Customer Reviews

ViewSonic VA2223wm 22-Inch 16:9 1080p LCD Monitor

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

"Gorgeous" is the right word for the display. No dead pixels, beautiful widescreen and an unobtrusive black frame and stand.

It's basic; no USB ports or other bells and whistles, and the speakers are not any better than your ordinary laptop speakers.

There are some little annoyances, beginning with Amazon's goofy tech details list for this item and continuing on to ViewSonic's poor documentation. I haven't had any problems with the on-screen display or blackouts, but the procedure to change the volume on the monitor speakers is not intuitive at all and is not documented correctly in the user manual file.

But the beast looks very good on the desk, and has a lot of real estate for multiple windows or for watching a widescreen DVD.

I certainly wouldn't pay more for an HDMI port, because the speakers are not what you would use if you often watch DVDs on your computer.

I bought this monitor to replace a 10 year old 18" LCD. The monitor was easy to assemble, the color and size are nice, very nice. It took a little tweaking to get the color right on my Mac Mini, but once done the picture is quite stunning.
There are a couple of downsides, hence the 4 stars. The monitor does support DVI, but does not come with a DVI cable only VGA. Luckily, I had a spare DVI cable. Second, the speakers are not really good. They are fine for normal computer use, but if listen to a lot of music or movies on your computer, you will probably not like the built-in speakers.
All in all, a great monitor for the price. I recommend it.

I've had the VA2223wm for about a week now. Loved the Amazon price and super saver shipping first off but the monitor is gorgeous! As a replacement for a 12+ year old Sony 17" that is dying, this is going "wide-screen". The image is sharp and bright as it should be. My only complaints are that it goes through a screen setting mode at start-up that obscures the bios screens from my PC, and that only the old-fashioned VGA cable was provided (no DVI cable). At $159 I guess I can't complain too much.

Based on the reviews I read before I bought this monitor, I was excited to get it. At first it looked real good, although photos--especially with skin tones--looked too dark. But, the 1080p picture overall was razor-sharp, and I decided to stick with it. Then, recently (not two weeks after I bought it), ALL the skin tones and anything akin to them--yellows, oranges, reds--they just went crazy, WAY overblown. Everybody in all my photos is deep orange. The reds are so red that there's no detail. Nothing I tried, or the ViewSonic "tech support" people (a joke) could correct it. So I am sending it back, and will probably buy another similar one, maybe HP. Perhaps I just got a lemon, but this ViewSonic VA2223wm was a disappointment.

I ordered this monitor with the intention of gaming and watching movies. First of, there is no hdmi with that said that didn't stop me from buying this since i can easily slap an adapter to the dvi port. When first opened, it is easily put together by a simple slide in and done now ready to turn on it has an annoying auto image adjust that stays there ever time you change resolution but don't worry you can take it off. It shows rather nicely the speakers are not that impressive but its not like they were going to be. It definitely keeps up when playing games like left4dead and gta IV. Watching movies on this monitor in 1080p is nice colors vivid and deep blacks..

There are only small itches that needed to be scratched, first off when you turn off auto image adjust when using it on the ps3 it tends to go black and you have to turn off the monitor and on so it can show again not sure how to fix it or if it can be fixed its more of a nuisance then a problem to me (tip, when watching blu ray on ps3 this monitor tends to show purple all around if you have your mode in cmyk or something like that and switch it to rgb). The other itch is it lacks HDMI and a some what viewing limited.

All in all this monitor is worth the money with its limited ports and small quirks would definitely recommend this monitor towards someone who is looking for one that's cheap and gets the job done.

Using an HDMI to DVI cable for video, and an RCA jack to stereo 1/8th inch jack for sound, this monitor plus my Time Warner HD cable box is now serving as a low cost 22" HDTV. While it would be nice to be able to change the sound volume using a remote (and I imagine I could if I ran the sound out from the set-top box through a stereo system or home theatre system), this is a perfectly acceptable solution for the competitively low price.

Kudos to Amazon for getting this to me well ahead of schedule. Everything arrived well packaged and in excellent condition.

The ViewSonic box included power cord, installation CD (for computer, not needed for my use), a VGA cable and brief instructions.

