Customer Reviews

Viewsonic Gs790 19" Short Neck Monitor (Pc/Mac)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Though lacking features such as a USB port or BNC connectors (which few people need) the overall quality of this monitor is very good. The display, where it counts the most is excellent, and Viewsonic can be counted on to sell a reliable product. Other good contenders in this price range are the Samsung Syncmaster 950P (a little cheaper and still very good) and the Hitachi SuperScan Elite 751 (best display in this price range but a little more expensive). If you need a really cheap 19" buy a KDS. They are a pretty reliable company (they build monitors for Dell and Compaq as an OEM).

My first GS790 ViewSonic monitor started to exhibit electric discharge noises accompanied by screen distortion. This behavior started within 1 week from first use of the monitor. After exhibiting this behavior for just over 30 days (just long enough so that I couldn't return the monitor to Amazon.com) the monitor's display was permainently distorted to the extent that no text could me made out.

I returned the monitor to ViewSonic (I had to pay the shipping and insurance, no reimbursment) and then was told the turn around time would be 15 business days from the date of receipt of the monitor. This translates into 5 weeks allowing 1 week ground shipment to and from ViewSonic.

After waiting 4 weeks after shipping the monitor back, I called to get the status. I was told the monitor had not been serviced because a part needed to repair the monitor was on order. At that time I indicated that I'd been quoted a 15 business day turn around time which would obliviously not be met. Only then did ViewSonic send out a new monitor of the same model from its stock to me.

After receiving the new monitor, it too started to exhibit the same behavior as the first one (sounds of electical discharge accompanied by screen distortion). It looks ready to break permanently again with a few days.

After talking with a co-worker, I found out that a friend of his had the exact same problem with the ViewSonic GS790 monitor.

The clarity and brightness of the image are excellent. I run the GS790 at 85mhz/1280 resolution and its great for seeing lots of small text or web browsing. The short-neck tube does cause some minor drooping of the image at the top the screen, though. You'll get used to it after a week or so, but you may check out flat-screen or aperature grill monitors if you do intensive graphics work.

(...) I have worked professionally in graphics, web development, and software engineering for many years. I have worked on Sony Trinitrons, Viewsonics, Dells, and many more. The Viewsonics are by far my favorite for various reasons:
1) Small footprint is just awesome.
2) Colors are beautiful but not overly bright like Trinitrons ( after working on Trinitrons for long periods of time I would feel eye strain.)
3) Performance/Refresh/Pixel Size.
4) No aperture grille [junk] (lines and the vertical spacing of the pixels [stinks].)
5) PRICE !

I use the Pro series at work (P815) but at home I use this GS790 and I have had absolutely NO problems... I love it, plus I paid $(...) for it brand new over a year ago.

I purchased two GS-790 monitors within a few months of each other last year. Approximately 6 months after the purchase of the first one, I began experiencing problems with the monitor. The picture would 'pop' and the monitor would randomly go blurry or shut off. This continued to the point where it became unusable.

I contacted Viewsonic about the problem. They gave me an RMA number, but refused to pay for shipping to their facility. I shipped it back myself (for ~$75), but did not hear from them for several weeks. After calling them, they finally agreed to ship out a new monitor which arrived a week or so later. Overall the replacement process took over a month.

Recently the SECOND GS-790 has started having the same exact problem. Once again I've contacted them and will pay the ~$75 to ship the dying monitor back to them.

From my experience, it seems clear that you can expect any GS-790 monitor to fail within 6-9 months after purchase. I would NOT recommend this monitor to anyone.

I recently purched our second GS790. I bought the first because of cramped space on that particular desk; I purchased the second because of the great performance and low price of the first. I have a 20" Trinitron that is hard pressed to do any better -- even with Photoshop.

Well I have been using this monitor for about a year now and there have been a few things that frankly scared me. There have been approx. 3 times when this monitor (GS790) would make only what I can call is a big Electronic discharge sound and then the monitor would go dark for about 2 minutes.

I have used Viewsonic Monitors for the last 5 years and this is the last one I will buy from them. I will start putting my money into the Sony line of Monitors.

Viewsonics tech support is just horrible and it is something to be avoided if at all possible. I think the company is moving in the wrong direction and the Quality is suffering from it.

After two months, I had problems with the monitor popping and turning itself off. Dealing with Customer Service was a nightmare. I paid shipping and insurance and was given a "refurbished" unit in exchange. Customer service agents were rude and disinterested, or seemed so after waiting on hold for 45 minutes. The replacement they sent has started to have problems waking up from sleep mode, but I have no faith in this brand. I truly regret not spending a few dollars more for a sony or mitsubishi.

Although this monitor does have a very crisp picture, and great size -- there is a noticable "bowing" effect towards the top of the screen, right out of the box after I hooked it up properly and installed the drivers. Although the horizontal curvature is slight, and only appears to be on the upper 1/3 of the screen, it *is* noticeable, and can get annoying after a while when you discover that it cannot be fixed with the controls. (No amount of tweaking could fix it, so I had to return it.)

If you like STRAIGHT horizontal lines on your webpages, word docs, etc/, trust me -- don't get this monitor. It's easy to tweak the vertical lines, but the horizontals cannot be altered. No monitor has a "perfect" display, but with this one I'd say there's a pretty good chance you'll get some horizontal "bowing" that you can't correct with the adjustments. If not, consider yourself lucky -- or maybe not -- because it'll probably crap out in 6 months regardless.

That being said, I used to have a Viewsonic A70 and never had one problem with it. However, if you're looking for a reliable 19" monitor with nice, correctly drawn graphics and text, I'd look elsewhere than this one. This is definitely not a "flat screen" monitor (literally and figuratively) -- something Viewsonic convieniently fails to mention.

I've had this GS790 (my first ViewSonic) for about 2½ years now without a single problem. What these guys are describing must be either anomolies, or something breaking loose in shipment, etc. because this is one of the best built monitors I've seen in years. I used to stick to the Trinitron tubes, but agree with the damper line & too vivid colors as stated before.