the HP 24mh boasts good ergonomics all by itself.
Performance
Using our normal test equipment—a Klein K-10A colorimeter, a Murideo 8K SixG signal generator, and Portrait Displays’ Calman Ultimate for Business calibration software—I evaluated the GW2486TC’s brightness, contrast ratio, and color coverage.
In our tests, the GW2486TC just passed the 250 nits (candelas per meter squared) brightness rating set by BenQ, testing at 254 nits. It produced a very good contrast ratio of 1,260:1. According to the chromaticity chart below, it tests at 99.4% coverage, effectively covering the whole sRGB color gamut.
Conclusion
For a display of this price, the BenQ GW2486TC offers a great feature set. Its modest 1080p resolution and small (24-inch) screen are offset by a wide array of ports, including two USB-A downstream ports, a DisplayPort-out that allows multiple monitors to be daisy-chained, and DisplayPort, HDMI, and USB-C (which can run DisplayPort over USB-C and deliver 65W of power). Its stand provides all the ergonomic features we anticipate from much more expensive monitors, such as pivot, swivel, tilt, and height adjustment.
The screen has an above-average contrast ratio for a typical IPS panel, complete sRGB color coverage, and a refresh rate of 100 Hz.
Although the BenQ GW2486TC is slightly more expensive than the HP 24mh, it offers more in terms of ergonomics, refresh rate, and contrast ratio than the previous top choice, and it has a significantly greater port variety. As a general-purpose budget monitor, it is our most recent Editors’ Choice selection.
