BenQ GL2580H Review: Budget 1080p Monitor

The BenQ GL2580H is a popular budget monitor, but how does it compare to similarly-priced newer displays? Let’s find out. 

Image Quality

First of all, the BenQ GL2580H is based on a TN panel, which means you’re getting the narrow 160°/170° viewing angles that cause the image to shift in color, contrast, and brightness when you look at the screen from a strange angle.

Further, in comparison to IPS and VA panels, the colors on TN displays aren’t as vibrant and accurate.

You do, however, get a quick 1ms response time speed – on Amazon, the product description shows a 2ms response time speed, but on BenQ’s product webpage, it states that the BenQ GL2580H has, in fact, a response time speed of 1ms.

Either way, there’s no noticeable ghosting nor motion blur of fast-moving objects though the BenQ GL2580H monitor won’t attract competitive gamers due to its limited 60Hz refresh rate.

1080p resolution suits the 24.5″ viewable screen of the monitor well as there’s a decent and balanced amount of screen space and detail clarity available. What’s more, 1080p won’t be too taxing on your PC system.

Performance

The BenQ GL2580H input lag performance is very good, with around 13ms of delay, which is even acceptable for competitive gaming. However, a higher refresh rate display is highly recommended in that case.

We didn’t find any defects such as excessive backlight bleeding nor dead/stuck pixels; you can also overclock the display up to ~75Hz by creating a custom resolution.

The backlight of the monitor is flicker-free, and there’s an integrated low-blue light filter with four different levels: Multimedia, Web Surfing, Office, and Reading.

Features

In the OSD (On-Screen Display) menu, you will find all the standard picture adjustments such as contrast/brightness, hue/saturation, sharpness, color temperature, gamma, input source selection, etc.

Unfortunately, there aren’t any exclusive gaming features such as AMD FreeSync, custom crosshairs, gaming presets, and the like.

You will find pre-calibrated picture presets (Standard, LowBlue Light, Movie, Game, Photo, sRGB, ECO, and User) as well as three overdrive settings for the response time (Off, High, Premium).

At the bottom bezel, there are five OSD hotkeys plus a power button. You can assign up to three hotkeys as shortcuts for certain functions in the OSD menu.

Design & Connectivity

The BenQ GL2580H 1080p monitor has a solid design for the money with a textured finish, ultra-thin bezels, a sturdy base, and a concealing cable management system. It’s also VESA mount compatible, but the stand is tilt-only by -5°/20°.

Turning to the connectivity, there’s VGA, DVI, HDMI 1.4, and a headphones jack available.

Price & Similar Monitors

The BenQ GL2580H price amounts to a little bit less than $130, which is rather steep considering that you can get 1080p IPS displays for the same amount of money or even less.

For the same price, you can get the ASUS VA24DQ with an IPS panel, DisplayPort, and AMD FreeSync up to 75Hz.

The IPS models offer wider viewing angles and better color reproduction, and while they do have a slower response time speed on paper, you won’t face any prominent ghosting on either of these displays.

Visit our best gaming monitors under $150 guide for more information.

Conclusion

While the BenQ GL2580H is an all-around solid and reliable monitor, there are simply better alternatives available under $150.

Specifications

Screen Size	24.5-inch
Resolution	1920×1080 (Full HD)
Panel Type	TN
Aspect Ratio	16:9 (Widescreen)
Refresh Rate	60Hz
Response Time	1ms (GtG)
Ports	HDMI 1.4, VGA, DVI
Other Ports	Headphone Jack
Brightness	250 cd/m2
Contrast Ratio	1000:1 (static)
Colors	16.7 million (6-bit + FRC)
VESA	Yes (100x100mm)