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Designed for home-office users and students with limited budgets, the Sceptre E205W-16008A is a value 20-inch monitor that uses active matrix technology to deliver accurate colors and good grayscale performance without using lots of power. For a budget monitor, it has a nice selection of I/O ports, including D-Sub and HDMI output for use in multi-display configuration, and is equipped with a nice-looking stand. It’s our top pick for midsize, budget monitors.
Design and Features
The E205W-16008A is housed in a glossy-black cabinet, with a matching curved stand supporting the screen in landscape mode. It measures 13.58 by 18.35 by 7.17 inches and weighs 5.84 pounds, which is a nice fit for any home-office workspace. The stand allows for tilt adjustments (back and forth), height, pivot or swivel adjustment aren’t supported at this price. The back has VESA mounting holes, just in case you need to prop it on a wall.
It’s a plug and play monitor meaning, you just connect the HDMI or VGA cable into the back of the monitor to your PC or monitor, then connect the power adapter to the mains. Once powered on, Windows will install the requisite drivers, and you are done. This monitor supports Windows 10, once installed, in your Graphics control panel, it will be listed as an extended display. From the available options, you can have it as the primary display, mirror your primary display, or have it as an extended display.
Inputs and Settings
It gets the most basic I/O inputs: D-Sub, DVI, and HDMI ports, but it doesn’t get USB port or DisplayPort, which is available on monitors that cost more. It does, however, get a pair of built-in speakers, something we didn’t have in its predecessor from last year, the Sceptre E205W-1600.
You are paying for a basic monitor, so you’re getting the same basic settings for Brightness, Contrast, and Blue Light adjustments, along with the usual analog (Position, Focus, and Clock) settings. You won’t find any advanced settings, such as the 6-Axis-Color and Gamma settings that you get with most high-end monitors.
Performance
Right out of the box, the E205W-16008A delivers accurate colors. On a chromaticity chart, red, green and blue colors are rendered to the ideal CIE coordinates. Although it doesn’t get the clarity of high-end IPS monitors, it compensates with acceptable viewing angles with some loss of luminance when viewed from top, bottom, or side angle. It produces rich and well-saturated scenes from Damien Chazelle’s La La Land, via the HDMI port.
The maximum resolution is 1600 x 900, a 5M:1 contrast ratio, a 5ms response time and 180cd/m2 brightness level. The panel does a good job at displaying fast-moving items, though you’ll get some lag in modern games at high resolutions.
While not intended for gaming, the E205W-16008A holds its own against pricier monitors on both PC and Sony PS4 games. Granted, there are occasional instances of motion and blur and minor screen tearing, but if you’re after casual after-hours gaming, it’ll get you going. The panel’s 13.7-millisecond input lag (the amount of time it takes for the monitor to react to a controller command), is relatively short, but not as short as the 9.5 milliseconds from the BenQ SW2700PT.
The 20-inch Sceptre E205W-16008A is a perfect choice for anyone looking for a good-size display that delivers vibrant colors at a reasonable price. Its bezel design provides a seamless viewing area when used in a single-monitor setup, with good tilt adjustments. Granted, you don’t expect 1080p performance and advanced color settings, it’s a shoo-in for the price conscious. As such, the Sceptre E205W-16008A is our top pick for midsize, budget monitors.
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