Several years ago, I had moved up to an LCD monitor (LG model L1720P, 17", 4x3 aspect ratio), and I was glad that I had finally retired my tired old monstrosity of a CRT.
I really enjoyed the advantages of LCD over CRT that many who still insist on the old technology may not be aware of, those being:
1) less than 1/3 the bulk of an equivalent CRT
2) weighs about 1/8 of an equivalent CRT
3) runs far cooler
4) uses far less energy to operate
5) much faster wakeup time from sleep mode
6) should have greater longevity

It was definitely a move in the right direction, and I would never go back to CRT, but I wanted to move on up to a far larger monitor with full HD and integral speakers as a bonus to further cut back on desk space occupation and electrical outlet use.
I was really impressed when I plugged this in for the first time, and I decided to wring it out by playing the old Quake2 game all the way through to the finish.
It worked perfectly, and it sure was nice being able to move up to a size that made it much easier to see what was happening on screen.
Well, that was fun, but what I really wanted this for was to better see text from web pages and documents.
Again, I was quite impressed by the bright, dramatically wider view, with text sharp and clear, even at the full 1920x1080 resolution, that I no longer need to squint.
By contrast, my old and still quite good LG monitor sometimes forced me to squint when I set it to my preferred 1280x1024 resolution.
I was also a bit surprised by how the technology has progressed in terms of miniaturization between generations of LCD monitors, with my much smaller LG monitor weighing two pounds more than this new ViewSonic.
I was also pleased with the integral speakers, which sound really quite good, and they allow me to untether myself from my bulky Creative 5.1 sound setup.
I suppose I could still hook up the old 5.1 setup for watching movies and the like in the future, but in the meantime it is much nicer to have only a monitor, keyboard, trackball, and computer itself on the desk.
I also have tested out the Eco mode, a lower power operating mode that generally slightly dims the illumination to both save energy and to extend the life of the fluorescent illumination lamp, and I am very impressed with this.
This Eco mode offers three different settings, each designed for different levels of dimming.
In fact, I prefer setting it to the most power saving mode for the way I prefer to run my computer, which is in a very dimly lit room with my Logitech illuminated keyboard.
The controls for the monitor are self-explanatory, and the control buttons seem reasonably durable.
I also liked the stand, which feels pretty substantial and adjusts without shifting around, and it also allows instant removal for packing the monitor for moving.
I was also satisfied with the rest of the build construction of this monitor, and I will definitely recommend this to my friends and family should any of them consider a monitor upgrade.
I also should point out that this is one of the best buys out there for monitors of equivalent size and features.
One thing that you should know before you use this monitor is that it comes only with a standard VGA cable, which works fine, but it does not include a DVI cable, which you will want if you intend to maximize the image quality and performance.
This is not a big issue, since generic DVI cables are easily obtainable for not very much, including right here: Cables To Go - 26911 - 2M DVI-D M/M Dual Link Digital Video Cable (Black)
I don't think that $8.26 is too much for a decent dual link DVI cable.
You can also buy a generic (PPA brand, FWIW) dual link cable at Fry's for $10 if you don't feel like ordering one here.
Of course, if you are going to use this only with an older computer without a DVI port on its video card, don't even bother with a DVI cable, unless you either upgrade the video card to one with DVI, or buy a whole new system, which will undoubtedly have one as it comes.

Last of all, even though this is not related to the monitor itself, I was amazed by how quick Amazon was in getting this to me.
I ordered this early on a Sunday morning, when (presumably) Amazon's employees are not working, choosing the Free Super Saver Shipping, and I had it in my hands on Tuesday morning!
In fact, it was so quick in arriving that the package tracking on Amazon - at the time I write this review - still does not show that it has already been delivered, and I am writing this on Friday morning of the same week as the Monday it was delivered.
Great monitor, and Amazon's service is exemplary.

After 7 years since my last ViewSonic, they were not even on my radar until I saw the most recent reviews at Consumer Reports. They rated this unit in second place (20-24" LCD) behind the $900 Apple 24" Cinema Display. As beautiful as that LED screen is, I just couldn't cough up the $$$ for a second display to my 13" MacBook Pro. I use this on my desktop for applications that demand more real estate such as video editing and casual gaming. Plugged the monitor in using a cheap 3rd party MiniDisplayPort to DVI dongle and the MBP detected the display and set to correct resolution automatically. I did have to calibrate the display in Snow Leopard using the advanced options to get the best color and gamut settings but now it looks quite good. Checked for dead pixels and sub-pixels using an LCD tester and found no issues. The speakers sound as good, if not slightly better, than the speakers on the MBP but I use a 2.1 Altec Lansing system as my primary desktop speakers. The only gripes are the flimsy stand and the obnoxiously bright blue LED power light on the front.

I bought the very affordable ViewSonic monitor but less than 2 weeks later it had a vertical magenta line going through the entire screen.
Amazon made it super easy to ship back to them -they sent out a replacement for free.
I hope it was just a fluke or a random bad product. Since then the replacement has been great.

The ViewSonic monitor was bought to be my second monitor for my laptop. I purchased a NEC 22", however it required about an hour - hour and a half to adjust the color and brightness to be able to use it. The ViewSonic just needed the brightness turned down and was ready to use in under 10 minutes including unpacking and assembly.

I placed both monitors side by side and the ViewSonic was sharper and has more vibrant color than the NEC.

Easy to use, menus are intuitive, and easy to adjust. Great monitor for picture, video, movies, and general engineering use all at a great price.