BenQ GL2580HM Review

Monitors come in all shapes and sizes these days, with more and varied features all the time, however, BenQ manufacture their monitors with a certain consistency - ensuring that the features they have are top drawer, rather than focusing on what’s the latest buzz word of the industry.

That trend continues with the GL2580HM. Labeled as a “frameless” monitor, there’s a move towards a more stylish aesthetic than the BenQ monitors we’ve seen previously. Out of the box, the frameless design looks the part, and the sculpted stand - whilst less adjustable than previous BenQ iterations - certainly oozes more class and elegance than their bulkier, but more customisable stands.

Specification wise, this is a 24.5 inch, TN panel with a full HD resolution of 1920 by 1080, with a low response time of 2-5ms. With inputs for HDMI, DVI and VGA, you should be well covered for what you want to connect to the monitor. There’s also 3.5mm audio input and output, so you can have audio from the monitor itself via it’s pair of 1W speakers, or pump your audio back out of the unit to a more powerful sound system, or set of headphones. We also have the standard 100mm VESA mounting points on the back, should you be wanting to hold this monitor off the desktop.

The frameless aspect here looks good, but as has been mentioned before, isn’t a 100% frameless design. When the monitor is on, you can see a small black frame around the outside of the image, where some of the mechanics of the LCD need to be. Though, it certainly does look much smarter than a huge plastic bezel around the outside.

The stand is certainly smart, and holds cables running from the unit neatly toward the back of your desk. However, because of the way it’s sculpted, you’re left with little in the range of adjustability, there’s no ability to move the monitor up or down, or rotating the monitor into portrait orientation. The only real adjustability here is being able to angle the monitor back and forth to suit, meaning that the purchase of a monitor shelf or alternative mounting solution is probably your best bet.

The usual BenQ tech stack is in play here again. Flicker Free ensures that you don’t get flickering with the unit that may cause headaches or eye-strain and their Low Blue Light feature stops your eyes from becoming fatigued when using the monitor late at night, where higher levels of blue light have been attributed to disrupting sleep patterns too.

Gaming wise? There’s not a whole lot that’s really designed for it in this unit, but it’s still a more than capable monitor if you’re maybe looking for something on a budget, or a secondary monitor. The quick response time fits the bill fine, and the colours are bright and vivid. You don’t need to crank them up to the highest on a bright sunny day, either - which is nice if your home or office situation tends to put you in the way of the sun a bit too much at times. Expect to pay around £110 at the time of this review.