Edge10 W243h in Monitors

Edge10 isn't a household name in the UK, in fact this is the first monitor we've reviewed from the company. A glance at the website tells us that Edge10 "specialises in manufacturing huge volumes of low-cost TFTs", which didn't exactly fill us with confidence. But we needn't have worried.

Despite this 24in monitor costing just £141 - that makes it cheaper than all but three 22in models here - the picture is much better than we'd allowed ourselves to hope. Out of the box the picture was too washed out and pale, and the brightness was set so high as to ruin the black level. But with both brightness and contrast lowered, we found the Edge10 to be perfectly usable and, in some cases, actually quite pleasant to have on our desktop.

Its panel has a cold, clinical tone compared to the vibrancy of the BenQ and others, but while working or browsing online, this made for a clear and sharp desktop. Our technical tests showed a slight bluish hue to the backlight, which affects the black level, but the white level was even. We saw minor banding in our gradient tests, but the colours were evenly distributed and were generally more accurate than we expected at such a budget price.

Games and movies suffered a little due to that coldness, but even though the 24in size and 1,920 x 1,200 resolution means the pixel pitch is higher than the more compact 1080p 22in models, the picture remained sharp and detailed. Fast motion proved no stumbling block, despite the 8ms response time being the highest of the group.

And Edge10 has somehow managed to squeeze an adjustable stand into the budget, too; it lifts through 12cm, swivels widely, and pivots 90 degrees for tall documents or images. It connects via DVI or D-SUB, and the limited 2W speakers add to the value, as does the three-year on-site warranty.

In all, there's much to like here. True, there are better monitors than the W243h here, but its £141 price makes it our pick of the larger-format models. It isn't quite good enough to justify a Best Value award alongside the £80 DGM, and you still get more for your money with the better 22in TFTs, but the Edge10 packs in an awful lot for not very much.

Author: David Bayon