ViewSonic VX2260WM review

Monitors with a 16:9 aspect ratio are on the rise. While it may seem like this robs you of some vertical resolution compared to 16:10 monitors, this is not true for the new crop of 22in models such as ViewSonic's VX2260WM.

Most monitors of this size have a resolution of 1,680x1,050, but this one has a resolution of 1,920x1,080, which provides more desktop space overall. It also matches pixel for pixel the common 1080p HD standard used by many HD TVs and on Blu-ray movies.

The extra horizontal pixels (1,920 compared to 1,680) are useful for any application with tool pallets or side bars, since these leave room for viewing or editing the main document. The resolution is also ideal for viewing and editing home movies shot in HDV or AVCHD format, as you can see all the detail.

The VX2260WM has an HDMI input, although we can't see that many people connecting a monitor this small to a Blu-ray player or games console. This is virtually all that separates this LCD from Iiyama's E2208HDS, reviewed below. Both monitors have VGA and DVI, which are the inputs most people will use.

This isn't a bad-looking monitor, but its stand is basic with only tilt adjustment. Image quality was disappointing, too. Contrast appeared poorer than the 20,000:1 dynamic figure suggests and colours were washed out, no matter which preset we used or tweaks we made in the menu. The menu buttons are on the bottom of the screen, but the labels are hard to see. There are just four buttons and it takes a while to get used to their multiple functions.

Backlighting was bright and even, and the image was sharp at the panel's native resolution, but the VX2260WM coped poorly with lower resolutions. The E2208HDS's quality isn't much better, but if you don't need an HDMI input it's better value.

Author: Jim Martin