Budget monitors

GIZMO GALLERY

Large LCD monitors are preferred by serious gamers. A few budget options.

Viewsonic VA2226w
Not everyone has the funds or the space to put a large desktop screen in with their computer system.

While the 17-inch LCDs are not cheap when compared with the 19-inch models, there are still a few less expensive models available in the market.

Viewsonic's 22-inch VA2226w is one such example. The LCD monitor design is pretty straightforward "" get the monitor as slim as possible and keep the bezel around the actual display as thin as possible too.

The Viewsonic's labelling and buttons are pretty small and doesn't stand out against the design of the front of the display.

Playing PC games is obviously at the top of the list and one of the most important facets of the monitor; and the results were pleasing.

At both the native resolution of 1680x1050 and at a lower 1280x800 resolution, there was no visible ghosting or artifacts on the display.

Ghosting occurs when the display's response time is too high and residual colour remains after the graphics card requests a change in it. During testing, the 5ms response time on the monitor lives up to its claims.

Viewsonic only includes a standard analog VGA cable for connecting the monitor to the PC or other sources.

While some users won't be able to tell the difference between the analog VGA and digital DVI inputs, some will, and that might be a 'strike one' on Viewsonic. The monitor supports both DVI and VGA inputs, but users would have to buy their own DVI cable.

Yet, the Viewsonic monitor is an apt choice for home or small office users and is priced at Rs 17,500.

BenQ LCD 15 inch
The BenQ 15-inch monitor, which is stylish and definitely affordable at just Rs 7,400, is another option. You get exactly what one would expect in a budget LCD monitor "" a basic set of no-frills features at a competitive price.

This monitor's base has tilt adjustment, but that offers only an adequate range of motion. The case has a thin silver bezel with an unusual mottled finish. It also has well-labelled control buttons, including one for autosync, which worked flawlessly in our testing.

The viewing-angle performance was about average, and the screen does have a faint banding on colour ramps and as a result, the moving images blurred a bit.

Colour ramps are basically bands of the primary colours "" red, green, and blue "" along with white, ranging in shades from black to the full-strength colour. The ramps must be smooth for good colour reproduction, but some monitors reveal banding and other discontinuities.

Although BenQ LCD could stabilise the image by tweaking the timing with the menu controls, but this was more difficult than it is with other monitors in the market. Speakers in the BenQ LCD seem rather poor in performance, so it is recommended that you consider a good set of speakers along with the monitor.