Most monitors, like televisions, are black. Either that or silver. Other colours are generally frowned upon. Woodgrain casing, for example, went out in the seventies (thankfully). With the release of the M2200HD, BenQ has decided to buck convention with a monitor which is - wait for it - white.

Although it does have silver trim. However, we weren't keen on the primary colour ourselves, and with its slightly chunky styling the M2200HD is a rather dowdy looking creature. We didn't like the stand, either. It's rather light and plasticky, so it feels flimsy when you tilt the panel on it. Still, you don't judge a monitor by its housing, but by its screen, and in picture terms this BenQ is much more of a performer.

It's a 21.5-inch, 1920 x 1080 panel, and a 16:9 full HD affair with an HDMI port alongside the DVI and VGA inputs. The M2200HD boasts five picture modes, flicked between using one of the menu buttons on the side of the display: standard (text), movie, dynamic (games), photos and sRGB (accurate colours for printing and suchlike).

The first mode we fired up was the dynamic setting. Loading a first-person shooter, the picture was smooth scrolling - with the quoted 5ms response time clearly up to the job - and the colours were impressively bold and well defined. The M2200 also has a feature called dynamic contrast, which intelligently adjusts the brightness and contrast levels in real time, to give the best results dependent on the image content. That's the theory, anyway.

The dynamic contrast did a good job of enhancing the vibrant greens of a sun-drenched jungle in a 3D shooter, although it made a gloomy and atmospheric RPG we played just a touch too dark for our liking. It didn't work at all well while watching a DVD in movie mode, as quick scene transitions meant the dynamic technology visibly altered the brightness between lighter and darker shots.

This was clearly noticeable and irritating, but in movie mode with the dynamic contrast turned off, the M2200HD produced a much better, wholesomely detailed rendering of The Matrix. Loading up a Word document and switching into standard mode, text was pretty sharp too. Overall, the monitor proved itself a good all-rounder in the image stakes.

BenQ has also made an effort to improve the M2200HD's functionality as well as picture performance, with a USB hub on the back of the panel and four USB ports (one on the back, two on the side and one on top). The top USB port is designed for mounting the webcam which comes bundled with the monitor. Considering the price point, you're getting undeniably good value for money with that extra thrown in.

Verdict
We weren't sold on its styling, but the M2200HD provides a quality picture, although the dynamic contrast feature produces variable results. At this price point, the inclusion of a webcam in the package is pretty impressive, too.

Company: BenQ

Contact: 0870 850 4417

Tags: benq contrast ratio hdmi universal serial bus 1080p video graphics array digital visual interface liquid crystal display