BenQ GW2486TC Review: A Budget Monitor That Charges Laptops

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Overview

The BenQ GW2486TC is Wirecutter’s budget pick among monitors and PCMag’s Editors’ Choice for a general-purpose budget monitor, and both picks rest on the same strength: it has features that cheap 24-inch screens usually leave out. A single USB-C cable from a laptop carries the picture and up to 65W of charging, the stand adjusts for height, swivel, tilt and pivot, and a DisplayPort output can drive a second monitor. It fits a laptop owner with a small desk or less than $200 to spend.

Under the white shell is a 23.8-inch 1080p IPS panel running at 100Hz, rated for 99% of the sRGB color space and 1,300:1 contrast, above the 1,000:1 that PCMag says most lower-priced IPS screens top out at. BenQ also fits two 2W speakers, a noise-cancelling microphone and its Eye-Care modes, including automatic brightness. It was $169.99 on Amazon in October 2026.

Key Specifications

BenQ GW2486TC Picture Quality

For office work the panel delivers more than its price suggests. PCMag measured 254 nits of brightness against BenQ’s 250-nit rating, a 1,260:1 contrast ratio and 99.4% sRGB coverage. Monitornerds found an average Delta E color error of 1.14 straight out of the box, close enough that most owners won’t need to calibrate it.

Brightness is the modest spec. TechRadar found 250 nits good enough for office use but a bit dark for some kinds of media, and there’s no HDR support. It isn’t a screen for serious photo or color editing either.

The resolution is the real compromise. At 1920 x 1080 on a 23.8-inch screen, pixel density is 93 pixels per inch, so text looks larger and fewer windows fit side by side than on a 1440p or 4K monitor. Wirecutter points out that this is true of every 24-inch 1080p monitor, not just this one, and Monitornerds sees an upside: the larger text is easy to read for documents and browsing.

The 100Hz refresh rate makes scrolling smoother than on the 60Hz panels most cheap monitors use. There’s no FreeSync or G-Sync adaptive sync, though Monitornerds measured 6ms of input lag at 100Hz, quicker than a typical office display. Casual games are fine; it’s no gaming monitor.

USB-C, Daisy Chaining and Ports

The USB-C port is why most people buy it. One cable carries video, USB data and up to 65W of power, so a laptop charges while it drives the screen; PCMag’s own laptop charged over that connection during testing. TechRadar notes that 65W is enough for an ultrabook such as a MacBook Air, but not for a gaming laptop.

Two USB-A ports (5Gbps, with 4.5W for charging small devices) and a headphone jack sit alongside an HDMI 1.4 and a DisplayPort 1.2 input. A DisplayPort output daisy-chains a second monitor through Multi-Stream Transport, so a laptop with one USB-C video port can run two screens. Macs are the exception: BenQ says Macs only daisy-chain over Thunderbolt, so a MacBook can’t chain a second screen through this monitor’s DisplayPort output and needs a Thunderbolt dock or a similar device to do it.

Some hub features are missing. There’s no KVM switch for sharing a keyboard and mouse between two computers and no Ethernet port, and TechRadar found no real cable management, with every port facing downward.

Stand, Controls and Eye-Care Modes

The stand is the other surprise at this price, since many budget monitors only tilt. It raises the screen 130 mm (5.1 in), tilts 20 degrees back and 5 forward, swivels 45 degrees each way and pivots 90 degrees into portrait for code or long documents. Monitornerds found it firm and stable, with no wobble unless the desk takes a real knock, and a 100 x 100 mm VESA mount takes a monitor arm instead.

Settings are changed with six buttons along the bottom-right edge, not a joystick, and opinions differ. Monitornerds found the controls clunky, with several presses for some changes; PCMag, though it prefers a joystick, thought the buttons did the job thanks to on-screen icons that label each one.

BenQ’s Eye-Care features are a real bonus here. The screen is flicker-free, has a Low Blue Light Plus mode and TÜV Rheinland’s Eyesafe 2.0 certification, and adds Coding, ePaper and Color Weakness modes. Brightness Intelligence Gen2 adjusts the screen to the room’s light on its own, and TechRadar found it reacted fairly quickly. BenQ’s Eye-CareU app adds timers and light and distance reminders.

Speakers and Microphone

The two 2W speakers save desk space, but they’re basic: PCMag found them fairly soft with decent quality, while TechRadar thought the volume enough for someone at the desk but the sound boxy, with little low end. The noise-cancelling microphone filters room sound on calls, but BenQ says it only works when a computer is connected over USB-C; over HDMI or DisplayPort you’ll need the computer’s own microphone or a headset.

How Does It Stack Up Against the Competition?

The closest rivals are ASUS’s ProArt PA247CV, Dell’s Pro 24 hub monitor with Ethernet and up to 100W of charging, and Dell’s 24 Plus, which drops USB-C for a 144Hz panel.

BenQ GW2486TC: Worth It for One-Cable Laptop Desks

It earns its place on a desk where a laptop comes and goes every day. Plug in one cable and the laptop charges, the screen lights up and the keyboard or webcam plugged into the monitor’s USB ports comes along; raise the stand to eye level, or turn it to portrait for code or long documents. Against the ASUS PA247CV, its closest match in the table, it brings a faster 100Hz panel, a microphone, auto-brightness and BenQ’s Eye-Care modes, while the ASUS answers with more USB ports, a wider swivel and a 300-nit rating. When Monitornerds reviewed it in June 2025, it placed the GW2486TC at the more expensive end of 1080p business displays; what that money buys over a basic 1080p screen is the USB-C charging, the full stand and daisy chaining.

Look elsewhere if you need more on screen, which takes a 1440p or 4K monitor, or more charging power: Dell’s Pro 24 P2426HE delivers up to 100W for bigger laptops and adds a 1GbE Ethernet port. A desk shared by two computers needs a KVM switch, which this BenQ lacks, and a desktop PC connected by HDMI gets little from the USB-C features; for that setup Dell’s 24 Plus S2425HSM offers a 144Hz panel instead.

GuideBest Home Office Monitors of 2026: Mac, Hub & Budget PicksRead the Guide →

BenQ GW2486TC

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Marcus WebbSenior Editor 𝕏

Marcus has been hunting for the best tech and gear for over 40 years — as a coder, gamer, and lifelong outdoors enthusiast, he knows the gap between a good spec sheet and something that actually holds up.

How this was made: Built from the 10 sources listed above, including Wirecutter, PCMag and TechRadar. Written with AI, then fact-checked against those sources by a separate AI. We haven’t tested this product ourselves. How we review →