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ViewsonicVX2739wm review

Our Rating :
Price when reviewed : £246
inc VAT

The bright CCFL backlight put its LED-backlit rivals to shame, and it's competitively priced, but Iiyama's E2710HDSD is slightly better value.

Specifications

27in screen size, 1,920×1,080 resolution, DVI: yes, VGA: yes, HDMI:

http://www.ilgs.co.uk

The Viewsonic VX2739wm is a monster monitor, with a thick, square bezel and a massive stand that requires four bolts to hold it in place. It’s surprisingly well balanced, so it’s easy to adjust the tilt despite it being one of the largest monitors we’ve seen in ages.

With a CCFL backlight, we expected it to do poorly against the newer LED models, but in fact the VX2739wm’s backlight proved brighter than on many newer LED monitors. However, this brightness can also affect how colours are displayed, over-saturating large areas of bright colour. A bright backlight also means more light bleeds through, so blacks weren’t as deep as others here. The alternative is to turn down the backlight, although shadow areas lose detail.

Viewsonic VX2739wm

The menu system is controlled by four physical buttons on the bottom left side of the screen. These use a standard system, with Menu, Select and navigation buttons, and the menu itself is fairly clear. Image controls are fairly basic: as well as brightness and contrast, you can set colour temperature to one of four standard Kelvin values, choose RGB values individually via the User option, or choose sRGB. However, the latter not only disables the other controls, but reduces brightness drastically.

You have a choice of VGA, DVI or HDMI inputs, so you can connect multiple devices to this display, such as your PC and a Blu-ray player. There’s also a 3.5mm audio input for connecting a device to the monitor’s internal speakers. These sound clear but lack volume, despite the SRS branding, so they’re only really suitable for Windows sounds.

Viewsonic VX2739wm rear ports

In a small panel on the right side of the screen you’ll find a headphone socket, which is handy and means you don’t have to reach around the back of your PC when you want to listen to something privately, plus two of the four USB ports. Two more USB ports, plus the USB input, are located with the video inputs on the rear.

When it comes down to choosing between the VX2739wm and the Iiyama ProLite E2710HDSD-1, it’s a hard call: both have similar panels, and both cost about the same. We preferred the E2710HDSD’s design and slightly more vibrant colours.

Basic Specifications

Rating ****

Physical

Viewable size 27 in
Native resolution 1,920×1,080
Contrast ratio 1,200:1 (100,000:1 dynamic)
Brightness 300cd/m²
Horizontal viewing angle 170°
Vertical viewing angle 160°
Response time 1ms
Response time type grey-to-grey
Screen depth 68mm
Base (WxD) 320x249mm
Screen elevation 140mm

Features

Portrait mode no
Wall mount option yes
Height adjustable no
Internal speakers yes (2x 2W)
Detachable cables yes
USB hub none
Integrated power supply yes
Kensington lock lug yes
Display extras SRS Premium Sound, headphone output
VGA input yes
DVI input yes
S-video input no
Component input no
Composite input no
HDCP support yes
Audio inputs 3.5mm line in

Environmental

Power consumption standby 0W
Power consumption on 45W

Buying Information

Price £246
Supplier http://www.ilgs.co.uk
Details www.viewsonic.com
Warranty three years onsite

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