Sceptre E205W-1600 Review

If you have been searching for budget computer monitors or TVs, then you have probably seen the brand Sceptre. It’s actually a USA company that is known for their affordable LCD, LED and 4K displays. Which is also why their monitors can often be found on the best selling lists as well. One of such is the Sceptre E205W-1600, which is a new 20″ LED budget monitor! Not only is it affordable but it’s also highly recommended on Amazon. So today we are going to see if it’s actually as good as the other reviews claim.

Technical Specification

Dimension (with stand): 45.7×34.5×17.8 cm / 18×13.6×7″

Screen type: LED

Screen size: 20″

Resolution: 1600×900

Ratio: 16:9

Refresh rate: 75 Hz

Response time: 5 ms

Ports: HDMI, VGA, DVI, 3.5 mm Audio

Features: Built in dual speakers, VESA wall mount connector

In The Box

Sceptre E205W-1600

VGA cable

Power cord

Design

The Sceptre E205W-1600 has a pretty standard monitor design. We are reviewing the 20 inch version. It’s made out of average quality plastic that comes with a nice black glossy finish. That also includes the curvy removable stand/base. The dimension with the stand is 45.7×34.5×17.8 cm / 18×13.6×7″ and it weighs 2.4 kg / 5.4 lbs. Which makes it the perfect monitor for smaller desks. I also like that there is a bit of a frame around the screen as well.

All of the ports can be found on the backside of the Sceptre E205W-1600. It comes with HDMI, DVI and VGA ports for connecting to your laptop or PC. It also includes a standard 3.5 mm audio jack if you wish to plug in headphones or speakers. The backside also has VESA mounting holes. These can be used to mount the monitor onto a wall. I actually really like this type of setup as the base does take room on a desk. But that’s more of a personal preference and mostly depends on how much space you have.

One more thing about the stand/base. As you can see from the images, it’s attached to the monitor in the landscape position. Since this is a budget monitor, then it doesn’t come with the ability to rotate it to portrait mode. It does however let you adjust the tilt angle from 5 to 15 degrees. It’s not as good as being able to adjust the height but still better than nothing.

Performance

The Sceptre E205W-1600 monitor has a 20″ LED screen. Obviously you won’t get as vibrant colors or the same amount of detail as you would get from a high end IPS panel, but that’s fine. If you wanted that kind of quality then you’d be looking at spending much more. The overall image quality is fantastic though. It has rich colors that are pleasing to the eye and everything just looks normal. You can criticize the color accuracy as the green and red a bit dim. But you won’t even notice that unless you have a higher end monitor right next to it. So again, overall the monitor performs much better than you’d expect.

In my opinion the only real downside is the resolution. It comes with a 1600×900 resolution, which is a bit smaller than the standard Full HD 1080p resolution. I’m not sure why they have done it like this but I guess they have their reasons. It also has a 5,000,000:1 contrast ratio, which is fantastic for a budget monitor. I’m also extremely impressed with the response time, which is 5 milliseconds. We also ran some tests and noticed that the input lag was a bit longer (around 14 milliseconds). Which is still a fantastic result as it’s even as fast as most of it’s pricier competitors.

There are also some picture settings that can be adjusted directly from the monitor. You can find the physical control buttons underneath the screen, which are used to access the settings. It’s pretty basic and nothing advanced. You can change the contract and brightness, make Blue Light adjustments and of course adjust the focus and positioning. Unfortunately you can’t adjust any colors. But again this is a budget monitor so it’s fine. You mostly see that on much pricier models.

Conclusion

Overall the Sceptre E205W-1600 is an affordable, high quality 20 inch monitor that performs as well as you can expect. Obviously it doesn’t the features that can be found on the higher end monitors. But that’s fine as it has its own niche. The monitor works without any issues and it has all the necessary ports/inputs to pair it with laptops and computers. Plus it doesn’t take up much space on a desk and you can even mount it to a wall if you want. What more could you ask for from a monitor in this price range.