Looking For a Wide Screen Monitor?
20/09/09 21:35
I use the VX2235wm for video production here in Las Vegas and I find the colors to be crisp and sharp enough for professional video editing computer monitor, while the small built-in speakers work great for reference audio if necessary but not for true beautiful sound. This is a geat basic monitor at a price point thats just a bit too high for what it offers.
Beautiful Picture & Features - Menu Controls & Price Not So Much.
ViewSonic VX2235WM 22 inch LCD Monitor
Let me start by saying, despite the cons, this is a great widescreen 22" monitor.
Appearance:
The overall look of this monitor is black lacquer with silver trim, which is attractive compared to the boring flat black monitors that seem to dominate the marketplace today. The height of the monitor seems MUCH more practical and ergonomic than most other monitors as well. It sits up on its built-in support which lifts it by about 5" as compared to the usual 2-3" of the average flat screen monitor. This seems to line up with eye level a little better while sitting at a desk. The lower monitors seem to try to rest as close to the surface of the desk as possible, which I've never understood as that height results in hunching shoulders and looking down while seated upright. Panel Surface Anti-glare really helps to maintain a clear picture despite an office full of ghastly fluorescent lights.
Picture:
The LCD Panel Type is a TFT Active Matrix which gives you a great viewing angle (170 degrees horizontal and 160 degrees vertical) and the LCD display area is 22 inches. This affords a gorgeous way to watch movies online. I watched an Mp4 movie at full screen on this and I nearly forgot that I was watching a compressed computer file!
The 'True' resolution is 1680x1050 which results, in my opinion, in a crisp image and vivid color representation. Please keep in mind, not the best colors in the world but everything looks sharp and I believe this color to be far superior to other monitors out there: Dell, Acer, and Samsung (just to name a few). While we're on that topic, this monitor boasts a contrast Ratio of 700:1 which really, isn't much of a boast at all, considering most of the monitors in the price range are easily surpassing 1000:1 contrast ratio.
Don't get me wrong, this monitor holds its own. I am currently viewing it side by side with an Acer that has 1000:1 and this Viewsonic blows it away. Simply put. This has me wanting to sell my 'superior' 1000:1 Acer to pick up an 'inferior' 700:1 monitor. (which I will probably do)
Here is a bit of a con: Response Time 5ms
What that means is, for extremely fast video or animation motion, this panel is only average to mediocre. Its an ok monitor for those with a taste for "gaming in HD" but if you're a hardcore gamer, you may want to move along to a faster panel to maintain HD clarity despite wicked crazy movement.
Audio!?:
Yes, odd as that sounds, the Viewsonic comes with built-in speakers. They are tiny little 2.5watt speakers on either lower corner so don't expect to blast any sick techno over these things, it will sound like distorted bass and synth over a speaker phone, only it will be in stereo.
Here's a major con to me: to access the audio controls you need to toggle these "recessed buttons" on the front which make it very difficult for error free menu navigation to begin with THEN you have to go about 2 or 3 menus deep to access the mute and volume controls! So in other words, at the point that you decide to adjust the volume on these minuscule speakerettes, you could have asked your significant other to go in the kitchen, make a pot of coffee and bake a sugar tart. And by the time you've successfully adjusted your volume, VOILA! Coffee and tarts are done.
Another Con: This model is also lacking a headphone output, it has the 1/8" mini input from your system to drive the babyspeaks, but forget about using headphones with this thing.For me, this means that I still have to run my headphones to a deck or to my computer to get decent audio. It would be nicer if I could plug them into this monitor, I believe it would give me just enough clearance for that killer technoviking move that I saw on Youtube last week.
Still the Acer, Dell, and most Samsung models lack speakers and/or a headphone output as well, so no ground lost there.
Compatibility:
The viewsonic compatibility gets 5 stars because they offer BOTH VGA and DVI. So if you bust an old school computer (or a PC), you are all set with the VGA (cable included!) if you're like me and rule the Earth with the latest greatest technology (like a Mac with dual DVI outputs), then you just hook up DVI and get your true HD picture while watching youtube videos of some fool dancing to techno while tangled in headphones cables. I will say, the DVI cable was NOT included in my box but you may want to double check with Viewsonic. They may have wised up and started included those as well.
Price:
The cons show up in the price as well, in that this monitor sells consistently higher (+$70) than the acer, dell, and samsung monitors for the same 22" size. I bought mine at Costco for about $290 about 6 months ago and that price has only recently started to drop to about $250 at various online stores like Tiger Direct etc. Keep in mind that Viewsonic has a big brother monitor to this called the VX2245 which includes ipod docking, card reading, headphone jacks, etc all for about the same price of $290 - so my question, why on EARTH is Viewsonic just now starting to offer $50 rebates around. These should have been offered about 4 months ago in my humble opinion. (Which is not very humble at all)
Summary:
I use the VX2235wm for video production here in Las Vegas and I find the colors to be crisp and sharp enough for professional video editing computer monitor, while the small built-in speakers work great for reference audio if necessary but not for true beautiful sound. This is a geat basic monitor at a price point thats just a bit too high for what it offers.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 290
Operating System: Macintosh
Suggestion Of The Day:
Asus 24" Monitor w/Speakers for under $200
Asus makes a pretty decent monitor, Mwave has a 24" one here with speakers for under $200 and abt.com has the same one for about $219. Which is good if you're just now on the market for one, sad, for me, because I bought the Viewsonic 22" above, a while back and paid $300 for it. ouch. What can you do? I had to get one. Anyway, take a look at this one and let me know your thoughts. I probably buy more from Mwave than I do from Abt.com but they’re both good online stores, I’ve bought a number of items from both with no problems.
