HannsG HL225D

Hanns G HL225D review

How much difference can a good monitor make to your PC? If you're into editing photos, a screen with flawless colour representation and sharpness is crucial. For gamers, add high native resolution and quick response time to that list. Even the casual PC should be able to watch videos of zoo animals sneezing and strangers' infant children laughing in sparkling high definition. Will the Hanns G HL225 set your eyes alight with blinding, unbearable beauty? No. But come on, it costs a hundred quid – give it a chance! It's one of many competing value-end 22-inch screens snapping for your £100 like rectangular black piranhas, alpha males of the pack being the Liyama Prolite E2208HD and Viewsonic's VX2239WM 22. Like both these snappily named screens, Hanns G's offering supports 1920 x 1080p natively, and has a 1000:1 contrast ratio. No HDMI connector here though, which seems a bit stingy. The colour quality isn't anything to get excited about either. Blacks get a bit muddy, whites get a bit washed out, and the 'X-Contrast' setting only seems to accentuate this.