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Buyer's Guide: The Best Monitors 
Packard Bell Maestro 230 LED HD
| Caractéristiques | |||
| Screen size | 23 inches | ||
| Panel type | TN | ||
| Resolution | 1920 x 1080 pixels | ||
| Response time | 5 ms | ||
| Inputs (HDMI / DVI / VGA / Component) | 1 / 1 / 1 / 0 | ||
 Show all specifications
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| Other details | N.A. |
| Viewing angles (H/V) | 170 ° / 160 ° |
| 3D | no |
 Hide specifications | |
Alexandre Botella
Translator: Sam McGeever
Test date: April 22, 2011
Translator: Sam McGeever
Test date: April 22, 2011
Movies
Most monitors struggle with upscaling SD sources, but the 230 LED HD adds a noticeable amount of blur when resizing films. You can't get rid of it entirely, but it's harder to spot when the brightness is turned down.
For upscaling itself, the menus won't help you. We suggest you leave the job to another device or program so that your monitor gets a native 1080p signal. The results are a definite improvement.
For upscaling itself, the menus won't help you. We suggest you leave the job to another device or program so that your monitor gets a native 1080p signal. The results are a definite improvement.
It's the first time Packard Bell has made an appearance in our monitor reviews. The manufacturer has decided to get us started with the Maestro 230 LED HD, a 23'' Full HD monitor with a TN display and a design that looks a little too familiar ...
Build Quality and Design : VGA, DVI, HDMI ... and that's it!
Regular readers of our reviews might notice a few similarities between this monitor and the Acer S273HL. But there is a difference: rather than being stuck in the base, the inputs and outputs are now at the back of the screen. They include VGA, DVI and HDMI ports. Unfortunately for Packard Bell though, without any accessories, no speakers or the chance to adjust the stand, those inputs are all it can rely on to improve its score in this section. That doesn't leave much to get it beyond a mere two stars.Colours: calibration compulsory
The contrast is well above average at 1000:1, but the colour reproduction really needs some more work. With its default settings, the monitor has a deltaE score—which represents the discrepancy between the ideal colours and those actually shown on screen—of 5.2. That value needs to be below 3.0 before we can talk about 'accurate' colour reproduction.
We spent a long time adjusting the settings, but eventually resigned ourselves to the conclusion that the only solution is using a calibration profile. The good news for anybody who's already bought this monitor is that our own profile is available for download.
Responsiveness: too slow for gaming
The 230 LED HD didn't really stand out from the crowd when we looked at how responsive it is. The ghosting time, the length of time it takes for one frame to completely disappear, is 23 ms on average. That means it can't hope to rival 'good' TN displays with a 5 ms response time and is very unlikely to satisfy gamers. Because it can't do a decent job of displaying fast-moving objects, you're best off sticking to basic office tasks.| Responsiveness | ||
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Average |
This graph shows the ghosting time, measured in ms, that the TV takes to entirely remove the previous frame. The shorter the time, the more fluid moving images will appear
The input lag is perfectly standard, and below the threshold of human perception.
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Packard Bell Maestro 230 LED HD
Pluses
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Contrast ratio above 1000:1
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Full range of inputs: DVI, VGA and HDMI
Minuses
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Poor colour reproduction (deltaE: 5.2)
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Ghosting time too high, even for a monitor with a 5 ms TN panel
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Not many extras: no speakers or accessories, stand is inflexible
The Maestro 230 LED HD is only useful for office work and browsing the web—unless you need the colours to be accurate: be careful looking at your friends' photos or buying clothes online. Let's hope Packard Bell does better next time!
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