Quick Review: BenQ FP93V

I had to finally ditch my 17" flat CRT Sony monitor with this move, since we're trying to cram as much as possible into the small study/second bedroom and it occupied about a 20" cube of space. Since I do a lot less gaming on the PC these days (and they've improved anyway) I went with flat panel to conserve space. I ended up with the 19" BenQ FP93V. It's a well equipped but moderately priced LCD monitor which is designed to "fit" the Mac Mini.

It "fits" in terms of color (matching that soothing Apple white) and form factor. The Mini sits in a small groove on the monitor's base. It fits very snugly - almost too snugly because there's little clearance for the mass of wires which will inevitably protrude from back. In the long run, it's not such a bad thing because it does keep the cables somewhat tamed back there ... but can make the occasional swapping of wires a bit annoying.

Physically, the only other note I have is that the monitor has a tendency to wobble. Now, I don't think this is BenQ's fault - it's probably the fact that my 10 year old desk is just not all that sturdy anymore. A nice solid desk with little play probably wouldn't be a problem. It's just that I can't help that the thirty ton monitor I just ditched probably wouldn't either. Still, a couple of action figures now serve to help stabilize the monitor and all appears well.

The picture seems pretty rock solid. It's a little brighter than I'm used to, but I'm also pretty close to the monitor in the tight space. The colors hold up extremely well and last night The Girl and I watched those Microsoft "Office" videos and it looked great. It supports both DVI and VGA outputs ... even at the same time ... which will be nice once I get the old PC hooked up to the farm as well.

Overall, if you're looking for a good 19" that won't break the bank - the FP93V will do fine. It's not as cheap as some, but it's got a fast update speed, good picture and a nice design.




tagged: game, gaming