The color temperature setup is acceptable. The temperature dispersion is within 1000K in the Warm and User modes (which are going to be preferred by most users), and the biggest deflection is on white due to the monitor’s contrast being set too high by default. If you work at a reduced contrast, you won’t have this problem at all.
The monitor’s max brightness is even higher than specified. The contrast ratio is normal for a modern TN matrix.
As I noted above, the AL2416WBsd offers a few factory-set image modes you can switch between by pressing the dedicated button on the front panel.
There are four such modes here, the Standard mode coinciding with the monitor’s default settings. Alas, the Text most is too bright (a brightness of 80-120 nits is recommended for working with text depending on ambient lighting) and the Graphics mode is the brightest of all for some reason although it should be somewhere between the Text and Movie modes, I guess.
Moreover, the reproduction of colors worsens in each mode.
The Text mode is set up for low brightness at 50% contrast. As you’ve seen above and see now, this leads to certain distortions in the reproduction of the lightest halftones.
These distortions grow bigger in the Movie mode. Now, not only red and green but also blue reach saturation in the right part of the diagram. As a result, light halftones are displayed as pure white.
It’s hard to tell what kind of graphics the Graphics mode is intended for but the color reproduction is even worse in it than in the Movie mode. Light halftones merge into white.
So I think the AL2416BWsd should be set up manually for working in text-based applications. The Text mode can be used for games and movies as it is just bright enough for such applications and the color reproduction is acceptable. You shouldn’t touch the Movie and Graphics modes if you care about color reproduction.
Highs:
- Uniform brightness of white and black
- Good color reproduction setup
Lows:
- Slow matrix
- Sloppy setup of the factory-set modes
- Stand without height adjustment
Recommended usage:
- Text-based applications (documents, Internet, etc)
- Viewing and simple editing of photographs
- Movies and games that do not require a fast matrix
