($339 street), a 21.5-inch desktop monitor that uses Infrared Optical Imaging technology to turn the panel into a touch screen display. The full HD panel delivers strong color and grayscale performance, and costs pennies a day to operate. A few more connectivity features would be nice, but the VX2258wm is a great deal nonetheless.
The VX2258wm has a maximum resolution of 1920 by 1080 and can display high-definition web content and movies in full HD (1080p). The 21.5-inch TN+ panel is framed by a very thin piano black bezel which becomes slightly wider on the bottom to accommodate a pair of 2-watt speakers and five function buttons, including the power switch. The VX2258wm is a CCFL backlit monitor and as such is relatively thick (3 inches) compared to today's LED backlit monitors, which measures 1 inch at its thickest point. The matte black cabinet sits upon a v-shaped base with a 10 inch mounting arm that contains a swivel and tilt mechanism. Pivot and height adjustability would be a welcome addition here.
All ports are located at the rear of the cabinet and include DVI, VGA, and audio inputs. Oddly, there's no HDMI port, but there is an upstream USB port which provides touch screen functionality via the host PC (the monitor uses the Windows 7 Multitouch software). Unfortunately, Viewsonic missed out on an opportunity to add a few downstream USB ports to this model. The smallish silver function buttons are used to access, navigate and choose picture options from the on-screen menu system. The Main menu offers contrast, brightness, color temperature, and input selection options as well as an audio menu with a volume controller and a mute button. A Manual Image Adjust option gives you access to sharpness, dynamic contrast, and three ECO mode settings, including Standard (default brightness) Optimize (75% brightness), and Conserve (50% brightness).
The Optical Imaging technology used to make the panel a touch screen device incorporates a pair of sensors, which are hidden in the upper corners of the screen bezel, and infrared (IR) backlighting. Here's how it works; when you press the screen with your fingertip or a stylus the action blocks out the IR light. The sensors then detect the absence of light and are able to pinpoint your exact location on the screen. The coordinates are sent to the Windows 7 software via a USB signal, where it is recognized as a touchpad movement. The touch screen feature worked flawlessly; resizing pictures was effortless using the thumb and forefinger to pinch and expand as you would on a multi-gesture touchpad. I found it came in handy for scrolling web pages and dragging files from one location to another as well as for quickly selecting chapters on a DVD movie. You may want to keep a screen cleaner handy though as the panel's glossy coating can get mucked up with fingerprint smudges rather quickly.
The VX2258wm performed admirably on my DisplayMate LCD
tests. It was able to cleanly display nearly every graduation of the 64-Step Grayscale test, but as with most mid-tier TN+ panel, it had trouble displaying the darkest and lightest swatches in the scale. Still, it did quite well for a monitor in this price range. Colors scaled evenly from dark to light, with no obvious tinting, and text was crisp and legible all the way down to 5.3 points, the smallest font on the Scaled Fonts test. Viewing angle performance was quite good also; I detected a very slight loss of color fidelity at the extreme side angles, but the screen remained relatively bright and was certainly viewable for anyone standing off to the side.This monitor is a power miser, averaging just 23-watts of power when operating in regular mode. Enabling the ECO mode reduces power consumption to just 16-watts, but the screen is way too dark for my liking. Based on an 8-hour workday while operating in regular mode, it will add just 2 cents per day to your utility bill (calculated using the national average of 11.55 cents per kWh). The VX2258wm is also EnergyStar and EPEAT Silver compliant, and as such earns our Greentech stamp of approval.
Solid performance and energy efficiency are both good reasons to consider the Viewsonic VX2258wm as your next everyday desktop display, and if you've been itching to add a touch screen to your desktop system, it's your best bet. Despite lacking niceties such as downstream USB ports and an HDMI port, it earns our Editors' Choice award for mid-sized desktop displays.
source: pcmag.com
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