Lenovo L24e-40 23.8" Full HD Monitor - 250 Nits Brightness, 100Hz Refresh Rate, AMD FreeSync, HDMI & VGA Ports, Tilt-Adjustable Stand, Low Blue Light (Cloud Grey) - Perfect for Home Office, Gaming & Entertainment

Back about twenty years ago, before smartphones and tablets, every traveling business person owned a laptop computer, in fact a large percentage of the general popular used them – college students included. And back then the gold standard was to own an IBM ThinkPad. Well IBM got out of the computer making business and sold their rights to the ThinkPad to Lenovo and now in the middle of the second decade of the twenty-first century laptops still sell like hotcakes. While now owning a MacBook is the trendy thing to do the ThinkPad still is among the best of the best when it comes to Windows laptops.WHY DID I CHOOSE THIS ONEOf course this review isn’t about laptops, its about my new Lenovo monitor. Why out of a bewildering array of brands and models did I choose this one and how happy am I with it? What regrets do I have. Let’s start with the reason for buying one with such a small screen. I am in the photo and video editing business as well as a graphics creator. My workstation is a piece of gear that cost me about $5000 bucks a few months ago and my 38” monitor to go with it cost about another grand. But I’m selling my house and moving and 99% of what I own is already there, but here I sit in a virtually empty house with a bed, a TV and my computer. I have a small work area set up in a corner that won’t get in the way of real estate showings and I have to be ready to move as fast as within a day or two. This is the smallest viable size, and it’s fine considering my eyes are about 3’ from the screen. So I looked for something dirt cheap that could use then sell or even give away when I fly out of here. But because of my work I couldn’t buy junk and reading the one star reviews (a practice everyone should do) of some of what was available scared me, you get what you pay for. And generally that doesn’t include well known and respected brand names. This brand was nowhere to be found on the first few pages of my search and I didn’t even know that Lenovo made monitors. I started thinking of brands I trust (going back to the laptop days) and this is at or near the top of my list. Other than my workstation I seem to be turning into an all-Lenovo office – mouse, keyboard and now monitor.VALUEI was skeptical when I saw the under eighty buck price. That’s where the low-end junk seems to be, there must be some kind of mistake. I did my research and found that indeed this was a legitimate prime price, brand new, and a respected seller. I had it overnighted, at no additional cost.FIRST IMPRESSIONSI haven’t been this impressed with something in a long time. The first thing I saw was the stand, which is all cast of one piece of metal with a decorative plastic ribbed surface. There probably is no person who has bought a monitor recently who hasn’t been disappointed with the flimsy plastic stand that it seems most low-end monitors have these days. Not this one. Vibrations are bad for people in my business, it’s hard to work with a graphic if it’s jiggling. The next thing I noticed is that unlike almost every monitor I’ve bought (and that’s a lot of them) I didn’t need tools, the base attaches with a simple but very secure built-in key, like on an old grandfather clock. That’s it, it’s ready to go. The next thing I noticed is that there is no bulky, awkward power transformer (that is impossible to replace if it blows out). Just a simple generic power cord. And I didn’t have to run out and buy a HDMI cable (which I would have had to do) – one is included. Both cables have a neat clear plastic clip on the stand to keep them neat, and from being accidentally pulled out by a playful puppy.USING ITThis monitor has a border rim about as thick as a business card. Unfortunately no monitor I know of can make the picture go all the way to that border, there is still a very thin band where the LED electronics are located. Setup was almost nothing, out of the box was near perfect and for those like me with more demanding requirements there are several layers of controls, some of which most low-end monitors no longer include. If you like to adjust those you’ll be happy that you are not presented with the usual impossible to understand multiple function buttons that you have to press in certain sequences. The entire menu system is controlled by one mechanical joystick that’s easily reached. And even better, every possible setup control is available by an on-screen menu that’s automatically available as soon as the monitor is plugged into your computer.PERFORMANCEMy eyes look at a monitor’s screen differently than most people and I am highly critical of how a monitor performs, even my very expensive one has its flaws. But in my opinion this is the number one best value I’ve seen in a monitor for this price. In fact if someone sat me in front of it and told me nothing, including brand I would have guessed three hundred bucks.YES NO MAYBEUnless you skipped ahead to this paragraph you already know what I’m going to say, I am highly impressed with this monitor and for those who don’t own any Levovo gear I suggest taking a look at them. A definite yes on this monitor.