In designing the XL2410T, BenQ decided they wanted to make a 24” monitor for gamers by gamers. To do this they enlisted the help of internationally renowned Counter-Strike super ninjas (more accurately ‘Ninjas In Pyjamas’) HeatoN and SpawN. Their mission was to come up with unique features that would appeal to the hardcore gamer in all of us. Something that would give the owner the edge in the world of competitive gaming.
So did the dream team of BenQ , HeatoN, and SpawN deliver what they promised?
Box Contents of BenQ XL2410T Gaming Monitor
Let’s take a look…
When you take the XL2410T out of the box, you are presented with a solidly built but ultimately pretty plain looking monitor. It’s not going to win any style awards, nor is it going to compete on the catwalk with the likes of monitors from Apple and flashy offerings from Samsung.
BenQ XL2410T ready for gaming!
That's not what this monitor is about though.
This monitor is designed to be the heart of a gaming rig. It’s dying to be surrounded by top flight gaming peripherals. It’s crying out to be in banks of rows at professional tournaments, being hammered by pro gamers and casual gamers who want that competitive edge alike.
This is a tool for a job, and it’s got all the flair where it counts… in the gaming performance. We’ll get to that in a bit.
So what are the technical specifications for this contender to the PC gaming monitor crown? Well in addition to being 24” in size, it has a maximum resolution of 1920x1080 pixels, which of course makes it a 16:9 ratio monitor. Increasingly so now with PC monitors this is the resolution of choice, as 16:10 ratio monitors are now becoming something of a rare beast. The screen is a backlit W-LED TN panel, which still offer the fastest response times and vastly reduced input lag above some of the other panel technologies such as IPS. This means less time between when you move your mouse, and when that movement appears on screen. We’re talking milliseconds here, but in a competitive gaming environment these split seconds are crucial in gaining the edge over your opponents.
Ports on the BenQ XL2410T
There’s a regular D-Sub VGA connection if needed, but most gamers will be looking at the dual digital inputs. The HDMI connection is capable of carrying audio though to the monitor, which it can then playback via headphones. This isn’t the most audiophile friendly way of getting sound in your games, but it works effectively and is a good solution for those that don’t want any additional sound solutions on their rig other than just a place to plug in their headphones and get on with it. You could even plug a console into it, should the urge take you. The real star of the digital inputs though is the dual-link DVI-D connection which is capable of carrying full HD 1920x1080 resolution at 120Hz. This also means that the monitor is 3D capable, as is proudly proclaimed on the BenQ’s packaging.
The monitor has a good solid stand, which with a push of a button, can be rotated 90 degrees to put the monitor into portrait mode. This orientation has become increasingly popular with the advent of multiple gaming monitor solutions such as AMD’s Eyefinity and NVIDIA’s Surround technology. If, like me, you spend your time off from being a gaming pro as a professional software developer, then let me tell you that if you’ve not tried coding in your favourite development environment on a nice 1080p monitor in portrait mode, you are missing out! Highly recommended.
So how does the XL2410T perform? Well straight out of the box it offers a nice sharp image, but not without some minor imperfections. If we hook the monitor up to a spectrophotometer (this is a device that attaches onto the face of the screen and measures the light coming from the screen) and the appropriate software to take accurate measurements, we can see that the FPS (first person shooter) mode that it ships in is not too accurate towards either sRGB (used mainly in photo & video editing) nor REC709 (high definition cinema production) standards. This is likely due to this FPS mode being very finely tuned in for optimal gaming, rather than delivering the very best in image quality for things such as films or photo editing.
However, I did find that if you switch the monitor into sRGB mode, or even just the standard mode, you can get a very decent calibration from the XL2410T that gives a very good quality crisp picture. The monitor does give you a decent range of calibration controls via the buttons on the lower right of the screen, and although these can be a little fiddly to use and the wrong buttons can occasionally be pressed by accident, it does give you a reasonable level of control over picture settings.
