Monoprice 24-inch CrystalPro review: A budget monitor with accurate color

Price When Reviewed

$150

Best Prices Today: MonoPrice 24-inch Crystal Pro 44029

Monitors bought beneath $150 make sacrifices to attain their tantalizing value level. The new Monoprice 24-inch CrystalPro isn’t any exception, however its strong shade efficiency places it a step forward of some options.

Note: This assessment is a part of our ongoing roundup of the best monitors. Go there for extra details about competing merchandise, what to search for in a monitor, and shopping for suggestions.

Monoprice 24-inch CrystalPro: The specs

The Monoprice 24-inch CrystalPro 44029 has rudimentary specs. It delivers 1080p decision and has an IPS show panel. Refresh price is elevated to 75Hz from 60Hz, however Adaptive Sync help shouldn’t be marketed. The monitor additionally lacks DisplayPort.

• Display measurement: 23.8-inch
• Native decision: 1,920 x 1,080
• Panel sort: IPS 
• Refresh price: 75Hz
• HDR: No
• Ports: 1x HDMI 1.4, 1x VGA
• Stand adjustment: Tilt
• VESA mount: 100x100mm
• Speakers: Yes
• Price: $149.99 ($134.99 at publishing) 

The easy specs are excused by the low value. The Monoprice 24-inch CrystalPro isn’t the least costly 24-inch, 1080p monitor obtainable, nevertheless it’s shut.

Monoprice 24-inch CrystalPro: Design

The Monoprice 24-inch CrystalPro monitor goes for a slim-bezel look with small bezels alongside the highest and sides, plus a bigger (however nonetheless small) chin. It’s a contemporary, minimalist look that ought to work on any desk. 

Matt Smith

Build high quality is meager however avoids any notable pitfalls. The panel’s plastics are skinny and a bit creaky however don’t enable any uncommon flex or warping when dealt with. It feels pretty much as good as many screens within the $200 to $400 value bracket. 

Monoprice sticks to a easy, clip-in stand that solely adjusts for tilt and doesn’t increase the monitor far off a desk. This is an issue for tall house owners, because the monitor will sit too low, and there’s no built-in peak adjustment. I positioned the monitor on a stack of hardcover books. 

Matt Smith

A 100x100m VESA mount is obtainable to be used with third-party monitor arms and stands, although, surprisingly, it solely has two of the 4 mount places usually offered. This isn’t very best however workable given the monitor’s small measurement and minimal weight.

Monoprice 24-inch CrystalPro: Features and menu

The Monoprice 24-inch CrystalPro’s connectivity consists of simply two ports: one HDMI 1.4 and VGA. It’s an odd choice for a contemporary monitor, as this implies there’s a single enter usable with most fashionable computer systems. The 24-inch CrystalPro isn’t a good selection if you wish to join each a PC and one other gadget, like a sport console or streaming stick. 

A set of buttons on the monitor’s proper chin present changes. They’re much less intuitive than a joystick management however supply a pleasant tactile really feel that makes them straightforward to make use of in a dim or darkish room.

Monoprice’s menu system strikes once more with complicated and poorly optimized controls. The path through which the buttons took me by means of menus was typically not what I anticipated, and a few options (like brightness) took a couple of too many steps. Monoprice clearly doesn’t contemplate the menu system a precedence, however a couple of fundamental enhancements to the structure would go a great distance.

Matt Smith

Despite this, a good vary of image-quality choices can be found. There’s brightness and distinction, after all, plus a great array of preset modes, a couple of shade temperature presets, and three-way RGB shade adjustment. The monitor additionally presents a couple of gaming options like a black equalizer for enhancing darkish areas of video games. These choices, although fundamental, are acceptable for the worth.

Monoprice 24-inch CrystalPro: SDR picture high quality

The Monoprice 24-inch CrystalPro’s specs look slightly fundamental. It has a 23.8-inch, 1080p, IPS panel with a refresh price of 75Hz. Aside from the slight bump in refresh price, this is so simple as a contemporary 24-inch monitor might be. Yet the monitor does have its strengths. 

