Scott Klarr Jr

ViewSonic VX2235wm 22" widescreen LCD

My very first experience with an LCD monitor was not a very impressive one. My high school had just upgraded their computers to some brand new Dell machines that came with flat panel monitors. The very first thing I noticed when I turned the computer on was that the monitor puked up a nauseating blurry image. I was disgusted that a company would even dare put out a product like that without being embarrassed! What really amazed me was the price people actually paid for these pieces of junk. Over the years since then I have seen a few different LCDs in use, and every single one of them had the same issues: blurry picture, ghosting, poor response, etc.

A few months ago an unfortunate event happened involving a cat knocking a cup of water into my primary monitor (19" CRT). I think it goes without saying, that monitor was done. So I run down to the computer store kind of figuring I would be coming home with an LCD, as they don't carry CRTs anymore. There were about 15-20 LCD monitors on display, all hooked to a single source computer. I ran a few tests - such as opening notepad and filling the screens with text - to help me decide which one would work best for me.

I was not too surprised when just about every single monitor there had the same issues I've seen before - primarily ghosting and blurry text. After about 30 minutes of staring at the monitors intently, I had narrowed down my choice between two that seemed to be the best. One being a 20" ViewSonic, and then the VX2235wm 22" ViewSonic. I think it's obviously which one I chose. $360 later, I was on my way home with a rather large yet slim box.

Text Clarity

Once I got this monitor home and setup, I was quite pleased to find there is no blurry text and absolutely no ghosting. Whew! Although text does appear differently on LCDs regardless, its just something you have to get used to. Enabling smooth fonts helps a little, but in my opinion, the text output on a CRT just cannot be matched by an LCD.

Resolution Vs Screen Size

One of the primary things I looked for was the highest possible resolution. On my 19" CRT, I used a 1600x1200 resolution, and even then felt it could have been higher. There was no way I would settle for a larger monitor, with 1280x1024 or less. That immediately cut my options down dramatically while increasing the price range. The VX2235wm has a widescreen resolution of 1680x1050. I really wished I could have gotten a higher resolution, but 1680x1050 is about all I could afford (and in fact, it was the largest that particular store had at the time.) The 19" crt had 1,920,000 pixels, whereas the 22" only has 1,764,000 pixels. So the 22", while it has a much larger screen, actually has 156,000 less pixels than what i was used to, on a smaller screen. The result? Everything looks HUGE. This is really a matter of personal taste, and it is something I have gotten used to, but I really do miss the higher resolution per square inch of screen space. Just remember: bigger does not always mean your getting more "real estate."

Brightness

For the first few days of using this monitor I almost had to wear sunglasses! After over 7 years of using the same CRT, it had gotten pretty dark. Wwitching to this LCD was like staring at the sun!

Colors

I do a lot of website development, including graphics/layout designing. I was rather surprised that a lot of my work looked VERY different on this monitor not only due to the brightness, but also because the colors seem to be displayed a bit differently. Just switching through the different preset color schemes, you can see dramatic differences in color temperatures. As a designer, this really made me start to think twice when designing a layout, because it's a mystery knowing how the majority of people will actually see it with the many different types of monitors out there.

Update March 7, 2008 - Just a couple weeks ago I switched from analog input (not sure why I was using it in the first place) to DVI and the colors are much more accurate. If you have the choice of VGA vs DVI, always go with the DVI!

Response Rate

This LCD boasts a nice 5ms response rate which means that there is no lag or mouse trails. During real fast-paced sequences in movies, you can sometimes see the response having trouble keeping up, but it's not bad enough to cause an annoyance.

Dual Inputs

This monitor has dual inputs, one being a long-time standard VGA analog, and the secondary as a digital DVI. You can run either as your primary input - but the real nice feature is that you can have two inputs hooked up at once, and switch between then from the front controls on the monitor. Excellent if say you have an extra box setup as a file-server that you occasionally need GUI access to.

Speakers

In my opinion, there is really no point of these speakers being here. Completely worthless.

Space Saving

One of the best features about having an LCD, in my opinion, is the little amount of space they require. The 19" CRT I used before was ENORMOUS and weighed a TON! With a flat panel you have many more options for desktop arrangement or even wall-mounting.

My Opinion

All in all, I am very happy with my purchase. This is far from being the best on the market, however for the price, it does the job well. I plan to replace my secondary monitor (I run dual monitors) with another one of these pretty soon. I would recommend this monitor to anybody looking to make a LCD purchase on a budget. Brand new, this monitor was over $400 msrp. I picked it up from a retail store for $360 after taxes, and you can now find them on ebay for just over $200. I hope to eventually be able to move onto a set of top-of-the-line LCDs (easily over $800 each), but until then, this will do just fine.