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HWM+HardwareZone.com Tech Awards 2012: Editor's Choice - Part 2

By Team HardwareZone - 2 Mar 2012

Best Full HD 23/24-inch LED-backlit Monitor

Best Full HD 23/24-inch LED-backlit Monitor

For those into digital photography, graphic design, video editing, and prepress work, their monitor of choice is usually one using in-plane switching (IPS) technology. An IPS panel offers better color resolution and wider viewing angles, compared to the much more common and inexpensive twisted nematic (TN) panel. And in the last couple of years, prices of IPS monitors have come down quite a bit. For example, a 23-inch IPS monitor can now be had for well under S$300. Besides IPS, multi-domain vertical alignment (MVA) displays are also known to offer a combination of quick response times, wide viewing angles, and good color reproduction.

Below are the results after testing eight of the best IPS and MVA-based monitors in 2011. These 23 and 24-inch monitors have a native resolution of at least 1920 x 1080, and sport LED backlighting. To restrict ourselves from stepping into the realm of high-end offerings, all of them are non-wide-gamut monitors priced no more than S$700.

Nominees:

  • AOC 53-X i2353Ph
  • ASUS VS239H-P
  • Dell UltraSharp U2412M
  • HP ZR2440w
  • LG IPS235V
  • Philips 237E3QPH
  • Samsung SyncMaster S24A650D
  • ViewSonic VP2365-LED

And the Winner Is...

The Dell UltraSharp U2412M gets our nod for the best LED-backlit monitor. 

There isn’t much to fault the U2412M. This 24-inch monitor has a a comprehensive list of I/Os that include DVI-D (with HDCP support, of course), DisplayPort, VGA, and even a four-port USB hub. It has no lack of ergonomic adjustments either. Besides having a height-adjustable stand (115mm), you can also tilt, swivel and rotate the panel to your liking. Coupled with its wide viewing angles, you're bound to get a great view from almost any position. From a performance standpoint, this 1920 x 1200-pixel, LED-backlit monitor comes with fairly accurate presets, though out of the box, we find that blues are a tad weak. At 670cd/m2, contrast is good too for an IPS panel. The U2412M truly shines after calibration. In terms of color accuracy, we measured a class-leading delta-E of 1.1. To put it simply, even if you've perfect vision, it's unlikely that you'll be able to spot any color difference. If we were to pick one weakness of the U2412M, it'd be its pixel responsiveness in games and movies. The 8ms (gray-to-gray response time) panel isn't bad, just that when compared to some of the 5ms panels, it does exhibit slightly more signs of ghosting.

Scoring Breakdown
 Criteria/Model AOC i2353Ph ASUS VS239H-P Dell U2412M HP ZR2440w LG IPS235V Philips 237E3QPH Samsung S24A650D ViewSonic VP2365-LED
Design 8.5 8.0 8.0 8.0 8.0 8.0 8.5 8.0
Features 8.5 8.5 8.5 7.5 8.5 8.5 8.0 9.0
Performance 8.5 8.5 9.0 7.5 8.5 8.5 8.5 8.5
Value 8.0 8.5 9.0 7.5 8.5 8.5 8.0 7.5
Overall 8.5 8.5 9.0 7.5 8.5 8.5 8.5 8.5
Price S$329 S$269 S$439 S$682 S$328 S$279  S$498 S$429

For more details on how we selected our winners, check out the full reviews and articles listed at the References section at the end.

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