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Paul Monckton, Personal Computer World, Thursday 17 January 2008 at 00:00:00

A budget yet stylish display with HDCP support

Stylistically, like most of Viewsonic's range, the VX2240w looks better than many monitors in this price range. Its thin black bezel and gently curving rear end are complemented by a silver brushed-metal control panel, fitted with small but responsive buttons. Although it's a relatively basic, low-cost product, it comes with a fast 2ms response time and a dynamic contrast ratio of up to 4,000:1, which boosts clarity when watching video or during high-speed gaming. It's also fitted with both a VGA and a DVI-I port ñ the latter is HDCP-enabled to allow high-definition playback. In terms of general operation, those familiar with Viewsonic monitors will find nothing remarkable. Two buttons labelled simply '1' and '2' control access to the on-screen menus - navigated by up and down switches. The VX2240w does, however, bring one new feature to the menu: you are now able to adjust the response time of the panel in exactly the same way you might tweak the brightness or the contrast. This allows you to control the trade-off between fast, sharp on-screen motion and the subtle visual artefacts that may be introduced by the circuits that provide it. Although it delivers a crisp and punchy image, our tests revealed the colour reproduction to be a little inaccurate, even after our attempts at calibration, and therefore not the best choice for photographic work. The budget VX2240w has just a basic stand, with only a tilt adjustment available and the circular design of the base causes it to protrude quite far forward, making it difficult to tuck a keyboard under the display. If you want to spend a little less, but like the 1,680x1,050 resolution of the VX2240w, then consider its baby brother, the VX1940w, which offers the same specification in a 19in package.

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