Matt Smith

Brightness is available in at a most of 261 nits. This shouldn’t be a excessive degree of brightness but additionally not too dim, and will probably be usable in most conditions. I solely discovered brightness unimpressive after I threw open all my home windows on a sunny summer season day—and it was satisfactory, even then. 

Still, if you need vibrant, look elsewhere. There’s loads of options that present a better degree of brightness and a few, just like the Monoprice Dark Matter 24-inch, are solely a hair dearer. 

Matt Smith

Contrast ratio is available in a average 890:1. This shouldn’t be a superb degree of distinction for a contemporary IPS monitor, but additionally not unhealthy, and about what I anticipate for the worth. 

The CrystalPro 24-inch presents a good sense of depth and dimensionality when utilized in a darkish room. When utilized in a darkish room, nonetheless, the monitor’s elevated black ranges and hazy “IPS glow” takes away from the expertise. Shadow element is missing and areas that ought to seem darkish as an alternative look grey. 

Matt Smith

Color gamut lands at 98 p.c of sRGB and solely 76 of DCI-P3. This is method off the broader shade gamut that’s obtainable in a mid-range monitor however, as soon as once more, positive for an especially costly monitor. 

The restricted shade gamut will result in extra noticeable shade banding and accuracy points for photograph and video editors, however this isn’t the monitor’s meant use. 

Matt Smith

The CrystalPro 24-inch jumps forward in shade accuracy, offering a lot better accuracy than the monitor’s aggressive set. It’s exceptional, actually, to see a monitor on this value vary achieve this nicely. High accuracy makes the many of the monitor’s restricted shade gamut. Scenes look lifelike and convincing. 

This is most notable when viewing video or pictures, but additionally good for basic use, as finances screens tend to wrestle with sure widespread shades (equivalent to the intense, vivid reds many manufacturers, together with PCWorld, use on their webpages). 

With that mentioned, the monitor’s finances focus comes throughout in gamma and shade temperature. The gamma curve of two.3 is a bit off the goal of two.2, so content material tends to look darker than it ought to. Default shade temperature got here in at 7400Okay, which is noticeably cooler than the goal of 6500Okay. The picture can look a bit sterile and unwelcoming. Finally, the monitor suffers some vignetting, which suggests the acute edges are visibly a bit darker than the center. 

The monitor’s 1080p decision shouldn’t be sharp. Small fonts can look pixelated or grow to be exhausting to learn, video is usually comfortable, and the video games can present aliasing and shimmer alongside positive particulars. That mentioned, the monitor’s sharpness is pretty much as good as might be anticipated for the decision, because the monitor avoids subpixel and dot-pitch points that may degrade readability.

On the entire, the CrystalPro 24-inch performs nicely for its value. It’s not wonderful, nevertheless it’s adequate that, if in some way pressured to make use of it day by day for the remainder of my life, I’d be okay. That’s excessive reward for a show at present bought beneath $150.

Monoprice 24-inch CrystalPro: Motion readability

The CrystalPro 24-inch has a 75Hz refresh price however in any other case lacks something that can attraction to players. This consists of help for adaptive sync (including FreeSync and G-Sync). 

Motion readability isn’t nice at default settings. Fast digital camera pans and fast-moving objects introduce main blur that can make particulars exhausting to select. If you’re enjoying DOTA 2, for instance, the dimensions and shade of an enemy hero is discernible whereas scrolling, however the title and well being bar show inconceivable to learn. 

There’s two enhanced response occasions settings that do barely enhance issues, however solely barely. They additionally trigger overshoot artifacts which might be noticeable as vibrant rings, halos, or patterns behind high-contrast objects. 

In quick, it’s not a fantastic monitor for fast-paced video games. A monitor with a 144Hz refresh price and adaptive sync will likely be dearer, nevertheless it’s well worth the premium in the event you can probably afford it.

Final ideas

The Monoprice CrystalPro 24-inch 44029 is an effective finances possibility if you need a no-frills monitor with acceptable picture high quality. Just make sure to verify pricing, as finances screens regularly go on sale: Our high finances monitor, Acer’s very similar K242HYL, is even inexpensive.