BenQ SW242Q review: Trying to make 16:10 monitors a thing again

Best Prices Today: BenQ SW242Q

If you’re looking at a 24-inch monitor, odds are it has a 16:9 aspect ratio, 1080p resolution, and a refresh rate between 120Hz and 240Hz. The BenQ SW242Q defies all of these trends with a laser-like focus on satisfying the needs of photographers, artists, and other creative professionals. It succeeds, but its price will turn some away.

BenQ SW242Q specifications

The BenQ SW242Q’s specifications stand apart from its competitors. Although it has a 24-inch display, it offers the rare 16:10 aspect ratio, which is a bit taller than the common 16:9 aspect ratio. It also ups the resolution to 2560×1600 and has a wide range of ports including USB-C with DisplayPort and Power Delivery.

• Display size: 24.1-inch 16:10 aspect ratio
• Native resolution: 2560×1600
• Panel type: IPS with “fine-coated panel”
• Refresh rate: 60Hz
• Adaptive sync: None
• Ports: 1x HDMI 2.0, 1x DisplayPort 1.4, 1x USB-C upstream with DisplayPort Alternate Mode and 90 watts Power Delivery, 2x USB-A 3.1 downstream, 1x USB-B upstream, 1x 3.5mm audio-out, 1x SDcard reader
• VESA mount: 100x100mm
• Speakers: None
• Price: $479.99 MSRP

These unusual features come at an unusually high MSRP of $479.99. That’s much more expensive than a typical 24-inch monitor and, for most people, the added cost will be impossible to justify. The BenQ SW242Q targets a specific audience with specific needs.

Further reading: See our roundup of the best monitors to learn about competing products.

BenQ SW242Q design

One thing leapt out at me the moment I unboxed the BenQ SW242Q. This monitor has a 16:10 aspect ratio!

The 16:10 aspect ratio, which is closer to square than the more common 16:9 popularized by HDTVs and adopted by most monitors, is extraordinarily rare for a standalone monitor sold in 2024.

And it makes a difference. Because 16:10 is closer to square, it provides more vertical display space within the SW242Q’s 24-inch display. It means the SW242Q is nearly as tall as most 27-inch monitors. That’s useful for writers, editors, photographers, and anyone else who often works with content that’s taller than it is wide.

Aspect ratio aside, the BenQ SW242Q looks like other monitors in BenQ’s “Photographer Monitor” line. The display panel is framed by a chunky, sturdy charcoal black frame attached to a large, flat stand base. The stand can adjust for height, tilt, swivel, and pivot: It also has a 100x100mm VESA mount for third-party stands and arms.

The stand is both deep and wide, which might be an issue on small desks. BenQ compensates for that by making the base extremely flat and covering it in a luxurious, leather-like material with a slightly grippy surface. It’s not a bad place to perch a camera, external drive, or USB dock.

Matthew Smith / Foundry

Matthew Smith / Foundry

Matthew Smith / Foundry

BenQ SW242Q connectivity and features

The BenQ SW242Q’s video connectivity includes one HDMI, one DisplayPort, and one USB-C upstream port. The USB-C connection includes DisplayPort Alternate Mode (for video input) and up to 90 watts of Power Delivery (for charging a laptop, tablet, or other connected device). This is a good range of connectivity, though expected for a monitor priced above $400.

Additional connectivity includes two USB-A ports and, because this is a photography monitor, an SDcard reader that supports a broad range of formats (SD/SDHC/SDXC/MMC). There’s also a 3.5mm audio-out for connecting headphones and a USB-B upstream port, which can be used to drive the USB-A ports if your computer doesn’t have USB-C.

The SW242Q is missing a favorite feature found on many other BenQ monitors: a remote-control puck to navigate the monitor’s on-screen menus. The monitor instead relies on a joystick control, and several buttons, hidden on the lower right bezel. They work well, but the control puck is better. The monitor also ships without a hood (though one is available as an option). A hood is standard on some other BenQ photography monitors.

BenQ’s on-screen menus are easy to navigate and offer a long list of image quality adjustments. This includes gamma, color temperature, and color calibration controls, all of which target specific numerical values rather than vague presets. Speaking of presets, the monitor has several that target specific color spaces, and they’re useful for photographers and artists that work in different color spaces for various clients or projects. My one complaint about the menus? The menu text is a bit too small.

The monitor also supports a range of BenQ software utilities, which includes Palette Master Ultimate and Paper Sync. These help photographers and artists ensure the colors viewed on the monitor look very similar, if not identical, to how they’ll appear in print.

Built-in speakers aren’t included, which is a minor disappointment. I expect people using the monitor might benefit from built-in audio, even if only to hear Windows systems sounds or listen to a podcast.

Matthew Smith / Foundry

Matthew Smith / Foundry

Matthew Smith / Foundry

BenQ SW242Q SDR image quality

The BenQ SW242Q is designed to handle photography, digital art, and documents. Because of that, BenQ opts for a 24.1-inch 16:10 IPS panel with a unique “fine-coated panel” that is meant to minimize reflections and simulate the look and feel of printed material. It’s successful, but it comes with a few trade-offs.

Matthew Smith / Foundry

Matthew Smith / Foundry

Matthew Smith / Foundry

First up is brightness, where the BenQ SW242Q delivers an outstanding maximum of 410 nits. It’s important to note this is only available when the “uniformity” mode, which is meant to maintain brightness uniformity across the display’s surface, is turned off. With uniformity on, the display hits a maximum of 198 nits.

