To illustrate the gulf between the premium and budget LCDs this month, here is a 24in monitor for an incredible $431 – cheaper than the 22in Viewsonic VP2250WB. Understandably, the BenQ G2400W is a spartan offering as a result, but we were sure that the quality would at least be acceptable enough to make it worth buying for everyday use.

Not quite. For a start, the backlight appears very dim, not only when compared with the premium models but also next to the Philips, with its supposedly identical 250cd/m2 maximum brightness. Dark, uneven patches are visible at the top edge, and while this low dynamic range does make for a deep black level, it certainly doesn’t translate into detailed shadows. We could barely make out a thing in the caves of our Lord of the Rings test video.

The contrast at the top end isn’t so bad. We had little trouble making out the lightest shades of grey on a white background, and the colour tracking test showed the BenQ to be closer to neutral than the more expensive Asus. But, scrolling through our test photos showed horrible skin tones and shadows that looked more like blobs, while the jungles of Crysis were more black than green in all but the brightest scenes.

There’s little else to redeem it, with a stand that only tilts, poor viewing angles and no sign of any extras apart from a lonely HDMI port. The design isn’t bad, with a nice red Power button and a thin 20mm bezel, but even at this rock-bottom price it’s hard to recommend. Other monitors on test might be pricier, but you can’t argue with the quality.