BenQ Launches the GW Series VA LED Monitors Adding Premium Visual Enjoyment to Everyday Home and Work

5000:1 Ultra High Native Contrast Ratio, True 8-bit Panel; Wide-Angle Viewing; True Blacks, HDMI

EUROPE, March 27, 2012 – BenQ, an internationally renowned provider of digital lifestyle innovations and LED monitor expert, celebrated today the official expansion of the GW Series, its essential line for home and work. The new models are BenQ’s latest VA LED creation since the launch of the world’s first VA LED monitors in summer 2010. The vertical integration of BenQ Group in the display industry, which resulted in long-term investments in developing core display technology and manufacturing crystal component, gained BenQ a fierce partner: AUO, a world-leading manufacturer of TFT-LCD panels, integrated solution provider of 3D, touch, e-paper, OLED and solar solution innovation and owner of more than 9,021 international patents. The company generated NT$379.7 billion in sales revenue in 2011 (US$12.5 billion) and houses more than 43,000 staff members throughout its global operations across Taiwan, Mainland China, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, the U.S. and Europe. With AUO’s full support, BenQ expanded its VA LED display leadership in 2011 with a continually evolving line of award-winning VA LED monitors – from the EW Series, home entertainment enjoyment monitors featuring full multimedia connectivity, to the BL Series, corporate monitors designed to provide ergo solutions. Now, with the 2012 launch of the GW Series completing the VA LED monitor lineup, BenQ aims to become the first-class visual enjoyment provider for everyone.

Featuring ground-breaking VA LED visual sophistication, the GW Series faithfully brings out every hue from the brightest whites to the deepest blacks with every detail flawlessly layered and contrasted even in the most complex scenes. The models are aesthetically pleasing in design as they are visually satisfying in performance – bringing harmony and balance to contemporary décor with perfectly layered visual elements complementing their boldly sculptured countenance and a front bezel textured to sooth eyes. Key product features of the GW Series include:

•5000:1 Ultra High Native Contrast: Being one of the most important aspects of a computer monitor’s performance, a native contrast ratio that is five times of that of general panels adds astonishing color depth and definition to darkened, complex images with the greatest subtlety and clarity, bringing every detail to life.

•True 8-bit Color Performance: An 8-bit VA panel renders a total of 16.7 million color shades with interpolated 24-bit true color to deliver smoother and more stable transitions from one color to the next. Though by leveraging Frame Rate Control (RFC), or dithering, a 6-bit panel is also able to achieve a similar range of color shades, the number of true colors that it can render is merely 2% of that of an 8-bit panel.
o 8-bit: 2^8 x 2^8 x 2^8 = 256 x 256 x 256 = 16,777,216 colors rendered
o 6-bit: 2^6 x 2^6 x 2^6 = 64 x 64 x 64 = 262,144 colors rendered

•True Blacks and Minimized Light Leakage: With naturally deeper blacks and minimized light leakage, VA panels display flawlessly layered and precisely contrasted details in even the darkest images.

•Wide- Angle Viewing: VA panels come with an ultra-wide viewing angle of 178˚/178˚ so sharper details, higher contrast and truly authentic colors can be viewed and shared by everyone from left, right, above and below.

•LED Backlight: The use of LED backlighting allows for lower power consumption than conventional CCFL monitors. The GW Series is even more energy-efficient when used in Eco Mode.

“VA panels are predicted to have a 42% share in 2012, surpassing TN-Wide View Film, IPS/FFS and traditional TN panels, and a 42.5% growth in shipment by 2015. This tells us there is an increasing need for VA display around the world, and we have made the decision to fulfill it,” said Peter Chen, EVP and General Manager of BenQ Technology Product Center. “By expanding our VA selection with the launch of the 2012 GW Series, we’re offering our valued customers a wide array of choices for business and personal entertainment use with display sizes that range from 21.5” to 27”. As you know, BenQ is all about enjoyment. Naturally, we want our customers to be able to rely on us again and again for more visual enjoyment to come.”

More information, GW Series product specifications and related downloads can be found at the product pages on BenQ.eu: GW2250M, GW2250HM, GW2450HM, GW2750HM.