Still, the SW242Q’s brightness is more than enough to handle most situations. It should appear bright in all but the most intense lighting conditions. Its brightness is less impressive with uniformity turned on, but people who care about uniformity are likely to be using the monitor in a room with good light control (and possibly with a display hood, too), which makes the reduced brightness in that mode less of an issue.

Matthew Smith / Foundry

Matthew Smith / Foundry

Matthew Smith / Foundry

Contrast is where the BenQ SW242Q makes its most significant compromise, as it achieved a maximum contrast ratio of only 980:1. That’s low for a modern monitor, and the monitor’s contrast looks even worse than the figures suggest. It struggles to achieve anything close to a deep, inky, and convincing black level. The same is true for other 24-inch IPS monitors, like the Pixio PX248 Wave, but that monitor is $150.

“IPS glow,” an issue which causes a gray-silver sheen to appear across the display when viewing dark content, saps the drama and depth from dark images, videos, and games. It’s not a problem on the Windows desktop and in most productivity situations, but it becomes one if you want to watch a movie or play a game on the monitor.

Matthew Smith / Foundry

Matthew Smith / Foundry

Matthew Smith / Foundry

The BenQ SW242Q struck back in color gamut, where it achieved excellent results out of the box. The monitor’s color gamut spans most of the DCI-P3 and AdobeRGB color gamut, which means it can display most colors that exist in each color space. That’s critical for accurate photo and image editing, and to ensure the image on the SW242Q looks much like what it will in print or on other displays.

Set against the alternatives, it’s clear the SW242Q is ahead of the pack, especially in its coverage of the AdobeRGB color gamut. In fact, even OLED monitors fall short of the color gamut coverage found here.

Matthew Smith / Foundry

Matthew Smith / Foundry

Matthew Smith / Foundry

Color accuracy was excellent, too. The monitor’s low color error reinforces the accuracy of its image, and will help photographers and artists create and edit work with confidence that the image they view is accurate to the end result.

The monitor’s good color accuracy was reinforced by a default color temperature of 6400K and gamma curve of 2.2. The color temperature is just a tad warmer than our target of 6500K, but not enough to be readily noticeable, and the gamma curve was spot-on to our preference. Both can be adjusted in the monitor’s on-screen menus to calibrate the image to your preference or need.

Sharpness is a perk. The monitor’s 16:10 aspect ratio leads to a resolution of 2560×1600, which, when spread across a 24.1-inch display, works out to about 125 pixels per inch. That’s much better than a 24-inch 1080p display, which has about 92 pixels per inch. Most 24-inch displays stick to 1080p, so the BenQ SW242Q has an advantage here.

BenQ’s fine-coated panel is the monitor’s secret sauce. Designed to mimic the look of paper, it has a matte finish that greatly reduces glare and reflection, though it does so at the cost of contrast. With the monitor’s uniformity mode turned on, the panel is remarkably good at mimicking the look and feel of a satin paper finish; it’s as if you’re looking at a magazine, or perhaps a coffee-table book, rather than a display. The look is desirable not only for photographers, but also when reading documents and PDFs.

The BenQ SW242Q’s image quality has perks and flaws, and the verdict depends on how you intend to use the display. Its contrast ratio is a long way from ideal for movies, games, and other entertainment, but the monitor’s excellent color accuracy and wide color gamut makes it a great fit for many creative tasks.

BenQ SW242Q HDR image quality

The BenQ SW242Q technically supports HDR10, but it’s not VESA DisplayHDR certified and doesn’t deliver an acceptable HDR experience. The monitor is too dim, and its contrast ratio is too low, to do HDR content justice. You might want to flip to the HDR mode for a quick preview of an HDR image or video, but it’s otherwise best to leave the monitor in SDR.

While the monitor’s sub-par HDR is unfortunate, it fits with the monitor’s purpose. Most photos don’t use HDR, and creative work that will be going to print isn’t compatible with HDR.

BenQ SW242Q motion performance

BenQ’s focus on creative work at the expense of entertainment continues with the monitor’s motion clarity and performance. The SW242Q is a 60Hz monitor and lacks any form of Adaptive Sync. That means it lacks the motion clarity available with other displays.

This is most noticeable in PC games. I picked up on the SW242Q’s lack of clarity and fluidity right away. Compared to other monitors with high refresh rates, the SW242Q felt clunky, and I often had difficulty picking out the details of objects that move quickly across the screen.

Gaming is not the SW242Q’ focus, of course, but I do hope that BenQ can find some way to address this in the future. An enhanced refresh rate is useful not only in games, where the added clarity and fluidity can make a night-and-day difference, but also on the Windows desktop. Windows feels a bit more responsive on a 120Hz display than on a 60Hz display. That’s something I think photographers and artists would appreciate.

Should you buy the BenQ SW242Q?

The BenQ SW242Q is a display that’s likely to be polarizing. It has several features that are unique to BenQ rarely found elsewhere; a paper-like fine-coated panel, a 16:10 aspect ratio, and a resolution of 2560×1600 in a 24-inch display. These advantages are balanced by the monitor’s low contrast ratio and meager 60Hz refresh rate, flaws that are difficult to excuse given its $480 MSRP.

However, the SW242Q’s price is in some ways easier to justify than other BenQ photography monitors, like the SW272U. The company’s larger 27-inch and 32-inch photography monitors face a wide range of competitors that, though they lack the fine-coated panel, achieve similar color performance and sharpness. The SW242Q is more unique: I don’t know of a single 24-inch monitor that matches or beats the BenQ SW242Q on sharpness and color performance. That provides a solid, though niche, reason to buy the SW242Q over less expensive peers.