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Eizo FlexScan S2031W review


By Kreso - Posted on 23 April 2009

A widescreen monitor from Eizo aimed for professional market, with expected price for such market segment. PVA matrix technology is chosen to provide required contrast and color accuracy. How does this high-end model separate from its cheaper cousins, and does it justify the price?

Specifications

Panel Size 20''
Resolution 1680 x 1050
Aspect Ratio 16:10 (widescreen)
Panel Area - Size 1173 cm2 - 43.3 cm x 27.1 cm
Total Weight ?.?? kg
Panel Type PVA
Gamut sRGB
Pixel Pitch 0.258 mm
Brightness 300 cd/m2
Contrast Ratio (manufacturer's spec) 900:1
Connectivity
  • VGA connector
  • DVI-D
HDCP Yes
Other USB 2.0 Hi-Speed Hub, with 2 ports
Power Consumption 29 W
Price ~ $600

Our Assessment

  • Sequential contrast at 50 cd/m2
  • black point
  • 833:1
  • 0.06 cd/m2
Sequential contrast at 80 cd/m2
833:1
Sequential contrast at 120 cd/m2
833:1
Maximum sequential contrast
833:1 @ 160 cd/m2
Brightness

50 cd/m2 - 340 cd/m2

Screen surface treatment type
matt
Screen surface treatment
8/10 (very good)
Color inversion
6/10 (adequate)
Viewing angles
8/10 (very good)
Gamma, colors
7/10 (good)
Grayscale, precision
9/10 (excellent)
Lag
1 frames / 20 ms
Response time
16 ms
Black - clear
No
Overdrive quality
4/10 (below average)
Usability
4/10 (below average)
Settings versatility
9/10 (excellent)

 

Eizo S2031W

Final verdict

Excellent monitor, with high contrast, good colors, excellent viewing angles and plethora of available adjustments. This monitor does not have any big weaknesses, except, perhaps, the really bad menu navigation.

There are some aspects where this monitor is slightly lacking. The before mentioned menus are hard to navigate with too small icons and text. Alright, who cares for the menus? Response time is adequate, overdrive not good enough, and there is a high lag which may be a problem if you use this monitor for fast games where fast reflexes are required. Of course, this is a monitor for professionals, so the gaming obviously wasn't the design goal.

This monitor does not achieve perfection in any aspect, but it is generally a very good monitor. The lack of perfection is more than offset by lack of any serious problems

Now the good things. Out of the box, the monitor comes with very accurate colors, and a white point very close to D65. Contrast is good, brightness setting offers excellent range allowing a black point of only 0.06 cd/m2!

We would recommend this monitor for most almost any use except fast gaming. The monitor may especially excel for CAD / drafting. Of course, non-demanding tasks like office use, surfing the Internet will be without problems. Movies, multimedia and gaming will also be handled well by this monitor.

Some color inversion that this monitor exhibits may be a problem for some uses. Also, small dot pitch and very high resolution may render the text and graphic too small, and some programs may not have the necessary adjustments to adjust to high DPI that this monitor offers. When surfing the web, you will probably need to increase the text size in order to be able to comfortably read the web pages.

Of course, you will have to pay the price for all the before mentioned benefits. Although the monitor is excellent, we still think that it is a bit too expensive for what you get.

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