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Green screen BenQ V2200 Eco $499
BenQ is such a friendly company that when their Taiwanese regional President came to Australia recently, he successfully persuaded a good quantity of the company’s local dealers to join him in a cycle ride from Watson’s Bay to Bondi. He invited us too, but, er, well, so sorry, we were in a very busy review period, as we said. But we did stay to watch him attach his bike to a generator and power up one of these $499 V2200 Eco screens — to show how his company is keen to be friends with the planet, as well.
The angle here is natural materials, much-improved waste-reduced packaging and low power usage. So no black-gloss screen bezels here, instead the shell around the screen is 28% recycled plastic, with no chemical coatings or even printing (the BenQ badge and control legends are simply embossed as part of the moulding). It looks strangely bare, but perfectly pleasant; we’ve grown rather fond of its appearance, in fact, though we are yet to fathom the purpose of the green knobbly thing that sits in the circular front tray (which is shown empty on these photos. Hand massager? Business card holders? Fake grass? Advice gratefully received.
Meanwhile inputs round the back are minimal but well-chosen — just D-sub and HDMI, with the audio from HDMI accessed from a headphone socket on the left edge. The base lacks any swivel, but otherwise all is good.
The LCD panel itself is full-HD (so 1920 x 1080 pixels), perfect for replaying Blu-ray-quality video through that HDMI socket. And to continue the green theme, there’s an Eco screen mode which saves 30% power over normal usage.
The question, of course, is whether it’s a useful screen running on reduced power. And the answer is yes. Indeed running at full power, the V2200 is so magnificently bright that you might invoke Eco mode merely to avoid being dazzled. The full contrast spec claims 1000:1 native contrast ratio boosted to either five or one million to one (depending which specs sheet you check!) when assisted by dynamic control, though whether that is localised or averaged over the full screen is not clear. It looks superb, that’s for sure, bright and clear; only those watching movies in near darkness will notice a tendency to crush low-level blacks.
This combination of brightness and low-power usage is made possible by the innovation of LED backlighting — indeed BenQ claims this as the world’s first full-HD LED-backlit widescreen 21.5-inch monitor. LED backlighting not only reduces power use compared with conventional CCFL backlighting (BenQ says 36% less, even before invoking Eco mode), it also uses no mercury in its manufacture.
As a relatively new technology, LED backlighting inevitably makes this monitor priced somewhat above non-LED competitors. And that’s your main choice here. Pay a little more to go green? At least there’s no quality compromise — for once, you’re getting excellent performance and the latest tech along with your planet-saving choice. Plus you can always ask BenQ how to attach it to your bicycle.
MYM: Benq Australia Pty Ltd
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