Happy Shopping!
Monitor Install Tutorial Of The Day:
ViewSonic VX2235WM 22 inch LCD Monitor
Let me start by saying, despite the cons, this is a great widescreen 22" monitor.
Appearance:
The overall look of this monitor is black lacquer with silver trim, which is attractive compared to the boring flat black monitors that seem to dominate the marketplace today. The height of the monitor seems MUCH more practical and ergonomic than most other monitors as well. It sits up on its built-in support which lifts it by about 5" as compared to the usual 2-3" of the average flat screen monitor. This seems to line up with eye level a little better while sitting at a desk. The lower monitors seem to try to rest as close to the surface of the desk as possible, which I've never understood as that height results in hunching shoulders and looking down while seated upright. Panel Surface Anti-glare really helps to maintain a clear picture despite an office full of ghastly fluorescent lights.
Picture:
The LCD Panel Type is a TFT Active Matrix which gives you a great viewing angle (170 degrees horizontal and 160 degrees vertical) and the LCD display area is 22 inches. This affords a gorgeous way to watch movies online. I watched an Mp4 movie at full screen on this and I nearly forgot that I was watching a compressed computer file!
The 'True' resolution is 1680x1050 which results, in my opinion, in a crisp image and vivid color representation. Please keep in mind, not the best colors in the world but everything looks sharp and I believe this color to be far superior to other monitors out there: Dell, Acer, and Samsung (just to name a few). While we're on that topic, this monitor boasts a contrast Ratio of 700:1 which really, isn't much of a boast at all, considering most of the monitors in the price range are easily surpassing 1000:1 contrast ratio.
Don't get me wrong, this monitor holds its own. I am currently viewing it side by side with an Acer that has 1000:1 and this Viewsonic blows it away. Simply put. This has me wanting to sell my 'superior' 1000:1 Acer to pick up an 'inferior' 700:1 monitor. (which I will probably do)
Here is a bit of a con: Response Time 5ms
What that means is, for extremely fast video or animation motion, this panel is only average to mediocre. Its an ok monitor for those with a taste for "gaming in HD" but if you're a hardcore gamer, you may want to move along to a faster panel to maintain HD clarity despite wicked crazy movement.
Audio!?:
Yes, odd as that sounds, the Viewsonic comes with built-in speakers. They are tiny little 2.5watt speakers on either lower corner so don't expect to blast any sick techno over these things, it will sound like distorted bass and synth over a speaker phone, only it will be in stereo.
Here's a major con to me: to access the audio controls you need to toggle these "recessed buttons" on the front which make it very difficult for error free menu navigation to begin with THEN you have to go about 2 or 3 menus deep to access the mute and volume controls! So in other words, at the point that you decide to adjust the volume on these minuscule speakerettes, you could have asked your significant other to go in the kitchen, make a pot of coffee and bake a sugar tart. And by the time you've successfully adjusted your volume, VOILA! Coffee and tarts are done.
Another Con: This model is also lacking a headphone output, it has the 1/8" mini input from your system to drive the babyspeaks, but forget about using headphones with this thing.For me, this means that I still have to run my headphones to a deck or to my computer to get decent audio. It would be nicer if I could plug them into this monitor, I believe it would give me just enough clearance for that killer technoviking move that I saw on Youtube last week.
Still the Acer, Dell, and most Samsung models lack speakers and/or a headphone output as well, so no ground lost there.
Compatibility:
The viewsonic compatibility gets 5 stars because they offer BOTH VGA and DVI. So if you bust an old school computer (or a PC), you are all set with the VGA (cable included!) if you're like me and rule the Earth with the latest greatest technology (like a Mac with dual DVI outputs), then you just hook up DVI and get your true HD picture while watching youtube videos of some fool dancing to techno while tangled in headphones cables. I will say, the DVI cable was NOT included in my box but you may want to double check with Viewsonic. They may have wised up and started included those as well.
Price:
The cons show up in the price as well, in that this monitor sells consistently higher (+$70) than the acer, dell, and samsung monitors for the same 22" size. I bought mine at Costco for about $290 about 6 months ago and that price has only recently started to drop to about $250 at various online stores like Tiger Direct etc. Keep in mind that Viewsonic has a big brother monitor to this called the VX2245 which includes ipod docking, card reading, headphone jacks, etc all for about the same price of $290 - so my question, why on EARTH is Viewsonic just now starting to offer $50 rebates around. These should have been offered about 4 months ago in my humble opinion. (Which is not very humble at all)
Summary:
I use the VX2235wm for video production here in Las Vegas and I find the colors to be crisp and sharp enough for professional video editing computer monitor, while the small built-in speakers work great for reference audio if necessary but not for true beautiful sound. This is a geat basic monitor at a price point thats just a bit too high for what it offers.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 290
Operating System: Macintosh
Suggestion Of The Day:
Asus 24" Monitor w/Speakers for under $200
Asus makes a pretty decent monitor, Mwave has a 24" one here with speakers for under $200 and abt.com has the same one for about $219. Which is good if you're just now on the market for one, sad, for me, because I bought the Viewsonic 22" above, a while back and paid $300 for it. ouch. What can you do? I had to get one. Anyway, take a look at this one and let me know your thoughts. I probably buy more from Mwave than I do from Abt.com but they’re both good online stores, I’ve bought a number of items from both with no problems.
Happy Shopping!
Monitor Install Tutorial Of The Day:
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