Zowie’s monitor range designed to appeal to e-sports users is extended with another great monitor in the XL2411.

Design

At first glance you could be forgiven for passing this monitor by. The all-black stand and minimalist approach to the design don’t scream e-sport. But that shouldn’t stop you from looking to seriously consider the XL2411 as your gaming monitor of choice if you’re looking for a good entry level 144Hz model.

The stand is pretty sturdy and allows the monitor to tilt left and right or completely turn it 90 degrees to use it in portrait mode as well as being able to set the height by some 130mm, which provides plenty of scope for getting this set up at just the right angle, wherever you place it.

There is a single HDMI connection, alongside a DVI-D and DSUB Port hidden at the back under a recess, which keeps the cables tidy, and a standard size bezel (I tend to prefer the new thinner ones, but this does its job and probably keeps costs down).

The function buttons are on the right under the front of the monitor and easy to reach with small indents at the front to show where they are. They control a pretty comprehensive menu system. There are no labels, though, in keeping with many monitors now that come with a context sensitive menu that changes the button functions depending on what menu you’re in at the time.

Performance and Screen

The 1ms response rate makes a huge difference in fast paced FPS games, coupled with an impressive black level and colour. However, like a few other recent BenQ monitors, it also suffers from some strange choices of colour definition in their preset modes, so it’s well worth spending the time to set your own custom mode up to get the most out of these screens. Once you do set your own picture options it’s soon clear that this monitor punches far more than it’s price suggests in terms of value.

It’s worth highlighting the 144hz refresh rate here, to appeal to the e-sports crowd, as at this price the feature is an important one for gaming enthusiasts looking to get their first dedicated gaming monitor.

While you could argue that the TN screen technology behind these displays is getting on a bit, it certainly fails to show any sign of being a burden just yet. In fact, the only issue seems to be a slight discolouration at severe viewing angles, but I’d stress ‘severe’, in normal use there is no real issue.

The ZOWIE XL2411 is certainly a case of not judging a book by its cover (or, in this case, monitor) The sharp colour reproduction and smooth image movement coupled with the all-important 144Hz refresh really enables this product to shine. If you’re looking for a good priced e-sports or general PC gaming monitor that features low response times, a great picture with the promise of zero flickering then I can honestly recommend this model.