In the times when CRT monitors (displays) were only choice, if you cared about your health and especially eyesight you needed to buy good and expensive monitor. Back then, when someone wanted to buy a good PC we always recommended him to buy good monitor first and then the rest of the configuration with money that remained from initial budget. With TFT monitors is different story, and in most cases it does not matter how much you spent on your TFT monitor since most of them won’t hurt your eyesight. Nowadays, you can buy a decent TFT monitor for around 100€ (except few exceptions) but we will offer you few very good arguments to spend slightly more – around 150€. For that difference in price, you can get monitor signed by well-established brand, with contemporary design, format and high resolution. Since monitor is, in most cases, long-term investment (because it is a component that is rarely upgraded), it makes sense so go for slightly better solution. Problem is that even in this low price range, there are differences between various models and manufacturers.
We gathered all 22-inch (21.5’’) monitors that we could with one more condition: price tag should be below 160€. All monitors are black with differences in surface finish: matte or gloss (piano). This is nice change since earlier combinations of black and grey surfaces weren’t that much pleasing. All monitors have only one analog D-Sub, which is expected from low price models. All displays have 16:9 panel ratio, with 1920x1080 resolution. This will satisfy Full-HD standard and offer decent performances in new visually attractive operating systems. All tested models have decent picture control, which is important in case you have graphics card that cannot run new games in resolutions that are different from monitor’s native resolution. This means that if you lower game resolution, picture won’t get stretched but will maintain ratio even if it is not 16:9. Even specifications of all monitors are almost the same with only one difference: declared contrast values. These contrast values are for dynamic contrast, which is automatically applied according to displayed picture on each monitor. It appears that in this category it is allowed to write whatever manufacturer finds suited, since we didn’t notice any significant difference among tested models when it comes to contrasts. We suggest you to disregard those specifications on monitor packages, at least when it comes to this price range. On the other hand, all tested models are very nicely built which came as surprise since they belong to low price product group.
Acer V223HQ
Picture of this monitor should be in every encyclopedia under the TFT monitor definition. Simple design, thin panel frame, black color, ergonomic buttons and controls. These present ideal combination for everyone that cares about practicality and design that can be suited for every interior. Small error in 18-bit color gradients cannot be seen in 24-bit mode, which means that dithering algorithm it functioning properly. Backlight breaching is slightly noticeable along upper and bottom edge, with blacks being uniform and “black”. Viewing angles are average. Response times can be also categorized as average, but it is highly unlikely that you will get into situation where these won’t be enough.
Acer X223HQ
Sharp edges and flat surfaces of this model are characteristics of Acer X series for some time and in black, it does look great. Some small problems noticed on previous models from X series are corrected. Buttons got small “bumps” so they are easily discoverable and button for auto-configuration does not launch this procedure every time we exit menus, since this button has dual function. Why are we mentioning these trivialities? Because those prove that manufacturer is prepared to improve its products despite the fact that those improvements won’t result in another new shiny sticker on packaging that advertises Dynamic “this” and Smart “that”. Small imperfections in gradient display did have impact on final impression but the fact is that those will be hardly noticeable during everyday work. Backlight breaching is almost unnoticeable with uniform and nicely saturated black color. Slightly better viewing angles and faster response times compared to cheaper (previous) model proves that these two monitors does not share same panel.