It’s still not as accurate as other monitors in its colour reproduction, so if you’re after a high end photo or video editing monitor, then the XL2410T is maybe not the solution for you.
So not quite the ultimate monitor.
However from its inception the XL2410T was built for gaming, and it really shows. I put this monitor through the gauntlet in gaming; from first person shooters such as Counter-Strike, Battlefield Bad Company 2, and even Battlefield 3. Through to RPGs such as The Witcher 2 and Dragon Age 2. When it comes to gaming the BenQ excels in every area.
There is a wealth of gamer friendly functions built into this monitor, and while some my sound slightly gimmicky, they all add up to a wonderful gaming experience.
The 120Hz mode means that fast-moving games continue to have sharp crisp images no matter how hectic the action on-screen gets. It all flows beautifully, and especially in a game like ID’s Rage, the fluidity of movement really has to be seen to be appreciated.
FPS mode offers a wide range of optimisations for First Person Shooters, as optimised by HeatoN and SpawN… and boy does it show. Contrast and colour settings have been tweaked so that other players will stand out clearly. There’s an instant mode built-in that reduces the input lag time down to an incredible 2ms. If this monitor doesn’t give you a competitive edge in games, then you may as well hang up your guns and go try a spot of fishing instead,
Seriously hardcore gamers can even choose to mimic an old school resolution if upgrading from an old lower resolution monitor, so that they don’t have to alter the style of their play at all. The BenQ will simply scale the picture to fill as much of the screen as possible.
Running NVIDIA’s 3D vision with the monitor I was extremely pleased with the level of depth I was getting from the 3D images the BenQ put in front of me, Batman Arkham Asylum is a game that excels in 3D, and on the XL2410T it really shone. There was no real evidence of crosstalk that can plague some lesser 3D displays, and it really did add an extra level to enveloping you into the game environment. I can safely say the BenQ convinced me that 3D gaming is a very worthy addition to what is already an extremely capable gaming monitor.
So have BenQ produced the ultimate 24” monitor with the XL2410T? If we’re talking about a monitor ideally suited for photo or video editing, then no I wouldn’t say the XL2410T is the best option available at the price.
BenQ XL2410T in Portrait Mode
Have BenQ created the ultimate 24” gaming monitor? Well the answer to that is simply that they’ve got very close. It’s a remarkable monitor with a wealth of useful features to help the aspiring gaming within us all reach the heady heights of the gaming stratosphere where competitive masters such as SpawN and HeatoN reside. Everything just feels right with the monitor, especially in a high paced shooter where the difference between securing you kills, or becoming a repeat victim is down to tiny fractions of seconds.
Just to give you an example of how it improved my gaming, I went from getting mostly average round scores in the Battlefield series, to consistently ranking in the top players of the rounds, and improved my kill/death ratio significantly. It really can make all the difference. I found the excellent motion resolution meant that I could quickly track running opponents and zero in on that all important headshot. The built-in FPS mode helped with giving an instant response to any actions I performed so I was never at a disadvantage with such undesired gaming side effects such as input lag. The setup of the picture in this mode was also tweaked to perfection as I could clearly see enemies, even against dark environments, without making the picture look overly artificial or bright.
Not only did it perform great in fast paced shooters, but other genres where the graphical eye candy is high also looked fantastic.
There was a great sense of depth and natural sharpness in games such as The Witcher 2, and small game text was always crystal clear. The final string to the XL2410T’s bow was an exemplary 3D Vision performance which has definitely made me take a step back and really re-evaluate just how effective 3D gaming can be in completely immersing you into a game’s world.
BenQ and the Ninjas In Pyjamas dream team should feel very proud of the gaming beast they have created in the BenQ XL2410T. If you’re serious about gaming, or you just want to have a better casual gaming experience, this monitor has got it where it counts.
Quite simply I cannot recommend this monitor enough if you are in the market for a new gaming monitor. Because of that and the overwhelmingly positive feedback from CCL's customers on the BenQ XL2410T, I have no hestation in awarding the "Editors Choice" award for the best gaming monitor currently available.
