Pros & Cons
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- Fast response time.
- Relatively low cost.
- Compact size and light weight.
- Good backlight uniformity.
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- Poor grayscale tracking.
- Poor image quality out of the box.
- No height or swivel adjustment.
- On-screen display annoying to use.
BenQ FP202W Specs
| Aspect Ratio | 16:10 |
| Height-Adjustable Stand? | |
| Landscape/Portrait Pivot | |
| Panel Size (Corner-to-Corner) | 20 |
| Rated Contrast Ratio | 600:1 |
| Swiveling Stand? | |
| Tilting Stand? | |
| Video Inputs | DVI |
| Warranty (Parts/Labor) | 36 |
| Weight | 12.5 |
The BenQ FP202W is yet another 20-inch widescreen display vying for your hard-earned cash. As a desktop display, this flat-screen LCD takes a minimalist approach to its design: It lacks TV inputs and even USB ports, though you do get standard VGA and DVI connections (without HDCP). But for $500, size is what matters here, and you won't get a 20-inch widescreen for any less.
The FP202W features a native resolution of 1,680 by 1,050 pixels. I found the display's image quality mediocre, yet average for normal desktop PC use and decent on video content or games that have substantial amounts of dark detail. The monitor has various modes, including two "movie" modes. Unfortunately, in testing, the mode offering the best image quality for video content also substantially reduced the light output of the display.
The LCD's on-screen display (OSD) is also annoying to use since its controls, with labels, are on the side of the display. In addition, the display buttons are labeled using embossing without any actual highlighting, so even if you could see the labels, you couldn't read them from a distance. Lack of amenities such as video inputs and USB ports is forgivable in a budget display, but a swivel or basic height adjustment was sorely missed. I ended up having to prop the display up on a couple of large books to achieve the best height for my eyes.
Out of the box, the lab test results were quite poor. The good news is that only minimal adjustments were needed to bring performance up to an acceptable level. I observed that the best grayscale tracking was on the monitor's "movie2" mode. The measured contrast ratio was 391:1, somewhat less than BenQ's rated 600:1 figure. Some of my results were positive, however.
Response time on our PC Magazine Labs test, which moves an animated box at high speed around the screen, showed only slight tearing and no ghosting of the image. Furthermore, I saw no ghosting during game play or while viewing video content. Despite the relatively low dark-level light output, dark-level detail was noticeably lacking.
As a budget-price widescreen desktop display, the BenQ is okay. Many users will also appreciate its light weight and compact size, but I recommend that more discerning Dell UltraSharp 2007WFP.
See how the BenQ FP202W measures up to other displays in our
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