ViewSonic VX2245wm

Often times when people are building their “dream” computer setups they forget about one of the most important parts, the monitor. If you don’t have a good monitor then your games won’t look right and it could ruin the entire thing.

For years now ViewSonic have been releasing great quality monitors. While I wouldn’t say they’re at the top quality wise these monitors are definitely really well made. The ViewSonic VX2245wm is one of ViewSonic’s 22″ widescreen monitors but the VX has a twist. The VX includes an iPod dock along with integrated stereo speakers and subwoofer. The VX2245wm sets new standards in multimedia displays with an 8-in-1 card reader,USB connection for your joystick/game control, integrated microphone and headphone jack.

Here are a few of the technical specifications for the VX2245:

• Street Price: $400
• 700:1 contrast ratio, 5 ms response rate
• VGA and DVI inputs
• iPod dock that fits all iPods except for the Touch
• 8-in-one media card reader and 3 USB 2.0 ports

Things I like
I really like the fact that they have so many things included with this monitor. Sure the fact that it has an iPod dock is really cool but the VX also has 3 USB ports and a media card reader. In my opinion more and more monitors will soon include this things because people are demanding them and it just goes to show that ViewSonic will be able to compete in the future. I do like the integrated speakers as well. Most integrated monitor speakers don’t include a subwoofer but ViewSonic thought of that as well, including a 3Watt subwoofer. While this isn’t the most powerful speaker you’ll ever hear it is really nice in case you don’t have a set of speakers (though I suggest you checkout the Altec Lansing VS4121).

Things I don’t like
The only issue with this monitor, in terms of performance, is the fact that it is not HD compliant. The resolution is not quite HD, and in turn, the picture may appear pixelated at times. This is always an issue on 22-inch standard-definition monitors, because most of the time you are sitting no more than a few feet from the monitor when watching it. A monitor of this size almost needs to be HD compliant in order to reduce the pixelation problem.

The other problem I have with this monitor is that it’s a little pricey if you don’t have a need (or want) for a iPod dock. Quality wise it’s ok for the price but there are much better quality monitors for the same price.
Pros:

• Built-in iPod dock
• media card reader
• 3 USB 2.0 ports

Cons:

• A little expensive
• Some people don’t want an iPod dock with their monitor

Final Thoughts
This monitor is a good deal for people who like the iPod dock capabilities of this monitor. For other people not interested in the iPod dock capabilities of this monitor, I would recommend checking out similarly priced Dell UltraSharp models or Samsung SyncMaster models, since these lines are of much better quality.