This article reviews the BenQ SW242Q, a 24-inch monitor designed for photo editing and video production. Despite its smaller size, the monitor boasts impressive features like a 16:10 aspect ratio, 2K resolution, HDR10 support, and excellent color accuracy. The reviewer explores the monitor's design, connectivity options, and performance, highlighting its strengths and potential drawbacks.
If you are anything like me, choosing a monitor smaller than 27 inches would be a hard decision to make when it comes to photo editing or video production . So it was pretty surprising that even with its smaller footprint and arguably “odd” 16:10 aspect ratio , theOut of the box you’re provided with the basic setup including the monitor and base, an HDMI cable, DisplayPort cable, headphone jack, USB-A, and USB-C cables.
As mentioned in, the 24-inch monitor offers a maximum resolution of 2560×1600 pixels, a 16:10 aspect ratio, HDR10 support, 60Hz refresh rate, and an impressive maximum brightness of 400 nits view that gives just that little bit more workspace vertically and that starts to feel pretty great when working on bulk images. The compact screen is relatively lightweight, yet feels incredibly sturdy and well built. The stand features a sort of “pleather” textured pad on the base for a little extra grip which goes against the grain of most other stands that tend to be a smooth plastic or metal situation. As strange as it may be, it did seem like a sort of high-end flourish to its minimalistic design. The stand offers a lot of adjustment range including tilt, height, and swivel that gives you the ability to place the screen in nearly any viewing angle. Additionally, while a smaller system, there’s still a lot of connectivity available including HDMI, DisplayPort, and USB-C connections allowing for multiple device type usage. This includes the ability to use the single USB-C cable connection to provide both an additional external display and power supply. The display does also support a VESA mount so you can connect the display to a variety of mounts and third-party stands or arms. The monitor offers a two-port USB hub and an SD Card reader allowing users to gain full access to these ports through the use of the USB-C connection alone, if needed. These are great for connecting a keyboard or mouse. However, I’d recommend saving high-power/long-term use things like external hard drives for connecting directly to your computer. Finally, something our readers may find amusing and appreciate, NO BEZELS! The screen basically has a bottom bezel and then the screen goes edge to edge on the side and top, eliminating any wasted space. It is worth noting though, that even though there’s barely any Bezel and it’s only a 24-inch monitor, it still occupies a pretty deep footprint with the base/stand being about 9.5-inches deep and the monitor thickness measuring 1-inch at the edge and nearly 3-inches at its center point where it connects to the stand.I touched on this before but it bears repeating: I was a bit thrown off by the 16:10 aspect ratio. Connecting to my MacBook Pro, MacMini, and PC, the maximum available 3,840 by 2,160 resolution felt stretched out and off-putting. But simply applying the “recommended” 2K 2,560 by 1,600 resolution was surprisingly easy to adapt to after spending years with 4K. The slightly higher aspect ratio and form factor was a welcome feature given my history with 24-inch displays has been limited to 1080p sort of systems. So, the 2K in a small package was really quite welcome. While having 4K would have been amazing in a 24-inch display, it could have made for some difficult viewing situations since there would be a lot of pixels crammed into a small amount of space. Additionally, while yes, I do love 4K monitors and swear by them, we have to be real about it. As a photographer and retoucher, I spend most of my editing time zooming in to 100% or more of our images while working on them anyway, regardless of screen resolution. According to BenQ, the SW242Q screen offers an improved TUV Rheinland-certified reflection-free matte coating which allows the monitor to show off its brightness and color accuracy even in the most brightly lit of work environments. In addition to the external factors, the deep shadows and bright highlights from images to videos were presented in glorious detail. Out of the box the colors, brightness, and accuracy are pretty impressive as it’s pre-calibrated from the factory. After manual calibrations, they were even better giving the as-claimed or better color accuracy of 100% sRGB, and 98% Adobe RGB. The onscreen menus are easy to figure out and navigate, giving users a wide range of control and manual adjustments including gamma, calibration, brightness, color temperature, presets and more. While the screen does have a welcome maximum brightness of 400 nits and is therefore technically HDR10 supported, video editors may want a little more brightness out of their screens since HDR doesn’t start being real HDR until at least 600 nits, and even thenBut for its under $500 asking price, what BenQ is offering here is quite impressive. The only real performance weak point I could find would be its 1000:1 contrast ratio. Again, this monitor is by no means— the most lagging features are at worst “middling” — but the contrast ratio does leave a bit to be desired when compared to more expensive professional OLED and mini-LED displays.Despite what many creative professionals may think, there is still a thriving market for smaller displays which makes this 24-inch system from BenQ appealing for both its small footprint and affordable price. The SW242Q , takes the spotlight as the company’s most affordable option for users seeking a professional color-accurate workflow while maintaining its variety ofmonitors. While this one sits on the smaller side, it does provide top-tier image quality for users with limited space in the office, or looking for something more portable to be fitted on a mobile on-location production cart. Either way, the SW242Q delivers well above its weight class for image and color quality for photographers and videographers making it a worthy contender for their consideration. The image quality is fantastic for photo editing and is more than good enough for video work as well, making it an ideal place for everyone who seeks professional-level color accuracy but doesn’t require 4K resolution. It is a massive step up from a similarly sized 1080p monitor with a design aesthetic that will appeal to the discerning professional on top of some impressive image quality and color richness. While lacking a little in HDR support, the 24-inch display is a worthwhileSadly while there are a few alternative options for those creatives seeking a 24-inch offering, there aren’t as many as we’d like, especially in the professional spectrum. There’s the
Monitor Reviews Benq SW242Q Monitor Review Photo Editing Video Production 16:10 Aspect Ratio 2K Resolution HDR10 Color Accuracy
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