Designed by gamers for gamers, the BenQ XL2420T ($549 list) is a well-crafted, feature-rich 24-inch monitor offering nearly all of the bells and whistles that serious gamers crave. A speedy pixel response, a wealth of connectivity options, lots of customizable gaming modes, and a 120Hz refresh rate are only part of the deal; the TN+ panel delivers stunning colors and very dark blacks, and the panel can be adjusted to suit your ergonomic needs. It even comes with a neat little switch to help you adjust settings quickly and easily. You'll pay dearly for all this bling however, and the panel's off angle viewing is not quite up to par, but if you demand the best and don't mind paying for the privilege, the XL2420T  is currently the cream of the gaming monitor crop.

Design and Features
The XL2420T is housed in a matte black cabinet and sports thin (.75-inch) bezels on all four sides and a glossy panel on the back where the cabinet attaches to the height adjustable arm. The T-shaped base provides plenty of support for the 8.6-pound panel and offers tilt, swivel, and pivot adjustability. A red hook attached to the mounting arm gives you a place to hang your headphones, and there's a red oval cutout at the bottom of the mounting arm that helps keep cables organized while adding a splash of color.

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A 3.5-inch wedge-shaped switch snaps into place on the right side of the base and plugs into a port on the rear of the monitor. Dubbed the S-switch, this neat little device has a red toggle wheel and three buttons with red labeling. The wheel is used to access, navigate, and select settings in the OSD (on-screen display), making it easy to tweak image attributes without having to use the five touch sensitive mounted on the right hand bezel. You can save custom display settings to each of the three buttons and switch back and forth at will.

There's no shortage of I/O ports on this monitor. The rear of the cabinet holds two HDMI ports, DVI and VGA (D-sub) ports, a DisplayPort, and two USB ports (one upstream, one downstream). Two additional downstream USB ports are conveniently placed on the left side of the cabinet along with a headphone jack.

The XL2420T offers numerous picture settings. Basic settings include brightness, contrast, sharpness, color temperature, gamma, hue, saturation, and Black eQualizer, which brings out dark shades for enhanced shadow detail. There's also an AMA (Advanced Motion Accelerator) option that is supposed to improve gray-to-gray pixel response but I was unable to see a difference with it enabled or disabled, so I'd suggest leaving it disabled unless you are noticing some lag. Picture modes include standard, movie, photo, Eco, and sRGB modes as well as two FPS (first person shooter) modes that are optimized for use with the games Counter Strike 1.6 and Counter Strike Source. You can also download special gaming presets (used by "the Pros" according to BenQ) and save them as custom settings. The Smart Scaling option lets you adjust the size of the image on the screen, and the Smart Focus features lets you highlight a specific area on the screen and display it in a window. There are nine display modes with specific aspect ratio and screen size choices that let you emulate playing on a variety of display sizes without experiencing geometric distortion or stretching.

The XL2420T averaged 28-watts of power, which for a TN panel with LED backlighting isn't exactly energy efficient but isn't quite a power hog either. Comparatively, the Lenovo LS2421P Wide ($219.99 direct, 4 Stars) (a 24-inch TN panel) used only 16-watts, and the Samsung SyncMaster S23A550H ($259.99 list, 3.5 Stars) (a 23-inch TN panel) used 19-watts. Still, it doesn't use as much power as similarly sized IPS monitors such as the 36-watt HP ZR2440w ($425 list, 4 Stars) and the 34-watt LG IPS236V ($259.99 list, 4 Stars).

Performance
The 1,920-by-1,080 resolution panel has a matte anti-glare coating that keeps reflection to a minimum without affecting brightness. Color quality is as close to an IPS panel as you can get from TN+ technology; color samples from the DisplayMate LCD diagnostic suite were bold and well defined but not overly saturated. Colors looked extra punchy thanks to the panel's ability to display solid blacks, a characteristic that also produced good shadow detail. Light grayscale performance was not quite as good as what you'll get from a professional grade model such as the Asus PA246Q ($499 list, 4 Stars), but for a TN+ panel it was better than average.

I put the XL2420T through my usual Far Cry 2 (PC) and Burnout Paradise (PS3) gaming tests and was blown away by the monitor's motion handling abilities. There was no obvious blurring or ghosting in either of the games and no noticeable lag time between keyboard commands and screen action. I tried out the gaming presets but found them either too dark or too bright for my liking but I can see where they would come in handy while playing games that use lots of dark detail or for users who prefer to play in torch mode.

My one performance-based gripe with the XL2420T has to do with off angle viewing. When viewed from an extreme side angle the picture suffers from color shifting; whites appear beige and shades of gray look more black than gray. The view from the bottom is worse as the picture becomes way too dark. This is fairly common with TN panels and not what I would call a deal-breaker, but I expected better from a $500-plus monitor.

Conclusion
The XL2420T is a 120Hz display and is on Nvidia's list of certified 3D Vision monitors that support LightBoost technology. Unfortunately, this model does not come with the 3D Vision Kit, but the XL2420TX does and we'll be testing its 3D prowess in a separate review. The XL2420T comes with DVI (dual-link) and VGA cables, an upstream USB cable, and a protective cover that you can throw over the screen when it's not being used. HDMI and DisplayPort cables are not included. BenQ covers the XL2420T with a three-year parts, labor, and backlighting warranty. In comparison, the Eizo Foris FS2332, also a pricey monitor, comes with a limited five year warranty, while the HP ZR2440w  comes with a three year plan.

At more than $500, the BenQ XL2420T is significantly more expensive than most 24-inch TN+ monitors and even eclipses a few IPS models such as the HP ZR2440w and the Asus PA246Q . That said, you get a lot of bang for your buck in terms of performance, settings options, ergonomic adjustability, and connectivity ports. Granted, its viewing angle performance could be better, but it doesn't prevent us from making the XL2420T our Editors' Choice for mid-sized gaming monitors.

COMPARISON TABLE
Compare the BenQ XL2420T with several other monitors side by side.

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